Or ... does it?

Maybe the reports of the demise of "Law & Order" were premature; TV Guide is saying this:

The New York Times reports that Law & Order creator Dick Wolf's production company informed select people involved with the series of its demise, including executive producer Fred Berner and former co-executive producer Ed Zuckerman.

However, the Times and Entertainment Weekly both report discussions were continuing late Thursday between Wolf and NBC.

Reps for NBC and for the show declined to comment. NBC is scheduled to officially announce its 2010-2011 schedule on Monday.

It will be a nail biting weekend!

Law & Order Ends

Or so it appears, based on this report from Deadline Hollywood:

EXCLUSIVE: This one is a shocker. Veteran crime drama Law & Order will not get its shot at history after all. I hear that after long deliberations, NBC has decided to cancel the long-running procedural, which will end its run at 20 seasons, tied with Gunsmoke. This is very surprising as NBC brass had indicated lately that they would bring L&O for a record-breaking 21^st season. But with strong development, especially on the drama side, and soft ratings for L&O, NBC apparently opted not to keep the aging series, which spawned several successful spinoffs. The latest, Law & Order: Los Angeles, will launch next season. L&O's renewal by NBC was also contingent on securing a sizable commitment from the series' cable home TNT whose off-network deal for the show was up at the end of this season.

I suppose on the plus side it's Los Angeles' turn now....

Putting the rumor mill into high gear

For those who might have missed some recent comments by VDOVault, an excellent commenter on these boards, here's some more links about what's going on behind the scenes at Law & Order/Criminal Intent:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268020,00.html#2
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,267803,00.html#2

In summary (or, word/aka Fox's Roger Friedman) has it:

1) Should L&O survive being axed, the lead cops will be replaced with less-expensive ones.
2) Chris Noth is likely to be axed from "Criminal Intent."
3) His partner, Julianne Nicholson is pregnant and already out.
4) One producer (Jamie Crowell Blank) at L&O is out.
5) S. Epatha Merkerson is unhappy with a lack of camera time and has made noise about it.

***********

Bear in mind, as we've said before, that this is a Fox gossip columnist (he's very in, but he's not always accurate -- Merkerson hasn't been with the show "from the start," as he says) and he's talking about an NBC show.

Sources close to apocrypha spoke with Merkerson recently and she indicated that people are concerned behind the scenes about what happens next, but didn't voice anything about trying to grab more land for herself. Other sources indicated that Noth's salary is the issue; perception at NBC is that he might be able to carry a show on his own.

And that's what we know, at this point.