Law & Order: Organized Crime fans can finally breathe a sigh of relief. According to Deadline, the series is finalizing a 10-episode renewal deal... with one significant change.
Instead of airing on NBC, Law & Order: Organized Crime will stream exclusively on Peacock, making it the first primetime series NBC has moved exclusively to its sister service.
This is excellent news for Organized Crime, which may work better as a streaming-only series for several reasons.
The deal is only for ten episodes, but don't be too disappointed. While that might be terrible news for a broadcast show, many streaming-only series have eight to ten episodes per season.
Besides, if fans flock to Peacock and burn through those ten episodes in record numbers, NBC/Peacock could decide to order more episodes. [Note: We don't know yet if all ten episodes will be available at once for binge-watching or whether they will be released on some schedule.]
A new season is better than nothing, so we don't want to look gift horses in the mouth, especially after Law & Order: Organized Crime risked the chopping block for far too long.
Besides, there is a lot to celebrate here.
Moving to Streaming Is More Than A Reprieve
People often think moving to streaming is a last-ditch effort to save a struggling show, but it doesn't have to be, and in Organized Crime's case, streaming is where it will likely thrive.
When the series first debuted, some fans were disappointed in the 8-episode arc featuring Richard Wheatley. They were used to the case-of-the-week format used by the rest of the Law & Order franchise, and it was hard for the series to sustain attention long enough to wrap up the story.
That was unfortunate because the longer arcs contained some of the most brilliant television ever. While the rest of the franchise offered standard police procedurals, Organized Crime was on par with cable shows like Breaking Bad or The Sopranos.
Instead of realizing they were in the wrong medium for this show, the powers that be tried every tired TV trope to make it fit the mold of the other series in the franchise.
Shorter mini-arcs didn't work, and Stabler's family kept bouncing back and forth from a prominent part of the series to entirely off-screen. Law & Order: Organized Crime kept changing writing teams, and each team had a different idea for what the series should be, but few of them landed well.
This isn't to say that each season didn't have strong writing and acting because they all did. But the problem was that it was part of a franchise whose brand was utterly different from the stories Organized Crime wanted to tell, and trying tofit it into that mold was never going to fly.
Moving to Streaming Will Give Stabler and Co. their Chance to Shine
Although obviously, Law & Order Organized Crime will still be associated with the franchise, moving to Peacock will give it more freedom to be itself:
- Streaming sites have looser guidelines for what can and can't be broadcast, which would allow Organized Crime to be as gritty and violent as a series about toppling mob bosses needs to be.
- Streaming sites attract a different audience than broadcast TV, and people who love shows like The Sopranos may fall in love with Organized Crime once it's on Peacock.
- Being on Peacock separates Organized Crime from Law & Order Thursday, which allows it to be freer to pursue darker stories that are less in line with the typical Law & Order brand.
All of these factors will help Organized Crime be the best show it can be and eliminate the need to keep changing writers in an attempt to woo broadcast viewers.
Streaming Could Give Organized Crime New Life
Law & Order: Organized Crime has already done well on Peacock, with more people watching it there than on Thursday nights on NBC. This undoubtedly is one of the reasons that executives decided to move it exclusively to Peacock.
Right now, it only has a deal for a ten-episode season, but what happens if it shoots to the top of the ratings once it drops on Peacock? High ratings could help get Organized Crime a bigger order or a sixth season.
Although Organized Crime is the first NBC primetime show to be converted to streaming-only, the idea of spinoffs that would ordinarily be on primetime going to streaming is not new.
CBS did so successfully with The Good Fight for six seasons, as well as with the reboot of Criminal Minds.
In addition, many fans panicked in 2022 when NBC converted Days of Our Lives to streaming-only, making it the first soap opera available only on a streaming service, but the soap has done extraordinarily well there.
There is no reason Organized Crime can't have the same good fortune.
What About the Benson/Stabler Subplot?
Bensler shippers were worried about whether the relationship would abruptly vanish if Organized Crime were canceled. Going to streaming should alleviate that concern since Organized Crime is still going strong.
Although Law & Order: SVU will remain on broadcast TV, crossovers are not impossible.
NBC still owns Peacock, so there's no compelling reason Mariska Hargitay couldn't appear on an episode of Organized Crime or Christopher Meloni visit the SVU set if the story calls for it.
Bensler stuff seems to have taken a backseat during the fourth season, so it remains to be seen what will happen there once the Peacock-only season begins. However, the continuation of this series means there's a chance for movement in this story, which there wouldn't be if it were canceled outright.
The Only Drawback to Peacock
There's only one problem: Peacock, like most other streaming services, requires a monthly subscription fee and a stable Internet connection.
Peacock is one of the cheaper services, at $5.99/month, but not everyone can afford it, especially people who still watch NBC with an antenna rather than cable or satellite TV.
Some fans either can't afford to subscribe or refuse to do so because they feel they shouldn't have to pay to watch their favorite shows.
However, since many people watch Law & Order: Organized Crime on Peacock anyway, this may not be a big deal for most fans.
Plus, this show has one of the most passionate and loyal fanbases ever, so most fans will likely follow it wherever it goes.
Your turn, Law & Order: Organized Crime fanatics. How do you feel about this news? Are you going to follow this series to Peacock?
Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know.
Law & Order: Organized Crime currently airs on NBC on Thursdays at 10/9c. The next new episode airs on May 2, 2024, and will be available on Peacock on May 3.