Ripped from the Headlines – The Law & Order Brand is Dead
In reading Adam Hartung's great blog, "The Phoenix Principle," he is an advocate of avoiding "extend and defend" branding principles. He is always about finding "white space" - niches that are not currently seized or as yet undiscovered. Extend and defend strategy is being felt in the TV segment.
The era of the TV franchise brand is rapidly coming with the latest news that Law & Order LA and Law & Order CI are being canceled. This leaves Law & Order SVU as the lone show remaining from creator and executive producer Dick Wolf's two-decade old grasp on police crime dramas.
What worked for over 20 years and 451 shows with the original Law & Order series has grown old and stale. The analogy is eerily similar to what other brands face every day. You can only extend so far before saturation and maturation hit you square in the face. Law & Order is no longer distinctive. It's overexposed on TNT, TBS, USA and practically every cable channel. The same could be said for any of the CSI shows. They're running out of cities - Vegas, Miami and NYC. Forensics is out.
Back in 1990, Law & Order was fresh and new. The "ripped from the headlines" approach resonated with audiences and characters like Sam Waterson's Jack McCoy and Jerry Orbach's Lenny Briscoe. The Law & Order brand was a cash cow for NBC, Universal Studios and Dick Wolf.
Wolf is a masterful brand manager, overseeing expansion of the brand into computer games and endless reruns. Imagine the residuals. Although the shows weren't complete cookie cutters, they all featured the unmistakable opening theme from veteran TV theme music composer Mike Post (best known for the Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law work).
Although not dead yet, the Law & Order series lives on with the SVU extension. It's not long for the world as Chris Merloni, who has played the irascible and conflicted Elliot Stabler, announced his departure. You could argue that the Law & Order brand has been milked for the past five years. It seemed tired and forced. This is especially true of the CSI folks.
Extending and defending only gets you so far. What works today isn't a guarantee of success tomorrow. How many times can Gatorade come up with a different flavor iteration, or Ugg's or Crocs footwear for that matter? The Law & Order brand is coming to the end of its product life cycle. It's heading to the great TV show graveyard. It's been extended and defended over two decades, yet will live on in rerun heaven for decades to come in TV Land where all TV shows go to be resurrected. A fitting ending to a great brand story.
Keywords: Law & Order; Adam Hartung; The Phoenix Principle; Law & Order Brand; Law & Order Franchise; Dick Wolf; TV Marketing
Never was a fan of the forensic shows. However as a former New Yorker, I always had a fondness for the original L&O. Between the ripped from the headlines stories, great NYC character actors and the fact that I could recognize most locations, it was always a winner with me. L&O SVU on the other hand always left me cold. I thought they exploited the subject matter (under the guise of being authentic) and always worried as to when Stabbler's neck vein would pop.
And yes, saturation did them in. Why watch lesser new episodes when you can turn on the TV and catch one of the classics? Isn't that why the nickname for TNT is Law & Order All the Time?
I loved the early, original versions of both L&O and CSI. They were great little teleplays that stood alone, yet were part of a series continuum. As Bill points out, ultimately the characters make the magic, no matter how great the format. For me, Waterson, Orbach (remember Dirty Dancing?) and William Petersen (remember To Live and Die in LA?) on CSI were irreplaceable. It’s a lesson for people who write series fiction: keep it fresh, keep it independent of the other books, keep what people love about your characters alive. Unlike TV producers, our characters don’t end their contracts and go off seeking other opportunities.
Now how will NBC cover 22 hours of Primetime each week? I swear there have been weeks in which half of those 22 hours were either covered by Law & Order or Dateline. Dateline Monday, Dateline Friday, Dateline Sunday, Dateline Sunday Again, Dateline Sunday Yet Again, etc. And who can forget Law & Order Plain, Law & Order CI, Law & Order SVU, Law & Order LA, Law & Order LOL, Law & Order BTW, Law & Order FYI and Law & Order RBI? I got it, move a Late Night Talk Show into the 10PM hour every night.
Note To Self: Call NBC Later Today With 10PM Suggestion
I HAVE NEVER SEEN THAT SHOW IS IT ANY GOOD. MUST HAVE BEEN T BE ON THAT LONG