{"id":64339,"date":"2020-09-10T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/law-order-turns-30-inside-the-making-of-the-iconic-procedural\/"},"modified":"2020-09-10T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T20:00:00","slug":"law-order-turns-30-inside-the-making-of-the-iconic-procedural","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/law-order-turns-30-inside-the-making-of-the-iconic-procedural\/","title":{"rendered":"#’Law & Order’ Turns 30: Inside the Making of the Iconic Procedural"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#’Law & Order’ Turns 30: Inside the Making of the Iconic Procedural<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n
\"Law<\/img>
Gerry Goodstein \/\u00a9 NBC \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
The original Law & Order<\/em> spawned one of the most successful franchises in American TV history, and yet Fox and CBS both passed on the series<\/a> before NBC gave it the green light and started airing the show 30 years ago, on September 13, 1990.<\/p>\n

These revelations and many others are covered in the 1999 book Law & Order: The Unofficial Companion<\/em>, written by Kevin Courrier and Susan Green, a tome that provides the surprising backstory to the hit procedural. To celebrate the show’s anniversary, TV Insider\u00a0<\/em>revisits key moments from its history.<\/p>\n

Law & Order<\/em> mastermind Dick Wolf wasn\u2019t always in the television biz, for example. He originally worked in advertising and even coined the tagline \u201cYou can\u2019t beat Crest for fighting cavities.\u201d At age 30, however\u2014after deciding he \u201cdidn\u2019t want to sell toothpaste anymore\u201d\u2014Wolf left New York City for the bright lights of Hollywood. He got three film screenplays produced, including the script<\/a> for the 1988 Rob Lowe film Masquerade<\/em>, and got his start in TV as a staff writer for Hill Street Blues<\/em> and a co-executive producer of Miami Vice<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Dick<\/img><\/p>\n

Dick Wolf (NBC)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In 1988, Wolf came up with idea for TV show that chronicles the work of two New York City detectives and their commander, who solve a violent crime each episode, and three prosecutors, who try to bring the perp to justice. The show wasn\u2019t always called Law & Order<\/em>, though. \u201cI played around with Night and Day<\/em> and all sorts of other things,\u201d Wolf says in the book. \u201cThen I came up with Law & Order<\/em> and was very proud of myself: \u2018Oh, my god! I had an original idea!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolf took the idea to Kerry McCluggage, the then-president of Universal Television. McCluggage thought the premise sounded familiar. \u201cHe said, \u2018Oh yeah. Arrest and Trial<\/em> in 1963,\u201d Wolf recalls, referring to the 90-minute ABC drama that only ran for one season.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Wolf believed he had a unique take: \u201cUp until that point, there had never been a legal show featuring prosecutors,\u201d he said. \u201cI believed the heroes weren\u2019t the defense attorneys who were getting these scumbags off. The heroes were the prosecutors, working for a tenth of the money and putting them away. It seemed like a natural meld.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Wolf sold the series to the fledgling Fox network, the concept didn\u2019t meld so naturally with its other programming such as\u00a0Married…With Children<\/em>. Wolf remembers then-network head Barry Diller raving over the idea before deciding it wasn\u2019t \u201ca Fox show.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Wolf took the idea to CBS, which ordered a pilot. The CBS execs liked the episode starring Chris Noth and George Dzundza, but \u201cdidn\u2019t put it on because there were no breakout stars,\u201d according to Wolf.<\/p>\n

By the summer of 1989, the show had landed at NBC, where it wowed then-president Warren Littlefield with its split focus and its broad appeal. Finally, the show had a home.<\/p>\n