Although Law & Order: Organized Crime season 5 has not yet been renewed, a new report offers an update that could include a surprise streaming move.
Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler in Law and Order Organized Crime
SUMMARY
Law & Order: Organized Crime season 5 is still on the bubble at NBC.
The show’s success on Peacock suggests that it has a possible streaming future if canceled.
If it becomes a Peacock exclusive, the future of Organized Crime could look very different.
The future of Law & Order: Organized Crime has gotten an intriguing update. The show is the sixth spinoff of the franchise and one of just three that remain on the air, a roster which also includes the flagship show and Special Victims Unit. Although OC follows serialized storylines as opposed to the episodic scenarios presented by the other shows in the universe, it frequently features crossovers with those shows and, in fact, lead character Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) originated on SVU, having been a lead character for the show’s first 12 seasons.
Per Deadline, Law & Order: Organized Crime season 5 is still on the bubble. In fact, it is the only scripted drama about which NBC has not made a decision, though the comedies Extended Family, Lopez vs Lopez, and Night Court are also pending renewal. Reportedly, the serialized drama has proven to be more of a hit via streaming on Peacock than it has in the network ratings, so if the network cancels the show, it could be picked up for streaming and find new life on the NBCUniversal-branded platform.
Law & Order: Organized Crime Could Look Very Different On Peacock
The Law & Order Spinoff Could Thrive, But A Lot Would Probably Have To Change
Elliot Stabler Standing and Speaking in Law and Order Organized Crime season 4 episode 2
The reported streaming success of the Organized Crime spinoff could be due to a variety of reasons. However, it is entirely possible that the primary reason is that viewers have found a binge-watching approach to be more satisfying for that particular program, due to the way the stories for each episode flow into one another week over week. This could also be leading viewers to wait until the entire season is on streaming so it can be binged all at once, which may be another reason why the network is dragging their feet on a renewal.
A potential Law & Order: Organized Crime streaming future could help it retain the online audience it has already built. However, depending on the habits of those viewers, it might behoove Peacock to release the entire season at once so it can be binged in one steady stream. While the streamer has experimented with modified weekly releases for some of their shows, they have used single-season drops to debut quite a few shows, including Apples Never Fall and Queer as Folk.
Poker Face was one of the Peacock shows to use a modified release, dropping four episodes on its debut, followed by weekly drops for the remainder of the season.
However, this type of release could negatively limit the ways that the show can interact with the other shows in the universe, preventing future events like the Law & Order crossover finale in 2023. Should an entire season of Law & Order: Organized Crime drop at once, this would prevent it from chronologically lining up with the weekly episodes of the other two shows. While this wouldn’t necessarily derail crossovers on either end, it would force the timelines of the shows to contort in ways that are less efficient and more confusing than the current network crossovers.
