Law & Order: SVU renewed for season 19; Mariska Hargitay series lives on
This renewal does not have a strict episode count just yet, but anticipate it being relatively similar to most others SVU is tied this season for NBC’s #3 scripted drama with Chicago PD, and it continues to be an anchor in syndication and a strong performer in repeats for them. This is without even going into the tremendous social impact on the show, which featured a cameo from former Vice President Joe Biden and all of the charity work done by Hargitay and others.
Not only is this a smart, compelling show that NBC profits tremendously from, but it’s also one that is necessary to further discussions of sexual assault prevention. NBC wins in every measure. Same goes for viewers, since it’s hard to imagine the show not being a part of the pop-culture consciousness.
Historically, there is great significance to the series’ renewal given that it is now one season away from matching the original twenty seasons for the flagship show, and the twenty seasons for another long-running series in Gunsmoke, which somehow did approximately one million episodes (slight exaggeration) during that time. There was a post on this site days ago advocating for a two-season renewal to get SVU to that mark; while this didn’t happen, it’s still easy to express gratitude to the show’s network partners for continuing to have faith in it. The same goes for Rick Eid, Julie Martin, the remainder of the production team, and of course the cast for putting out thought-provoking stories.
With this renewal, the only Dick Wolf-produced NBC drama waiting to see its fate revealed in Chicago Justice. The remainder of the One Chicago franchise was previously renewed.
There are three more episodes of SVU to go this season, including the upcoming “Conversation” airing next week.
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(Photo: NBC.)