Dennis Farina to possibly replace Jerry Orbach on Law & Order

From Yahoo News. I'm less than enthusiastic about the possible new cast member. How do you replace the great Jerry Orbach?

Hefty 'Law & Order' Franchise Renewal in Works

Tue May 4, 5:14 AM ET

By Cynthia Littleton and Nellie Andreeva

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Just as NBC and Universal are at the finish line on their long-awaited merger, the companies have to deal with some urgent criminal business.

Top executives are hunkering down with representatives for "Law & Order" creator Dick Wolf to hammer out a mammoth renewal deal for his three series as well as a formal pickup of a fourth installment, "Law & Order 4: Trial by Jury."

Nobody's talking on the record yet, but sources said the negotiations began to heat up late last month as NBC's most recent license agreement for "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" formally expired, thus putting pressure on the network to get a deal done before the May 17 presentation of its fall schedule to advertisers in New York.

Sources said executives at NBC and Universal TV, which produces the shows, sat down in the fall for preliminary discussions about the renewal, but the two sides were far apart on what constituted a fair price tag for the three shows -- which command a good chunk of NBC's weekly primetime real estate (especially when all the "L&O" repeats that dot NBC's schedule are factored in). Sources said the parties involved made significant progress last week toward a deal that is expected to wind up as a four- or five-season renewal for the three existing shows, even though "Law & Order" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" have at least one more season to go on their existing contracts.

Meanwhile, Jerry Orbach is understood to be in discussions to segue from the "Law & Order" mothership to "Trial by Jury," which is expected to be a midseason entry for NBC next year. And sources also said that veteran actor Dennis Farina is in talks to join the ensemble of "Law & Order" to fill the void left by Orbach's droll Det. Lennie Briscoe.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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Does anyone know why there has not been any crossover episodes between the 3 shows during the past couple of seasons? There apparently was one in the works, in 2001, however 9-11 squashed that, as the plot line had something to do with terrorists. Law & Order had two great crossover episodes with Homicide: Life On The Streets in the late 1990s. L&O should do some more.

 

I agree Orbach is great, but if he's got to be replaced, Dennis Farina is not a bad choice. A good change of pace.

 

Agree. As much as I like Orbach, Farina will be a great fit. I've always liked the guy.

Dan C