'Law' back in 'Order'

This week, CBS and NBC seemed to prepare for the possibility of a long strike by releasing new winter schedules chock-full of reality TV. But one scripted series producer got some very good news. Dick Wolf — who just 18 months ago made an 11th-hour deal that spared his 18-year-old legal drama Law & Order and its 7-year-old sibling  Law & Order: Criminal Intent — is "absolutely delighted" to see his flagship series return to its old Wednesdays-at-10 time slot on Jan. 2. (Reruns of Intent, which debuted on USA earlier this fall, will join the Wednesday lineup on Jan. 9.) NBC had previously announced it would slate the show on Sundays this winter. But now that Life has gone dark and NBC needs original scripted fare, Wolf has an ideal slot to introduce new cast members like Jeremy Sisto (Six Feet Under) as Det. Cyrus Lupo. "We’ll be on against a lot of reruns," Wolf says. "I don’t think [the strike] will hurt it." He adds that the two shows have remained in production during the work stoppage, though he won’t say how many episodes have been completed.