Different Treatment for End of Lost and Law & Order

As the 2009-2010 television season winds down, a number of shows have aired their last new episodes. Cancelled. Two notable shows in particular come to my mind. Lost and Law & Order. While I’ve written about Law & Order and its abrupt cancellation, I have not mentioned Lost before. But I have been a fan of both shows since their first episodes. The thing is, one show, Lost, got a fitting send-off. Law & Order got nothing. Really makes it seem under-appreciated.

The well-publicized plan has long been that Lost would end this season. The often convoluted but captivating story was brought to a thought-provoking and beautiful 2½ hour conclusion on Sunday night. There was even a two-hour recap of Lost with its creators and actors before the final episode. A time to share and remember an amazing six years.

Cast of Lost - Season 6

For all the accolades and tons of money in syndication that Law & Order has generated for 20 years, it concluded last night with no fanfare, no retrospective, no final interviews or thoughts about the show and its impact on popular culture. Just their regularly planned season finale that became the de facto series finale as well, when it was cancelled less than two weeks ago. Talk about not planning ahead.

And in case one thinks it’s just a different network mentality or something, that ABC treats its shows more ceremoniously than NBC, one only has to look back one year to when ER ended. NBC gave it lots of promotion and had countdowns for remaining episodes, tributes along the way, and even aired a retrospective for the hour before the two-hour series finale. While Lost was on for six seasons, and ER for 15 seasons, Law & Order enjoyed a near record-breaking 20 seasons. How was its treatment right? I don’t begrudge the former two their retrospectives and special finales, I’m grateful these other two favourites were given such salutes. What is unfair in my opinion is that Law & Order just stopped. You’d never have known the series was over if you hadn’t heard about it somewhere else. They didn’t even do one of those little “Thanks for the Memories” graphics at the close of the final episode.
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Cast of Law & Order - Season 20

Some may say that with the two shows, one being so serialized, the other much more self-contained each episode, one should expect a grand finale for the former, and just another one episode arc from the latter. But I disagree, obviously. There were ongoing questions and stories to be explored and wrapped up with Law & Order too. If there’s no reprieve of any kind, the show will never have the conclusion it deserves.

The only consolation I have is that Law & Order’s last episode, “Rubber Room,” did have a group scene at the end, and there was some good news/resolution for one of the character’s health issues. So we got to see everyone together at least for a moment, celebrating. For that, I’m grateful. I suppose I should be especially grateful given reports that those involved, expecting to reunite once again in late summer to begin a 21^st and record-breaking season, would have had no need to film even a vague conclusion. So I’m grateful for what little resolution we got. For who would have thought NBC would choose to not break a record and have the longest running prime time drama ever?

Instead, it will go down in the annals of television history as being both tied with Gunsmoke as the longest running prime time drama, and treated at the end like any number of fly-by-night series that only last a year or two and are quickly forgotten. That’s not television justice, or justice of any kind. So may I add my voice, to the leagues of others who have rallied around the show to show support, and say to everyone who has ever been involved with Law & Order, “Thank you for 20 great years of thought-provoking and captivating drama. No sequel will ever eclipse you. You will be missed.”