Instead of going to NBC as expected, Law & Order: Hate Crimes may find its first home on Peacock, NBC Universal's streaming service. The latest spinoff of NBC's flagship Law & Order series has been in development for almost two years, with no premiere date in sight. A platform shift is only the latest problem for the spinoff, on top of it being superseded by another Law & Order spinoff seemingly taking precedence at NBC.
The idea behind Hate Crimes is that it would follow in the footsteps of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which is arguably more popular than the original show, already renewed for three new seasons (which will get the season count of the series to 24). While SVU deals with crimes of a sexual nature, abuse and crimes involving children, the elderly and the disabled, Hate Crimes would deal with criminal acts that are discriminatory, usually based on race, religion or sexuality.
While NBC has been the home of the entire Law & Order franchise, the delicate nature of Hate Crimes may necessitate a move to Peacock. TVLine reports that Warren Leight, who serves as the SVU showrunner, told THR's Top 5 podcast that the language involved in discussing hate crimes may not be appropriate for network television. He also stated that the show seemed to be a better fit for Peacock while stopping short of making an official announcement that Hate Crimes would make its way to the new streaming service.
I think it was perceived to be a better fit with Peacock. The vocabulary people use when they commit hate crimes is not acceptable on network television, and that’s an interesting consideration.
Leight makes an interesting point about the language involved in hate crimes. While the crimes taking place in SVU are of a graphic nature, since they aren't being seen in explicit detail, it's sanitized enough to air on NBC. Hate crimes, on the other hand, often go hand-in-hand with hate speech, which would not be allowed to air on network television. It would lose some impact, however, if censors needed to cut out the words being spoken. In this way, a move to streaming may be to the advantage of Hate Crimes.
The biggest obstacle in the way of the development of Hate Crimes right now is the reintroduction of Christopher Meloni to the Law & Order universe. His character Elliott Stabler was the star of the first 12 seasons of SVU and now has a spinoff of his own in development. The surefire ratings draw of Meloni has pushed that spinoff past Hate Crimes in the development hierarchy. A move to Peacock could allow Law & Order: Hate Crimes an opportunity to develop separately and draw in a different kind of audience.
Source: TVLine
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/2YcuBPc
0 Comments