On September 29, 2010, the fourth spinoff of Law & Order, Law & Order: Los Angeles, debuted on NBC. The pilot aired after its sister show, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where it got a backdoor introduction when Skeet Ulrich guest-starred on that night's SVU episode. The show itself harkened back to the same premise as the original series, focusing first on the crime and the detectives, then on the prosecuting lawyers. It was also the first show to take place outside the setting of New York (unless you count the British adaptation, Law & Order: UK).
What Was Law & Order: Los Angeles?
Law & Order: LA was an attempt to spin the franchise outside the familiar territory of New York City into another urban environment. While the show kept the original Law & Order show's structure, something the other spinoffs veered away from, the spinoff's tone was quite different. As it was set in Los Angeles, there was an undercurrent of the rich and famous throughout, and several episodes depicted high-profile crimes, celebrities, and powerful people.
The series followed two detectives, Tomas Jaruszalski, portrayed by Corey Stoll, and Rex Winters, played by Skeet Ulrich, as they investigated these crimes before it shifted over to the DA's office, where Alfred Molina's character, Senior D.D.A. Ricardo Morales, took over for the criminal prosecution. The show also starred Peter Coyote as the DA and Megan Boone (of The Blacklist fame) as Lauren Stanton. This cast only lasted for the first part of the season, though, as the episode "Zuma Canyon" saw Rex Winters killed off and the departure of several other cast members.
Why Was Law & Order: Los Angeles Canceled?
Law & Order: LA started strong when it debuted, with over 10 million viewers, but over the next few episodes, it experienced a sharp decline in ratings. So why didn't viewers embrace the show? Part of the reason was the attempt to recapture the format of the original Law & Order. Comparisons were inevitable, especially since the original was canceled around the time Law & Order: LA debuted. Unfortunately, the spinoff didn't live up to standard, giving viewers storylines that felt superficial and lacked the dramatic gravitas of its predecessors. And without the added benefit of a franchise crossover, the show failed to stand on its own.
Another issue came from the lack of character development. The detective characters were bland, and Skeet Ulrich's low-key performance as Rex Winters didn't help. Even when he was written out, the shakeup only made things worse. The shuffling of Ricardo Morales from the DA's office back to detective and the removal of other characters, plus the introduction of new faces, made it difficult for viewers to care.
The early declining ratings led to a creative overhaul in January 2011, but it was too little, too late. Instead of developing the existing characters and giving them more depth and better plot lines, they went for the quick fix and jettisoned cast members, including Skeet Ulrich, Regina Hall and Megan Boone, bringing in new actors such as Terrence Howard and having Alana De La Garza reprise her Law & Order role as Junior D.D.A. Connie Rubirosa. Coupled with a hiatus from December to April and a change in the schedule that left them without the strong SVU lead-in, the ratings took a huge drop.
This upended any investment viewers still had, and they lost interest. To make things even more confusing, episodes shot before Skeet Ulrich's character was killed were skipped to air the new format but then later aired out of order. Mishandled from the outset, Law & Order: Los Angeles was a mess of confusing continuity and missed potential.