Law & Order (season 20)
| Law & Order (season 20) | |
|---|---|
Season 20 U.S. DVD cover
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| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 23 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 25, 2009 – May 24, 2010 |
| Season chronology | |
The 20th and final season of Law & Order premiered on NBC on September 25, 2009, for which it was moved from its previous time slot to air on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET for the NBC broadcast.L&O was moved to Monday nights on March 1, 2010 with a two-hour telecast at 9 p.m. ET, before settling into its new time slot at 10 p.m. the following week, March 8.
During the season, The Jay Leno Show in primetime was cancelled and Leno returned to the 11:35 pm Tonight Show because of affiliate dissatisfaction. Three more episodes of Law & Order were ordered to fill the primetime gap, increasing the number of episodes for the season to 23.
In early January 2010, NBC initially announced they were going to renew Law & Order a 21st season. NBC's President of Primetime Entertainment at the time, Angela Bromstad, said, "I’m a "Law & Order" junkie... I wouldn’t want to be responsible for not having "Law & Order" break the record." However, on May 14, 2010, NBC abruptly cancelled Law & Order after 20 seasons on the air, tying it with Gunsmoke as American network television's longest-running, regularly scheduled primetime drama. The final episode aired on NBC on May 24, 2010.
The late announcement of the cancellation resulted in Law & Order not having a "series finale" episode. Had the series continued, it would have been the last to feature S. Epatha Merkerson, who prior to the cancellation announcement had herself announced that she would not return for the 21st season.
Although NBC cancelled Law & Order, AMC Network investigated its revival; however, attempts to revive it failed, and according to series creator Dick Wolf, the series has now "moved to the history books".
This season, Law & Order's notable guest stars included Annaleigh Ashford, David Alan Basche, Ned Eisenberg, Camille Chen, John Bolger, Sean Nelson, Portia Reiners, Jim Gaffigan, Richard Thomas, Bill Sage, Deirdre O'Connell, Rob Corddry, Jenna Stern, Kate Burton, Elliott Gould, Raúl Esparza, Samantha Bee, Rebecca Creskoff, Aaron Shaw, Debra Winger, Adriane Lenox, Julito McCullum, Tammy Blanchard, Tony Hale, Tony Roberts, Robin Weigert, Mark Linn-Baker, Clea DuVall, Doug E. Doug, David Costabile, Anna Gunn, Lindsey Vonn, Kathy Baker, Ben Schnetzer, Jonathan Cake, Amy Madigan, Ernie Hudson, and Benjamin Bratt.
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