The current rumor flying out of Hollywood is the cancellation of NBC's "Law & Order" after 20 yrs. Ouch. While no longer the fan that I was of the series, (with all due respect to the current lineup of personnel), the last two years of"Law & Order" seem to be beyond the long -in-the-tooth category & moving into the Polident generation. Perhaps it's a burn out caused by the never ending marathons on TNT.
The crux of this rant is about the short sightedness (if rumor becomes fact), of another TV network having cranial-rectal inversion.
Currently tied with "Gunsmoke" as the longest running prime time drama in all of TV history. This series has done an incredible job of being entertaining & informative, not to mention offering some of the best acting performances by both regular cast & guest stars.
If NBC has a brain, (doubtful) the network should order 13 weeks of new episodes for 2011-2012. What looks better on your resume? Hosting a drama series tied for the longest prime time run, or hosting the drama series with the LONGEST PRIME TIME RUN in all of television's history.
Who's your head of programming? Jay Leno?
NBC at one time considered to be the network to beat, has recently fallen from grace. No longer innovative or creative (Today, Tonight, Hill Street Blues, Cheers, Meet The Press, SNL etc.), it has become at best, a vapid shadow of its former self.
"Law & Order" has generated millions of $ for the peacock network over the last 20 yrs. It has become legendary.
With the cost of television series production soaring, it has become cheaper to market "reality shows", sub-standard entertainment & rehashed ideas. I suppose this is to be expected in today's world. The last thing one has come to expect from any corporation is loyalty.

"In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories."

Van Buren & McCoy etc.
You Will be missed.

Fox News is being called a lot of things: Fox Noise, Fux News etc.
Well there is definitely one thing you can't call them, & that's News.
In their latest "fair & balanced", "we report, you decide" sham, Fox gave air time to the failed former Director of FEMA, Mike Brown. You remember him? He worked under the failed former President W.
This loony piece of excrement went on an unfounded (other then the fact that "righties" really hate Obama) rant blaming the current administration for the current oil spill in the Gulf. The secret agenda of President Obama & his Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel was to politicize the disaster & use it to "bankrupt the coal industry"(direct quote). Loony went on to accuse Obama of everything except donning scuba gear & blowing up the oil rig himself.
Calling this a rant is being charitable. This mother was almost foaming at the mouth while he spewed his hatred for Obama.
Side bar: Chris Matthews of MSNBC later that day had loony Brown on to repeat these allegations. One of Matthews self promoting commercials states, that he, Chris Matthews gets to the truth & won't let guests get away with any crap, coz "he will call them out" Watching that interview was a lesson in how not to do your journalistic job. Christ, Larry King would have done a more credible interview. Maybe Matthews was off his game due to disbelief over the pure bullshit & hatred coming out of Brown's pie hole.
Side Bar #2: Politically, I lean a tad ,a smidge, a jot, a whit left of center. That makes me, according to certain elements in this country, "A liberal".
On most social issues that is probably true. If not wanting intrusion from the government or others into my or anyone's private life (including the bedroom), then I'm a liberal. However, I'm so fiscally conservative that I make $crooge McDuck look like a spendthrift. I don't want to continue wasting tax dollers on failed programs designed to help someone "get a leg up". Win or lose, let us live our lives.
After watching the Brown carnival & the actual lack of any challenge to this hatred, I'm so ticked off, that I hereby now declare myself, a full fledged, 100% died- in-the-wool liberal. In the words of President Geo. W. Bush,"Thanks Brownie, you're doing a heckava job".
Side bar#3: To all the hate spewing "righties", Beck, Limbaugh, Brown, Bachmann, Colter, Ingraham, Fox News & others of their ilk... in the words of the great American John Stewart, " Go fuck yourself".