THE reigning king of TV law-and-order drama just picked astreet fight with “CSI.” Dick Wolf, creator of the three “Law & Order” shows, mouthed off at a television critics conference recently, belittling the ever-expanding world of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” and ripping it as a cookie-cutter crime franchise.
“Let me explain it,” says Wolf. ” ‘CSI’ is a franchise like the Palm restaurant. If you go to Los Angeles, if you go to Chicago, you get a great steak. The only thing that changes are the caricatures on the wall. “‘Law & Order’ is a brand. Hopefully, it’s the Mercedes- Benz of television shows. Each of the shows is distinctly different. They have distinctly different attitudes.”
While Wolf may have butchered the brand-vs.-franchise metaphor (a brand is generic, while a franchise connotes at least some unique quality), his message is clear: “Law & Order” and its offspring, “Special Victims Unit” and “Criminal Intent” have individual appeal, while “CSI” and its successors, “CSI: Miami” and this fall’s “CSI: NY” do not.
Despite Wolf’s arrogant claim, CBS executives and “CSI” producers were remarkably deferential to the tough-talking production czar – although CBS chief Les Moonves said the “Law & Order” ruler is clearly worried that his kingdom might be overthrown.
“Dick Wolf is one of the greatest producers in the history of network television and ‘Law & Order’ is a spectacular show,” says Moonves, co-president and co-COO of CBS parent Viacom. “Clearly, he showed that he’s a little worried about ‘CSI’ by those remarks.”
‘CSI’ co-creator Anthony Zuiker took the potshot in stride, going so far as to say that being mentioned in the same breath as Wolf was a compliment.
“The one thing I learned about this whole situation is there’s no such thing as competition – there’s just good company,” Zuiker says, somewhat disingenuously. “If we can emulate onetenth of what that man has done, we will be in great shape.”
The “L&O” vs. “CSI: NY” battle will take center stage this fall at 10 p.m. on Wednesdays. One is a staid, venerable warhorse whose courtroom setting is getting a little dusty and whose cast is getting so old that its most durable members, such as Jerry Orbach, have left the show. The other is a gleaming motorcycle steered by a sexy cast that includes theater god Gary Sinise and sensuously beautiful Melina Kanakaredes.
Despite this ammuntion, Moonves concedes that he doesn’t expect “CSI: NY” to win that time slot, but hopes the race is tight.
“‘CSI: NY’ is not going to beat ‘Law & Order.’ However, it is going to do better than we’ve done in that time period in decades, so it’s very exciting to be able to attack that.”
