NBC’s granting Law & Order creator Dick Wolf’s longtime wish: His series will, in fact, tie Gunsmoke‘s 20-season record, thanks to a renewal for next year that the net will announce today. Wolf totally deserves this televisual equivalent of a gold watch for 20 good years of service (and I will briefly pause while we all contemplate what L&O being on for two decades now says about how quickly our lives are slipping away and our own mortality is creeping up on us). Wolf has been with the network from the good times (the Seinfeldian ’90s) to the bad, plugging schedule leaks and stabilizing nights like few could. He perfected an age-old TV trope: Why not make episodes that always wrap up by the 60th minute and stand alone so they can repeat anytime, anyplace? Why not put plot before character so no actor is indispensable? You may not be a fan of the procedural — I’m not, because I dig the kind of character-driven, serialized stuff that, frankly, doesn’t always get big numbers. (RIP, Everwood and Veronica Mars.) But TV is for making money, and Wolf figured out how to work the business end of television artfully. So congrats, Mr. Wolf. (And we won’t think too hard about the fact that this order is apparently for 16 episodes, while Gunsmoke was churning out 24-a-season until the end.)
Whether the show itself truly deserves a pick-up is a tougher call. It’s not the ratings force it used to be, and it even has that whiff of is-that-still-on to those who don’t tune in regularly. But it can still hold down any timeslot, even as a repeat, better than a lot of untested new shows. And, well, it has Jeremy Sisto, who should always be on television so I can find him any time I want. What do you think, PopWatchers? Is more Law & Order in order? Does it deserve to tie — or, next year, break — the Gunsmoke record?
More TV news:
ABC announces fall schedule, ‘Ugly Betty’ moves to Fridays
Fox announces fall schedule, acknowledges Whedon fans
The Ausiello Files
Ausiello’s Fall TV cheat sheet
CBS picks up four new dramas, new Jenna Elfman comedy
Gallery: Inside the ‘NCIS’ spinoff
The teaser one-sheet for The Twilight Saga: New Moon, in theaters Nov. 20, has been released confirming what we long suspected — both Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) are hotter with shorter hair. At first glance, I thought this poster belonged to Lautner: The clenched fist and jaw, the bicep, the eye. (And again, the hair.) But then I looked closer at Pattinson, 
Well hello, my friends — oh how I’ve missed you. Just look what you people have done to me: This time last year I had never even blogged before and now I Twitter. I Twitter! What has happened to me? I’m so hip next thing you know I’ll be wearing Ed Hardy shirts and riding a motorcycle. (By the way guys, if that’s your thing no offense — women really love that!) The last season was so mentally and emotionally draining I wasn’t really sure I was ready to jump back in the water so quickly with another season. I arrived the first night and found Jillian getting her makeup done. She hopped up with that infectious smile of hers and gave me a big hug. She was a breath of fresh air, and I knew right then we were ready to go again. I’ve done so many interviews where I’ve tried to describe what’s so great about Jillian; the best way to sum it all up is what you see is what you get. She’s the real deal and any of these guys will be lucky to end up with her — and I’m truly hoping that happens. Notice I said hoping: For the first time in Bachelor/Bachelorette history, the show is premiering while we’re still in production. So if somebody tells you they know how all this ends, you should also ask them for future lottery ticket numbers. 
