When the 1980s gave way to the `90s, there were few shows more defining than “Thirtysomething,” a thoughtful, emotional drama about baby boomers struggling to balance their youth`s rebellion against the counterculture with the materialistic success of their Reagan-era adulthood. Although the series has been available digitally in the past – and has been released on DVD by several specialist labels – it is currently without a streaming house, depriving modern audiences of this ever-relevant portrait of middle-aged fear. Based on a book by “Wire” creator David Simon, “Homicide: Life on the Street” is one of the toughest police trials on television. The entire series has been released twice on DVD by two different companies. But while NBC is one of many entities that own a piece of “Homicide,” it didn`t mention that its new Peacock service carries the series. (Similarly, NBC`s cult favorite “Freaks and Geeks” disappeared from Netflix last year and currently has no obvious streaming at home, on Peacock or elsewhere.) Like any good detective, we began our hunt for the truth by tracking down all the obvious suspects in The Case of Where is L&O? After all, this isn`t the first time the boss – uh, our editor – has attributed to us the rhythm of the missing shows. Unfortunately, the usual culprits do not seem to apply in Law & Order. While music rights and the costs associated with preparing an older show for the digital age have delayed or prevented some classic series from landing (or even launching on DVD) a streaming house, these are not factors in Law & Order. By the end of 2014, the show`s first eight seasons were an integral part of Netflix. And then they simply disappeared, forcing diehard fans who wanted on-demand access to the OG L&O team to buy digital downloads of each episode or pay $300 for the series` entire DVD collection. (For the rare reruns of the original series, you can watch on the Ion Broadcast network or on cable via AMC Networks` We and Sundance channels, the latter offering a handful of rotating episodes for on-demand streaming.) All of this isn`t to say L&O won`t be back on a streaming platform in the future, maybe even soon.
As mentioned earlier, all CSR seasons now air on Hulu. Given that CSR will match all 20 seasons of L&O this spring, it`s clearly not impossible for a streaming platform to absorb the cost of such a long series. NBCUniversal could also decide to set the price of the original series at a cheaper price, prompting Hulu, Amazon or Netflix to strike a deal for the series. (It`s worth mentioning: Amazon Prime Video executives now include at least two former NBC executives who worked closely with Wolf, though there`s no sign they`re even considering making a deal for L&O.) The joy of streaming means that many popular shows from your past can be watched and relived over and over again. It also means that this convenience makes beloved shows that aren`t yet available for streaming (or at least aren`t available anymore) stand out even more blatantly. Why can`t everything be streamed easily? That`s the age of Peak TV! With the arrival of Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus — and with NBC`s HBO Max and Peacock next year — we`re approaching a time when nearly every major media conglomerate will have their own subscription streaming service. But for various reasons, some popular TV series remain locked up. The sitcom that made Robin Williams a star was once available on Hulu. But while the show seems natural for CBS All Access (since it`s co-owned by Paramount and distributed by CBS in syndication), its streaming status is mysteriously at stake. However, the most likely path to streaming for Law & Order appears to be via ad-supported streaming platform NBCUniversal, parent company Comcast, which plans to launch next year.
Just as Disney began taking its big movie titles from Netflix to promote its next Netflix Disney+ alternative, Comcast may want to make the original L&O one of the centerpieces of its own service. It would still come at a cost, as Wolf has an interest in the series and would certainly demand fair compensation. But NBC has already had discussions with Wolf about leveraging its brand features (which now include the Chicago series) to create value for the company`s content platforms. A few years ago, there were reports that Wolf and NBC were in talks to turn the Oxygen cable channel into a real-life crime ring centered on Wolf. While Oxygen made change a crime, wolf tagging never happened. But the fact that such conversations have taken place underscores why NBC Universal/Comcast wants to find a way to put as much of the Wolf Films library — including L&O — on a new service as possible. Assuming the notoriously independent-minded wolf thinks the same way, this could be the path by which Law & Order detectives finally return to the streaming universe. To unravel this mystery, we first contacted NBCUniversal staff, who produced the show and control the streaming rights.
Big companies aren`t used to complaining freely about how they handle their various creative traits, so we didn`t expect the Comcast-owned company to make a lengthy statement detailing what happened to such an important asset. But a company spokesperson responded to our questions with a superficial “no comment.” Two different representatives of Dick Wolf also remained silent when we asked for advice, declining to provide general information about the factors that prevented the series from streaming or future plans to bring it back into digital ether. Fun fact: This legendary NBC crime drama starring Andre Braugher is based on David Simon`s book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, which was to form the basis of HBO`s The Wire. What a tree of incredible talent this book has produced. The series originally aired from 1993 to 1999 and was largely an NBC production. However, Homicide isn`t among the many titles coming to NBCUniversal`s upcoming streaming service, Peacock. Instead, launch these credit cards to buy the complete series on DVD and Blu Ray. J.J.`s spy thriller Abrams and Jennifer Garner was a hit on ABC during its five seasons in the early 2000s. Although the series has appeared regularly on streaming platforms, it is currently not available for frenzy.
But don`t worry, because it`s supposed to arrive on Amazon Prime on May 11. In the meantime, you can still buy the DVD box. That`s because in the TV syndication industry — also known as the life of a show once it finishes its first series — its financial value is directly tied to the number of episodes it has produced. This was true even in the days leading up to streaming: cable networks like TBS struck deals on hit sitcoms like Friends or The Big Bang Theory years before their broadcasts ended, agreeing to pay a fee per episode based on the number of episodes eventually produced. Broadcasters didn`t care, as more episodes meant more potential advertising revenue could be gleaned from their linear schedules. But in the world of streaming, bigger isn`t always better. You have never heard of this serious legal tragedy? Then, you probably don`t know that Steven Spielberg had one of his first directing assignments on “Owen Marshall” or that the series featured the first TV appearances of Farrah Fawcett and John Travolta. It`s the kind of fascinating but barely remembered series that frustrating streaming services ignore, even when there are no restricted rights. It`s a rhetorical question, but the real answer to why we can`t have it all now is a mix of music rights, distribution rights, storage of certain shows for certain streaming services, or a mix of all three. While some of these shows, as we mentioned earlier, are available for digital purchase, you need to keep those royalty cheques! — It is not possible to obtain them in their entirety as part of a current subscription. That L&O left Netflix in 2014 is not particularly surprising.