Key to series longevity? It's the writing, stupid

updated 1:22 p.m. ET Dec. 13, 2006

LOS ANGELES - “Ugly Betty,” “Heroes” and other shiny new TV series are showered with magazine covers, network promotional campaigns and enviable buzz.

But there are shows with something these babes-in-arms can only dream of: A track record stretching over years and hundreds of episodes, and the enduring loyalty of viewers.

How do 20th-century shows like “ER,” now in its 13th season, and “Law & Order,” which first aired in 1990, keep going?

“The most important thing — and it doesn’t matter if it’s season 17 or the first season — it’s the writing, stupid,” said “Law & Order” impresario Dick Wolf.

Wolf is the creator and executive producer of the original series and its younger, also impressively durable siblings, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (eight seasons) and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (six seasons).

Given that the majority of shows quickly crash and burn, survival demands more than reliable storytelling. Legal and medical shows have a better shot at longevity as a parade of criminals and patients help keep staleness at bay.

That also helps ratings stay at respectable if not blockbuster levels. “Law & Order” (10 p.m. EST Friday) is averaging about 10.5 million viewers this season, compared to a top-rated show like “Grey’s Anatomy” and its nearly 21.5 million weekly viewers.

Character- and issue-driven vehicles have a shorter shelf life than formula shows, said David E. Kelley, whose mastery of the perishable genres was on display in “Picket Fences” and the lovelorn-lawyers series “Ally McBeal.”

The latter’s focus was “gender politics and the romantic lives of our characters that we would explore through legal cases,” Kelley said. “But every show revolved around that romantic nucleus, and I didn’t see 100 (episodes) of those at all at the beginning.”

Knowing when to say when
He believes “Ally McBeal” should have ended in its fourth year with a wedding between Ally (Calista Flockhart) and a beau played by Robert Downey Jr., but it didn’t pan out; efforts to revitalize the show in year five went awry with a flood of new characters.

“It just wasn’t the same show,” Kelley said. “When you have a character-based series, the audience really wants to be with those characters. It’s not that you can’t introduce new ones. In fact, it’s a good thing. But you have to introduce them almost as a garnish to the meal and not change the meal.”

There is a delicate balance of familiarity and freshness that has to be maintained to keep the support of viewers and thus the network, the producers say — and Wolf offers his own food metaphor.

“Any successful show is a souffle, and if you change the recipe it may not rise the same in the oven. Having said that, there are certain things that can get tweaked that keep the essential architecture there but make it seem fresh.”

NBC’s “Law & Order” and “ER” both have undergone regular, substantial cast changes. “ER” lost George Clooney, along with the rest of its original stars, and lived to tell the tale. “Law & Order” is famous for the revolving door that brings in new prosecutors and police.

“Losing cast members is a painful thing for the audience and for the show and it worries you,” said David Zabel, executive producer for “ER.” But it can also be a boon for a drama that relies as much on character arcs as medicine, he said.

“As good as the actors were that we’ve lost, we’ve been able to add really strong actors and develop new kinds of characters and story lines,” he said. “That helps avoid stagnancy and keeps the audience energized and feeling like they’re getting something new and not the same repetitive thing over and over.”

John Stamos (“Jake in Progress,” “Full House”) is the latest addition to “ER,” joining as a series regular this season.

“In John’s case, what we saw was an actor who brought a real sense of play to the workplace of the show and had a lightness that is good for the show’s balance,” Zabel said. “But he’s also a really talented actor and people weren’t completely aware of that.”

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