“Law & Order: Criminal Intent” will remain on the case for another season on USA Network.
The show has been renewed for a 16-episode eighth year, the network said Thursday.
Part of the three-series “Law & Order” franchise created by Dick Wolf, “Criminal Intent” originally aired on NBC. But when the network decided that this season’s schedule had room for only two of the shows, a deal was struck to air “Criminal Intent” first on USA, then on NBC.
NBC and USA are corporate cousins within NBC Universal, and “Criminal Intent” reruns on USA already had proved among its most popular programming.
“We’re thrilled to have ’Law & Order: Criminal Intent’ for another season,” Bonnie Hammer, president of NBCU Cable Entertainment & Cable Studio, said in a statement, adding that USA “forged new ground” by debuting what had been an established network series.
Wolf, executive producer of the “Law & Order” shows, said in a statement that “Criminal Intent” has “thrived in its new home on USA and will for years to come.”
The new order from USA trims the series from the 22 episodes that were ordered for the seventh season. The show returns Sunday, June 8, after a break.
“Criminal Intent,” which looks at cases from both the perspective of police and lawbreakers, stars Vincent D’Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe, Julianne Nicholson and Eric Bogosian. Chris Noth, of the “Sex and the City” TV show and movie, also stars.
Both “Law & Order” and spinoff “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” will return to NBC next season.
It will be season 19 for the original series, second only to “Gunsmoke,” which aired from 1955 to 1975, as the longest-running network TV drama series. “Special Victims Unit” will be in its 10th year.