NBC's Law & Order: Trial By Jury, a spinoff launched in 2004, was canceled after just one season due to poor ratings against CBS's Numb3rs. The show faced scheduling challenges exacerbated by the network's acquisition of Sunday Night Football. Producer Dick Wolf expressed shock at the decision.
The Law & Order franchise, a cornerstone of television since its debut, has spawned several successful spinoffs, including Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, both critically acclaimed for blending emotional narratives with the classic case-of-the-week format. In 2004, NBC introduced Law & Order: Trial By Jury as the next addition, building on this momentum with a focus on courtroom drama from both prosecution and defense perspectives.
The series featured familiar faces from the franchise, such as Fred Dalton Thompson reprising his role as ADA Arthur Branch and Jerry Orbach as Detective Lennie Briscoe. New additions included Bebe Neuwirth as Assistant D.A. Tracey Kibre, Amy Carlson as Assistant D.A. Kelly Gaffney, and Kirk Acevedo as Hector Salazar. Aired at 10 p.m. Eastern Time, the show aimed to deliver high-stakes legal cases but encountered immediate hurdles.
Debuting in 2005, it went head-to-head with CBS's Numb3rs, a surprise hit that dominated the time slot. This competition proved devastating for NBC's offering. Compounding the issue, the network prioritized its lucrative Sunday Night Football partnership, leaving little room to reposition the struggling series.
After airing only 13 episodes, NBC pulled the plug. Dick Wolf, the franchise's producer, told Entertainment Weekly he had "never been this shocked by a corporate decision." Ratings ultimately dictated the outcome, highlighting the cutthroat nature of broadcast television in the mid-2000s.
