12 years ago today, September 29, 2010,Law & Order: LA, originally titled Law & Order: Los Angeles, premiered. It is an American police procedural and legal drama television series set in Los Angeles, where it was produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and developed by Blake Masters, it premiered on NBC on September 29, 2010, as the fifth series in Wolf's Law & Order franchise. Law & Order: LA debuted after the original Law & Order ended its 20-year run the previous spring. The show received a full-season pickup on October 18, 2010. On January 18, 2011, however, NBC announced that it was putting the series on hold indefinitely. According to a representative of the show, the scheduling change was not caused entirely by the mid-season cast shake-up. The network later announced a return date for the series, April 11, 2011; and the final episode scheduled for July 11, 2011. On May 13, 2011, NBC canceled the series after one season.
The description of the series, posted on NBC's official website, reads, "From Dick Wolf, comes a foray into the glitz, glamour and guilt of Los Angeles. From the tony Beverly Hills to the seedy side of Hollywood, LAPD's elite Robbery Homicide Division is on the case. Fusing classic ripped-from-the-headlines storytelling with the backdrop of LA, the series delves into the high-profile crimes of the West Coast." The format is similar to the other Law & Order shows, though adapted to the Los Angeles criminal justice system: each episode starts by depicting a crime, then presents the LAPD investigation, the prosecution by the L.A. County District Attorney, and the trial in the Los Angeles Superior Court. The crimes prosecuted are codified in the California Penal Code. As in other L.A. police procedural shows, crimes are sometimes referred to by their Penal Code section numbers.
Law & Order: LA is the only American Law & Order series set outside of New York City.
An opening narration was not used for the first two episodes. Starting with the third episode, the Steven Zirnkilton narration for the original Law & Order is used. The narration was modified after the hiatus to explicitly mention Los Angeles.
Originally, the series was the first in the franchise not to use a full-length theme showcasing each of the cast members. Instead, this variant utilized a short opening that displayed only the show's title and "Created by Dick Wolf". Starting with the sixth episode, this short opening was dropped completely; the series' cast is presented during the show's first act, before the episode's list of guest stars and crew.
With the cast changes after the hiatus, a full title sequence similar to the other series in the franchise was introduced. The show opens with a night view of the city skyline in gold. As the narration is spoken, labels of areas in and around the city appear as if floating above; from those letters float together to form the series title. After the opening scene in which the crime is established, a credits sequence shows the series' principals in slow motion while a faint arrangement of the traditional Law & Order theme plays.
The show continues to use the iconic Friz Quadrata typeface that is used throughout the Law & Order franchise for its credits.