Why the Law & Order: Organized Crime Showrunners Keep Changing
The hit spin-off is in big trouble.
When Christopher Meloni returned to his role as Elliot Stabler, fans were excited to see their favorite detective return to SVU full-time, as his chemistry with Olivia Benson was something they had been missing for some time. However, it was quickly revealed that Law & Order boss Dick Wolf had a different idea for how to use Meloni's talents - the producer opted to put the actor at the helm of his award-winning spin-off, Organized Crime, instead of keeping him on SVU as a second lead.
And fans were actually quite supportive of the idea, praising the new spin-off for its freshness and edgy storylines, even stating that it was even better than the original show and other L&W spin-offs. However, things quickly went sideways.
Behind the Scenes Drama
Don't get us wrong, the quality of the show itself and Meloni's performance remained the same for the first three seasons, but the sheer amount of behind-the-scenes drama made people wonder if the show would last.
When the first season of Organized Crime premiered on NBC in 2021, Ilene Chaiken served as showrunner, but that didn't last long as she was quickly replaced by Barry O'Brien, who was later fired in favor of Bryan Goluboff. But the showrunner debacle didn't end there, as Sean Jablonski stepped in to run the show after O'Brien left, but his reign didn't last long, as he was fired over creative differences with Meloni and Wolf.
After that, David Graziano became interim showrunner for the remainder of Season 3, and was recently replaced by John Shiban of Ozark and X-Files fame, who was confirmed to lead the show starting in Season 4.
Yes, 6 showrunners have changed during the first three seasons of the show, which means that Wolf and Meloni basically have no vision for the future of the show, which led them to get rid of everyone they don't agree with.
Hopefully, Shiban will prove to be the man for the job, and when the show returns to our screens sometime in 2024, fans won't be disappointed with his work.