- Contributed
(From left) Fred Dalton Thompson, Sam Waterston and Alana De La Garza star in Law & Order, Fridays, on NBC.

Jay Bobbin, Tribune Media Services

NBC is maintaining 'Order' this season, but on a different night. Law & Order, the time-tested drama series that launched an oft-cloned franchise, has left its traditional Wednesday slot for Friday in its 17th year.

Two major cast changes have marked the move. Alana De La Garza (CSI: Miami) is playing the newest member of the prosecution team that still includes Sam Waterston and Fred Dalton Thompson; and Milena Govich, relocated by executive producer Dick Wolf from last season's Conviction, has joined Jesse L. Martin to form the homicide-detective team overseen by S. Epatha Merkerson's character.

The casting process goes on almost 52 weeks a year, Wolf says. The mandate is to find the best actor for the role. I don't really worry about where they've been before. If they are available and they are good, you want to use them in the show.

Wolf often is forced to make such changes, since Law & Order regulars frequently leave after a couple of years, as evidenced most recently by Dennis Farina and Annie Parisse.

The producer labels Parisse, killed off as Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Borgia last spring, one of the role models of how to leave a show. She came to us last January and said, "Look, I'm a little bit frustrated. I've had to pass on some movie projects. I don't know if it's realistic, but I would really like to leave at the end of the season."

It wasn't like, "I want to quit. I don't like you guys." She gave us plenty of time. She was totally on-board with her character dying in (her) last episode. Frankly, I think she did a fantastic job, and it was Sam's most emotional episode in his 12 or 13 seasons. You can't kill off your characters every week, though.

Maybe not, but you can still replace them, as proven by the two Law & Order spinoffs NBC airs Tuesdays. Connie Nielsen (Gladiator) is doing a multiple-episode arc as Christopher Meloni's temporary partner - while new mom and recent Emmy winner Mariska Hargitay's alter ego is ostensibly under cover - on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Another Conviction alumna, Julianne Nicholson, has taken over from Annabella Sciorra alongside Chris Noth on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Also on that show, Eric Bogosian has succeeded Jamey Sheridan as the police captain in charge.

Jamey said, "Look, I'm done. I want to do other things," Wolf reports. He's living in California. He was going back and forth (to New York, where the Law & Order series are filmed). There is a different reason for almost every cast change.

The same can apply to a long-established series switching nights. I don't get a vote in scheduling, Wolf asserts, but I would point out that between the three shows, I think we've been in every time slot except Sunday at 7 and Thursday at 8 or 9.

And then, there are the ever-present repeats of the various Law & Order programmes on Bravo, TNT and USA Network. Many nights in prime time, all three shows are on simultaneously, Wolf notes. Based on the fact that U.S.A. and TNT are the No. 1 and No. 2 cable networks, it doesn't seem to bother (viewers). I think there are people out there who would watch three hours (of the Law & Order franchise) in a row.