Editing Law & Order (section)

===History and development===
In 1988, [[Dick Wolf]] developed a concept for a new television series that was going to depict a relatively optimistic picture of the American criminal justice system. He initially toyed with the idea of calling it ''Night & Day'' but then hit upon the title ''Law & Order''. The first half of each episode was going to follow two homicide detectives (a senior and a junior [[detective]]) and their commanding officer as they were investigating a violent crime.

The second half of the episode was going to follow the district attorney's office and the courts as two prosecutors, with advice from the district attorney, were attempting to convict the accused. ''Law & Order'' was going to be able to investigate some of the larger issues of the day by focusing on stories that were based on real cases making headlines.{{sfn| Courrier | Green |1999|p=17}}

Wolf took the idea to then-president of [[Universal Television]] [[Kerry McCluggage]], who pointed out the similarity to a 1963 series titled ''[[Arrest and Trial]]'', which lasted one season. The two watched the pilot of that series, in which a police officer ([[Ben Gazzara]]) arrested a man for armed robbery in the first half, and the defense attorney, played by [[Chuck Connors]], gets the perpetrator off as the wrong guy in the second half; this was the formula of the show every week.

Wolf decided that he wanted a fresh approach to the genre. His detectives occasionally were going to be fallible. He wanted to go from police procedural to prosecution with a greater degree of realism. The prosecution was going to be the hero, a reversal of the usual formula in lawyer dramas.{{sfn| Courrier | Green |1999|pp =17-18}}

[[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] initially ordered 13 episodes based on the concept alone, with no pilot. Then-network head [[Barry Diller]] reversed the decision. He did not believe it was a "Fox show", although he loved the idea. Wolf then went to [[CBS]], which ordered a pilot, "[[Everybody's Favorite Bagman]]", written by Wolf about corrupt city officials involved with the mob. The network liked the pilot but did not order it because there were no breakout stars.

NBC's top executives, [[Brandon Tartikoff]] and [[Warren Littlefield]], screened the pilot and liked it in the summer of 1989. They were concerned that the intensity of the series was not going to be able to be repeated week after week.{{sfn| Courrier | Green |1999|pp =17-18}} NBC executives had enough confidence by 1990 that the innovative show may appeal to a wide audience, and they ended up ordering the series for a full season.{{sfn|Courrier | Green |1999 | pp =21-22}}