The television landscape trembled in 2010 when Dick Wolf’s mighty TV empire appeared to be faltering. NBC brought the curtain down on his anchor show, Law & Order, a series that had been thriving for twenty years. This sudden action left Wolf’s modest production house reeling. Worse yet, within a year, two more spin-offs from the Law & Order franchise were axed. The only survivor was Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, leaving the once prosperous company thin on meaningful revenue sources. Wolf, who once claimed that ‘no show’ meant ‘no business’, seemed to be experiencing a falling star moment in the industry he once dominated.
The television industry was starting to pivot. Tightly-scripted ‘procedural’ story formats, that Wolf was renowned for, began to fall out of favor. These shows that presented a problem and a neat solution within a one-hour timeframe, were giving way to more complex, serialized productions. Streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu were gaining momentum and drawing viewers away from the traditional linear TV setup. Acclaimed serial dramas like The Crown and Big Little Lies were replacing the procedural stalwarts CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Law & Order.
However, the ever-changing tides of the entertainment industry are now bringing Wolf’s style of production back into popularity. Owing to economic strains in recent years, Hollywood studios have had to scale back budgets, affecting the saturation of ‘Peak TV’. As a result of this outright reduction in long-form, high-budget content, there is now a noticeable resurgence of Wolf’s procedural style. Evidently, older shows like Criminal Minds, NCIS, and Grey’s Anatomy regularly feature on Nielsen’s most-watched streaming shows list, demonstrating the enduring popularity of these series, despite burgeoning competition and massive investments in more cinematic productions.
Moreover, former traditional TV programs like Suits, Prison Break, or Young Sheldon have found fresh success on platforms like Netflix. Looking back, it becomes apparent that Wolf, 15 years on from his career’s supposed nadir, has engineered quite a remarkable revival. At the age of 78, the producer has as many as nine script-based shows airing on multiple networks. NBC even decided to resurrect Law & Order over a decade after its initial cancellation, marking its 24th season.
Dick Wolf continues to have a strategic eye trained on the future. With his tenth production, a series titled On Call that Wolf deems could be a significant diversion in the long run. This cop drama set in Long Beach, California, is his first-ever venture in the streaming space and is available on Prime Video. This show signals the advent of what he terms as ‘Wolf Entertainment 2.0’, underscoring his intentions of evolving his company to effectively compete in a changing media landscape.
Despite making a belated entry into the streaming realm, the debut of On Call reflects an intriguing twist. Rather than Wolf turning to align with the streaming universe, it appears that the television and streaming worlds have instead turned back towards him. He is not satisfied with merely launching one or two series on platforms like Amazon and Peacock. Notably, another spin-off from the Law & Order franchise, Law & Order: Organized Crime, is scheduled to shift from NBC to Peacock in 2025. Wolf is intent on constructing a fresh television cosmos, hoping for his creations to be seen across various streaming platforms.
He also aims for his latest show to challenge established drama formats. Uniquely, each On Call episode lasts just 30 minutes, a callback to older series such as Adam-12, The Naked City, and Dragnet. This is a departure from the typical, sometimes overly extended formats of streaming dramas, which can often run beyond an hour.
Soon after his career hiccup, Wolf started to plot his comeback. Just a year after Law & Order: LA and Law & Order: Criminal Intent concluded their runs in 2011, Wolf launched a new series. This time, he explored different emergency responders in an all-new setting with Chicago Fire. On the inaugural day of shooting, Wolf sensed that this series could well be a genesis if successful. His intuition proved accurate as the series did well and subsequently two more installments, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med, were added to the franchise.
In addition to harboring three shows under the Chicago franchise, Wolf also expanded to other networks. He brought FBI and its two spin-offs to CBS within a few years. Although these shows faced some degree of skepticism within industry peers, the persistent ratings suggested a different reality. With an overall decline in viewership across network and cable TV, it became clear that it was becoming necessary to pivot if he needed more than just rerun royalties.
Looking at On Call from a broader perspective, it’s not simply another addition to Wolf’s already impressive roster of shows. It signifies a transitional phase, introducing younger executives to the frontline, one of them being Elliot, Wolf’s 31-year-old son. When Elliot joined the company six years ago, he started off modestly. He embarked on rebranding initiatives, encouraging a change of the company’s outdated name from Wolf Films to Wolf Entertainment. He spearheaded the launch of a merchandise line, established a social media presence, and even produced podcast series.
Despite these successful ventures, Elliot recognized that the company was slightly tardy in joining the streaming boom and was keen to bridge that gap. Initiating discussions about a series with compact 30-minute episodes eventually led to Amazon greenlighting On Call, focusing on a rookie cop and a veteran cop. True to his father’s procedural roots, each episode features a self-contained case or two to be resolved, with an underlying serialized element requested by Amazon to maintain audience engagement.
On Call was produced at a lower cost than other hour-long dramas by Wolf Entertainment, a decision that Amazon appreciated for shrewd financial efficiency. Dick Wolf, who has no plans to retire just yet, is mulling over the succession of the company. He envisions the company primarily belonging to his son Elliot, producer Peter Jankowski – his loyal aide over the years, and a cadre of senior executives. He hopes for the show to ‘go on’.