'Law & Order'

At long last, Law & Order returns to the air in January, and will get its old timeslot back. It's about freakin' time.

After sidelining the long-running crime procedural this fall, NBC announced today that the drama is returning to the air Jan. 2 with a two-hour premiere, with subsequent episodes airing at 10 p.m. on Wednesdays.

Creator Dick Wolf, who complained that last season’s Friday-night time slot contributed to the show’s slipping ratings, seems pretty happy with the scheduling.

“We hope the return to our longtime time slot of Wednesday at 10 will bring renewed success to the show, not just from our core fans, but from a new generation of viewers as well,” he said in a statement.

A couple of weeks ago, in a cameo on SVU, Sam Waterston made his debut in his new capacity as District Attorney Jack McCoy (Suck. On. That, Fred Thompson!). I can't wait to see how he does on the "mothership" series, although I hope it doesn't translate into significantly less face time. His craggy features and flinty voice are two of the things that keep me coming back to the show. James Wolcott thinks Michael Moriarty was the better A.D.A, but... no. Sam is the man.

In addition, Criminal Intent is coming back to NBC. The network will air second-run episodes of the originals from the USA network on Wednesdays to form a two-hour L&O block. That rocks for me. Now, if they would just ditch that new CI opening theme. It's so over the top, I half expect to hear "A Quinn-Martin Production" at the end of the credit montage.