Wolf is ticked off at NBC

PASADENA, Calif. — Dick Wolf is mad, which is hardly news. He's always mad at somebody.

Usually, it's TV critics, despite the fact that kind words about his "Law & Order" franchise have devoured tanker-truck loads of ink over the years.

But, at the moment, he's mad at NBC. Which isn't unusual, given that Wolf has had some huge battles with the network over the years because of how his shows are scheduled. And that's what has his blood boiling right now.

On March 22, the network is going to move "Law & Order" up an hour on Wednesdays in order to use it as a lead-in to the new series "Heist." The move will put it in direct competition with ABC's mega-hit "Lost" and CBS' surprisingly strong "Criminal Minds." Throw in Fox's "Bones," and there will be three crime dramas in the time period.

"Look, I'm realistic about this time period, and we're asking 'Law & Order' to do a lot here," said NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly. "But everyone knows there's no more resilient show on all of television. And we take the long view of the brand. In the spring, we'll figure out where this show is going to live for the next 16 years of its life."

Mind you, he wasn't actually renewing the show for another 16 seasons. But he was promising that it will be back on the schedule next year. (And, in all likelihood, for years to come.)

These days, Reilly and Wolf are members of one big, dysfunctional family — the former works for the broadcast network owned by NBC-Universal; the latter produces shows for the TV production studio owned by NBC-Universal.

That doesn't mean it's always a friendly relationship.

Hey, Reilly is a nice guy. You can't help but feel a little sorry for him, having to deliver news like this to Wolf. How did it go?

"You know Dick — he's a pushover. Always smiling," Reilly joked. But he was quick to call it a "partnership" between the network and the producer, who will have four shows on NBC later this month — "Law & Order," "Law & Order: SVU," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "Conviction," which premieres Friday, March 3.

"We take the long view together in the partnership," Reilly insisted. "Would he prefer that ('Law & Order') not move? Probably."

Probably?!? Do you expect us to believe that?

"When you have four shows on a network, some decisions you're going to agree with and other decisions you're going to violently disagree with," Wolf said. "You've heard me violently disagree with other decisions (and) it has absolutely no effect on the decision-making process."

I'm not sure that's true. We've all seen Wolf bully various NBC executives into changing their minds.

Or, at least, he's been proved right more often than not when they made scheduling moves he disagreed with.