It should be interesting to see how Law & Order: Hate Crimes performs compared to past Law & Order spinoffs.
SVU hasn’t hung on for two decades because fans no longer connect to the format, and it’s possible that those fans could sign on for Hate Crimes.
Of course, Trial by Jury was set in New York and didn’t last more than 13 episodes before being cancelled, so we shouldn’t count on Hate Crimes being an automatic hit.
Unlike the flopped Law & Order: LA, this new show will be set in New York, and a connection to SVU couldn’t hurt, especially if the backdoor pilot leaves the door open for more crossovers between the characters.