KREMLINAL INTENT

There's been some press coverage (most notably from the Wall Street Journal) about the French version of 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' which should be debuting later this year - after two years of pre-production. For many televisiologists, the interest has been due to the rumor that Detective John Munch, the Crossover King, would be making an appearance in an episode.

But in the meantime, yet another international version of one of the shows in the 'L&O' franchise has premiered, Premier.

On March 12th, a Russian version of 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit' aired on NTV, becoming the first scripted procedural format of a U.S. series to air overseas.

And apparently, it's a big success - the first two episodes were number one in its timeslot and for the entire evening.

And then two days later, the Russian version of 'Criminal Intent' premiered and it also proved to be a huge ratings success.

These are the first U.S. primetime drama series to be remade for a Russian audience. The Russian versions adapt the original scripts, taking into account language, culture and the local justice system.

You can see the opening credits from the show on YouTube.

Of course, for the Toobworld concept, these shows are already a part of the Television Universe. But the added bonus of being co-produced by Dick Wolf's production company is enough for me to consider them part of the 'L&O' franchise.

Hopefully, the two series will have crossovers between each other and ultimately... who knows? Wouldn't it be neat to see Ice-T's Finn over in Moscow for an episode?

BCnU!
Tele-Tobski