With the new season of Law and Order: Organized Crime, there's a couple of big changes that have come with it. Of course the main one is the fact that the police procedural has moved away from its broadcast slot on NBC and moved on over to the network's streaming service, Peacock. So now, the only spot to watch new episodes is online.
Another major change with Organized Crime season 5 is the fact that the episode count is much lower than previous installments. The season has been cut down to just 10 episodes. With this happening, you might be wondering why. NBC hasn't given an exact reason for this shift, but it's most likely due to the fact that the show has been moved to streaming.
In comparison, the shortest season ever was season 1 that only had 8 episodes. Then that number increased to 22 for seasons 2 and 3. The fourth season comes in at 13 episodes, just three more than what we currently have. Now yes, it would be easy to blame it on the move to Peacock. But this change, as well as even the episode count, might be for the crime drama's benefit.
In speaking with TVLine, the head of programming at NBCUniversal Entertainment, Jeff Bader, shared that the company had been seeing more viewers tuning in to Organized Crime on Peacock the next day they aired rather than on NBC. So it already has that built-in streaming viewership. And that's why they decided to make it a streaming show exclusively.
I also don't completely mind the shorter season. If it tells a more concise and focused story, I'm here for it. It's hard to say whether we're getting that in season 5 since only the first three episodes have been out, as of this writing. But so far, I'm liking what I'm seeing! The new season premiered on April 17, 2025 with the first two episodes on Peacock. New episodes are released weekly on Thursdays, as the season finale is set for June 12.
The newest one, season 5 episode 3 titled "Paranza Dei Bambini," sees Stabler investigating "a new player in the New York City gang scene," per the synopsis. He tries to get information from an old confidential informant in Italy who could help, and questions "the motives of their current ones."
Law and Order: Organized Crime season 5 stars Christopher Meloni as Det. Elliot Stabler, Danielle Moné Truitt as Sgt. Ayanna Bell, Rick Gonzalez as Bobby Reyes, Ainsley Seiger as Jet Slootmaekers, and Dean Norris as Randall.
Law and Order: Organized Crime premieres releases new episodes Thursdays on Peacock.