Uh oh.

Sources say "Law & Order" veteran Jerry Orbach will depart Dick Wolf's long-running crime drama at the end of the season after 12 years on the beat as wise-cracking Detective Lennie Briscoe.

Noooooooooooo!!

However, Orbach may still remain in business with Wolf with a role on the upcoming fourth installment of the franchise: "Law & Order: Trial by Jury."

Oh, well okay then.

As for the flagship series, there is no word yet about a replacement for Orbach, but one scenario involves his character's partner, Detective Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin), being promoted.

Would Green get promoted to "lead detective" or would he replace Van Buren as a captain, requiring an entirely new detective cast?

" 'Law & Order' has a 15-year track record of Dick Wolf never commenting on casting changes during the season," a spokesman for the show said Thursday. Indeed, "Law & Order" has famously weathered many cast changes since it bowed in 1990.

True enough. The series should be fine as the franchise is still expanding. L&O wisely never made the detectives the focal point of the show. While I like some (George Dzundza and Ben Bratt) more than others (Paul Sorvino and Chris Noth), I'm not too too particular. I'm not a big fan of the Ed Green character, so they'll have to do well to carry it on the police end (as long as Sam Waterston is on the court end, that part'll be fine, or if they can find someone else in the Moriarty/Waterston mold).

One person that I always thought would be great for the series is Paul Gleason. Gleason is best known for playing the principal in Breakfast Club, but he has a long resume including some police roles. He was the lead FBI agent in Die Hard as well. He has a good cynical look to him that would take Orbach's spot quite seemlessly. He even starred with Sam Waterston in Shadow Conspiracy, though that may not be a point in his favor.

Not that I need to tell Dick Wolf how to do his job.

I'm looking forward to yet another L&O spin-off. Though the flagship is far and away my favorite, I've been enjoying Special Victims Unit reruns on USA. I've only seen one part of one episode of Criminal Intent, I think the concept (L&O from the criminal's POV) is great and I look forward to someone picking up the reruns for it. SVU focuses too much on the police work and not enough on courtroom action for my tastes. A show called "Jury Duty" would probably focus more on the courtroom end of things to even it out.

Of course, that probably leaves Lt. Briscoe (Orbach's character) in a smaller role much like the DA in SVU. Orbach's been doing the show for over a decade now so he's probably interested in scaling it back. He'll be missed, but I certainly wish him the best.