In February Mr Bratton asked them, publicly, not to keep broadcasting live coverage of car chases, watched by too many people hoping to see crashes and violence. (They get alerts to their pagers when a chase starts.) The police reckon that such coverage encourages show-offs to embark on wild escapades, and gives the impression of a city rife with crime.

ECONOMIST: A delicate task for William Bratton in Los Angeles

The show made money with spin-offs, films, books, dolls and foreign rights, bringing much-needed cash into the Public Broadcasting Service whose subsidy is always under threat from Congress.

ECONOMIST: Jon Stone

The show that spawned the most spin-offs was US sitcom All in the Family.

BBC: NEWS | Entertainment | TV's obsession with spin-offs

The write-offs were made so the body could show that it had not allowed its annual rent arrears to exceed those of the previous year.

BBC: Housing Executive writes off ?10m

Though international formats often lack the built-in recognition of spin-offs (Fox's upcoming The Cleveland Show) and remakes (CW's upcoming 90210), they can, though they don't always, offer something even more appealing: lower production costs.

FORBES: Hollywood Tries To Import Success

While 80% of donors say they watch the show, donations on a whole rose just less than 1% since the show began, but that's not bad considering most charities struggled with massive donation drop-offs after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001--unless you were a Sept. 11-related charity.

FORBES: Law & Order, Animal Edition