Dick Wolf took the stage Friday afternoon and tried to make nice before talking about the changes in the "Law & Order" franchise. Another edition would be premiering August 14, he said.

With that, the lights dimmed and a signature voice introduced "Law & Order: Special Letters Unit," in which Muppet detectives hunted down the letter M. Wolf went on to explain that "Sesame Street" would be plowing through all 26 letters of the alphabet using this format, then joked about getting 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds hooked on the brand.

Except it wasn't really a joke, if you know Dick Wolf. Wolf is an executive producer who speaks the language of revenue and proliferation instead of storylines; he leaves that up to the cogs in the "Law & Order" machine we know as writers and actors.

Following the oh-so-cute Muppet segment, Wolf starting throwing out percentages: 52 percent of TNT's schedule is "Law & Order." "SVU" takes up 43 percent of USA's, with "Criminal Intent" filling another 25 percent. "Intent" is also the highest-rated series on Bravo. The format is at work on French and Russian television; in France, Vince D'Onofrio's character is being played by Vincent Perez, which is just not fair.

Viewers don't care about that. Instead, what they'll notice when the series returns (Sept. 22) is that Milena Govich will be the first female detective on "Law & Order." (Thank you, Mariska Hargitay, for paving that path.) Henceforth, please refer to Govich as Detective Nina Cassady. If she's lucky she'll make it to Wolf's goal of 21 seasons. First, Wolf's team must halt "L & O's" audience erosion, which stands a chance of accelerating with its move to Fridays at 10 p.m.

Alana De La Garza also joins "Law & Order: Original Flavor" as the new assistant district attorney, Connie Rubirosa, replacing Mercer Island-native Annie Parisse, who played the late great A.D.A. Alexandra Borgia.

"She is the role model of how to leave a show," Wolf said, explaining that Parisse came to producers months in advance, explaining that she was tired of seeing film roles pass her by and asked to leave. She was even OK with having her character get an early, violent retirement because it gave her and the series an emotionally driven finale.

Annie, we miss ya.

Meanwhile on "Law & Order: SVU," (premiering Sept. 19) while Hargitay is on maternity leave, Connie Nielsen ("Gladiator") will step in for six episodes, playing warrants detective Dani Beck. She'll probably be asked to return.

Finally, Julianne Nicholson crawled out of the wreckage of "Conviction" to win the role of Detective Megan Wheeler on "Criminal Intent," which moves to Tuesdays at 9 (also starting on Sept. 19). One might wonder if viewers will buy such a quick transition from one Wolf show to another, until one takes into account that a) Nicholson now sports a pixie cut that makes her look like a young Shirley MacLaine; and b) c'mon, did anyone care that deeply about "Conviction"? Nope.
Also joining the cast: Eric Bogosian, set to play Capt. Denny Ross.