‘Law & Order’ canceled by NBC in 20th season

New York — The venerable police-courtroom drama “Law & Order” has been axed.

NBC announced Friday that the show would end its historic 20-season run on May 24, with a season finale that was never meant to bring the saga to a close.

The show starred an ensemble cast currently consisting of Jeremy Sisto, Anthony Anderson, Linus Roache, Alana De La Garza, Sam Waterston and S. Epatha Merkerson, who, unrelated to the show’s abrupt cancellation, had already announced she was moving on.

Even as it issued a death sentence to the original “Law & Order,” NBC announced a new drama in the “Law & Order” franchise called “LOLA” (“Law & Order: Los Angeles”). Premiering this fall, “LOLA” is described as a procedural crime drama “that will follow the theme and storylines similar to the ‘Law & Order’-brand series on the streets of Los Angeles.” Casting for the show is under way, the network said.

NBC will also renew “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” for a 12th season.

Actress claims Polanski abused her

Los Angeles — Los Angeles County prosecutors have met with a British actress who claims she was sexually abused by director Roman Polanski in his Paris apartment when she was 16 — years before she appeared in one of his movies.

Charlotte Lewis, 42, said Friday that the filmmaker abused her “in the worst possible way” in the 1980s.

Lewis provided no evidence to support her claims, and her attorney, Gloria Allred, did not permit her to answer questions during a news conference in her office.

However, Allred said the woman provided evidence to a police detective and officials from the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. She refused to provide specifics and also refused to answer questions about whether her client’s allegations involved drugs or rape.

“Our detectives did conduct the interview but the department has not begun an investigation,” said police spokesman Richard French. He did not know when the interview was conducted.

The alleged assault took place four years after Polanski had unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in the U.S., Lewis said, which would put the alleged assault date at 1982. Lewis later had a role in Polanski’s 1986 movie, “Pirates.”

Michaels announces May 28 return to stage

New York — Bret Michaels is set to return to the stage a little more than a month after suffering a brain hemorrhage.

His representative announced Friday that the rocker and reality star would perform at the Hard Rock Live in Biloxi, Miss., on May 28.

Michaels has been sidelined since April. On April 12, he had an emergency appendectomy. Ten days later he suffered the hemorrhage that left him in intensive care for two weeks in a Phoenix hospital.