Fans of Law and Order: Criminal Intent will have to wait a little longer before they can enjoy new episodes of the crime procedural series.  USA network has decided to push back the premiere of season 8 to 2009, just days before it was scheduled to kick off.  This marks the second time the cable channel has shifted the show's return date.  Originally, the network announced that the show would come back on Thursday, November 6 at 10/9c before opting to use it as a lead-in to The Starter Wife on Friday nights.

While no reason was given for any of the aforementioned changes, a spokesperson for Law and Order: Criminal Intent assured TV Guide that the show is in good shape but “based on the overall TV landscape and in this economy, it made sense to maximize the value" of the series by airing all 16 episodes in an uninterrupted run during the first quarter of 2009.

Last week's episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent marked Mike Logan's (Chris North) final appearance on the police procedural series. Tonight, fans will have to temporarily bid farewell to the rest of the cast as the show concludes its seventh season at 9pm on the USA Network.

Previously on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Logan jeopardized his and Wheeler's careers when a priest convinced him to re-open a murder case that's over a decade old which involves a politically-aspiring ADA who will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.

Warning: May contain spoilers.

A lot of changes are bound to happen when Law & Order: Criminal Intent returns for an eighth season in November on USA Network.  As reported previously, the show has signed on Jeff Goldblum as replacement for cast member Chris North, who will be departing from his character Detective Mike Logan to take on new movie roles.  Additionally, the police procedural has enlisted a new production team that will hopefully give the series a fresh perspective.

Walon Green, Robert Nathan, John Coles, Michael S. Chernuchin, Andrew Lipsitz and Timothy J. Lea will be the new production team of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the series that takes viewers into the minds of its criminals while following the psychological approaches the Major Case Squad uses to solve the crimes.  The entire production team will work with show creator Dick Wolf and executive producer Peter Jankowski, who serves as executive producer of all three Law & Order series, as well as president and chief operating officer of Wolf Films, Inc.

Chris Noth has been with the Law & Order franchise since the original Law & Order first premiered 1990. From 1990 to 1995, Noth portrayed Detective Mike Logan before leaving the series to star in a string of TV movies – including a Law & Order movie in 1998.

Bolstered by his high profile role as Mr. Big on Sex and the City, Chris Noth returned as Detective Mike Logan on Law & Order: Criminal Intent in 2005. After another three year stint with an L&O series, news has come out today that Chris Noth will once again be leaving Mike Logan behind so as to take on new movie roles. The new actor cast to play his replacement? Film star Jeff Goldblum.