Having said that, Michael Chernuchin has good reason to be confident nowadays. The viewership numbers for Law & Order: SVU haven't been that different in Season 19 than in the previous couple of seasons. Season 19 did feature an episode that drew in less than 5 million viewers for the first time since the show began, but the next week drew in an audience larger than any episode in the prior season outside of the Season 18 season premiere. While viewership may be dwindling on the series overall, it doesn't appear so bad at this point that NBC will automatically the series as opposed to granting it a Season 20 renewal.