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Here are my thoughts on NBC’s new fall schedule (Updates NBC Bans Hollywood Trade After Reporter Sneaks Into Upfront Rehearsal And Reveals All, Including 2010-2011 Schedule And Jokes) :
– On Thursday, new workplace comedy Outsourced is getting the plum post-Office slot. After playing musical chairs with the other three Thursday comedies, Community, Parks & Recreation and 30 Rock, Parks & Recs became the odd man out, pushed to midseason. The decision makes sense: of the three, only Community has proven it could open a night and 30 Rock is the network’s most-acclaimed series. Still, a long hiatus would hinder the nice momentum
Parks & Rec had this season, improving creatively on its first season and getting an extra boost by the recent addition of Adam Scott and Rob Lowe and the ascendance of co-star Aziz Ansari who is red-hot in features and is hosting the MTV Movie Awards! Amy Poehler is scheduled to go on a maternity leave in late summer but the show’s producers went to great lengths to make sure Parks & Rec was ready for fall – the comedy has stayed in continuous production and is now filming 6 extra episodes to accommodate Poehler’s pregnancy. The move almost begs for a “Really NBC?!?” version of Poehler’s popular SNL segment with Seth Meyers.
– By putting hourlong anthology romantic comedy Love Bites in the Thursday 10 PM slot, NBC is keeping Thursday all-comedy. The network shifted to that format after the end of ER, first with The Jay Leno Show following the comedy block at 10 PM, then with The Marriage Ref in midseason. (The second season of Jerry Seinfeld’s reality show once again is looking at a midseason launch) A little risky move for Love Bites. ABC’s hourlong comedy Ugly Betty, co-starring Love Bites leading lady Becki Newton, died a quick death after being moved to 10 PM this season.
– After flirting with the idea of opening a second comedy block on Wednesdays, NBC opted to shelve the idea, at least for fall. All three of its non-workplace comedies, Perfect Couples, Friends With Benefits and Paul Reiser’s Next, are being held for midseason. With The Biggest Loser a staple for NBC on Tuesdays, CBS’ Monday comedy block virtually impossible to crack with comedies on Monday and NBC’s own comedy block on Thursday, the network doesn’t have other options for a second comedy night but Wednesday. But it may help to see how ABC and CBS’ comedy plans for Wednesday pan out before NBC makes its own move for midseason.
– NBC is making a big effort to reclaim Monday night, which it once ruled in the 18-49 demo at the height of Deal Or No Deal and Heroes. The network is putting two of its highest-profile new series, The Event and Chase on the night, joining 8 PM anchor Chuck. The Event’s taking over the Heroes’ spot is symbolic, but the Bruckheimer-produced Chase has a tall order: to prove that a drama can launch big at 10 PM.
– J.J. Abrams popcorn spy drama Undercovers is a perfect 8 PM show and is getting that slot on Wednesday. But Law & Order: SVU is getting the shove again. Moved from 10 PM Tuesdays to 9 PM Wednesdays last fall to make room for The Jay Leno Show, then moved back to 10 PM Wednesdays midseason after the demise of the Leno show, now it is being shifted once again to 9 PM to help launch the latest Law & Order series: L&O: Los Angeles. Given the steep ratings decline SVU suffered in the fall when moved to the Wednesday 9 PM slot that the show has been slowly recovering from since put back at 10 PM, this could be the last scheduling move that SVU could survive.
– Outlaw aka Garza. The rollercoaster for Outlaw continues. Once a dark horse, the show produced by Conan O’Brien’s production company landing an almost improbable series order. But now, some sobering news for the legal drama starring Jimmy Smits – it has been given the Friday 10 PM time slot, generally a death slot for a scripted drama. Well, Outlaw beats the odds once, it may pull a miracle again, but its odds are very, very long.
– Overall, NBC is launching a new series in the challenging 10 PM hour Monday through Friday (freshmen Chase, LOLA, Love Bites and Garza and recently premiered Parenthood). The network tried a new show at 10 five nights a week last season with Jay Leno, let’s hope results will be better this time.
– Newly picked up superhero drama The Cape didn’t get a spot for fall and will launch in midseason, along with David E. Kelley’s Harry’s Law.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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What about “The Cape” ?? It reportedly was picked up for Fall. when will it air?
Of the four Thursday night comedies on NBC,clearly Community was the laggard. I am appalled Chevy Chase could be part of such a disaster. His part is like a zombie, with no Chevy Chase persona at all. My opinion is replace Community with Parks and Rec which models its shtick on the OFFICE.
Undercovers and Love Bites will do well.
“Both of its non-workplace comedies, Perfect Couples and Friends With Benefits, are being held for midseason.”
Community’s not really a ‘workplace’ comedy
Against Private Practice? I’d go as far as to say Love Bites is doomed from the start.
I think it’s a smart move on NBC’s part to bring in USA style shows like Undercovers and Love Bites.
Parks and Rec should be cancelled already. Anyone notice that Adam Scott is playing the same character on P&R that Amy Ryan did on the Office? Recycled crap. I can’t wait for Leslie to burn her foot on a Foreman grill and then start her own paper company.
I agree.
Not too bright are ya?
Are you kidding me? Parks and Rec has been on fire this season, due, in part, to the phenomenal comedic acting by Nick Offerman, Chris Pratt, and Anzi Ansari after their characters were rounded out and weren’t so one-note. I think this season has actually been stronger than the seasons of The Office and 30 Rock.
Also, The Office didn’t invent that character. It’s called a “love interest”.
I completely agree. I actually have enjoyed Parks and Recreation more than the Office this season, and last year I thought I’d never bring myself to watch it. The characters are fun to watch and I’m actually interested in the relationships.
Sorry, but Parks has really stepped it up this season and has completely broken out of its “Office’s Little Sister” mold. They’re doing great work over there.
Also, Adam Scott has only been on for two episodes and his character is nothing like Amy Ryan’s character. Do you just read the TV guide and call it a good night of tv?
I would admit Parks and Rec patterns itself on the OFFICE themes, but it should not have been the show to go. Community needs to retire.
Does ANYONE bother to read the actual post???????? Good grief, people.
REALLY NBC?!?!? REALLY?!?!? Haha love it.
Parks & Rec has finally grown into what I always knew it could be. The 2nd season was amazing and it keeps getting better every episode
So much for the dream of having comedies on more than one night a week at NBC.
What is the status of Rex is Not Your Lawyer? Is it a possibility for mid-season, or is it totally dead?
Parks and Wreck.
Who the hell is watching that show anyway?
Me for one. Community is the show that I don’t watch.
Why don’t they just cancel 30 ROCK, it maybe critically acclaimed but the show is unfunny which is why many people don’t watch it and has to follow THE OFFICE. PARKS AND REC is OK but it looks like a wannabe THE OFFICE.
So much for trying to compete on Monday. I almost can’t believe NBC is really launching two of its most promising series with such an incredibly weak lead-in. Chuck may have a rabid online fan base, but that fanbase is small. This is never going to be to be a hit show, and its ratings don’t even merit renewal. Yet NBC is starting the night off with it??? In order to succeed, The Event and Chase will have to build significantly from that lead-in. Such a wasted opportunity.
Ugly Betty died because they moved it to Fridays! When they finally moved it back to Wednesdays it was too late.
Undercovers is unlikely to do well. First, spy shows have traditionally struggled. Mr. and Mrs Smith (1996 with Scott Bakula) failed. Also, its a fantasy Black Couple series, White audiences have proven to be uninterested in Black leads for the most part (as BET audiences have proven uninterested in White leads). Or more broadly put, it’s not the 1980′s with Fresh Prince and Cosby, a booming economy, and a Republican President. Obama has the reality of a Black super-couple covered, and his dropping popularity makes that a risky call. As Whites have dropped to 66% of the population, they are as a group less willing to embrace fantasy shows about upscale, upper class non-Whites.
Outsourced is an obvious failure too. A comedy about jobs moving to India, with characters and situations of little interest to the hard-pressed White middle and working class. I have not seen a hunger by White middle/working middle class viewers for stuff about India.
The Event? Please X-Files derivative conspiracy theory stuff is a tired theme. Particularly with incompetence and Political Correctness all around in government and elsewhere.
Undercovers would have killed in 1986. But it’s not 1986. The Event would have been a hit in 1996. But it’s not 1996. Outsourced would never have been a hit.
The failures of these shows is as obvious as the junk natures of Goldman-Sachs CDOs or Madoff’s “returns.”
So, Undercovers will fail because the Obamas have made “white Americans” hate blacks. That seems a little far-fetched.
Outsourced will fail because working class Americans will not want to see a comedy about our current economy. Maybe, but being on Thursdays after The Office, it only needs to do about as well or better than 30 Rock. I am a big 30 Rock fan, but that bar is not very high.
And The Event will fail because of political correctness. That one doesn’t even make any sense. Did 24 fail because of political correctness, did Prison Break? So political conspiracy thrillers will not work today because “incompetence and Political Correctness all around in government and elsewhere”. Ok.
Look I’m not saying any of these will be hits, but the reasons you are giving for them failing (with the exception of Outsourced, but that one will succeed due to time slot/network) don’t even seem coherent.
“Anyone notice that Adam Scott is playing the same character on P&R that Amy Ryan did on the Office?”
I’m sure the twelve critics who claim to actually watch the show and are always telling the rest of us how it’s the “best show no one’s watching” noticed. That is, if they really watch. Which they probably don’t.
They should have cancelled 30 Rock, Parks & Community… They’re just not doing it ratings-wise compared to The Office, Modern Family, Big Bang Theory or Two and a Half Men. Instead they should have taken their fresh three pilots to build a new comedy night around The Office on Thursday.
Keyword here needs to be stability. Just looking at some of these shows, some will perish and some will survive but remeber, this is NBC we’re talking about. They pulled this nonsense on Las Vegas two years ago and that show DID win its timeslot on Friday nights after being moved to Fridays and yet NBC still 86ed it. What meatheads!!
You’re such an idiot you should start a blog so we can all just trash you daily. you suck.
John–The three you want cancelled are the best of Thursday night. Office needs to be axed. Used to be my favorite and I used to look forward to it each week, but it’s not what it once was and is ready for pasture. The ones you use as examples of ‘comedies done right’ aren’t as creative or smart as these three on NBC (I mean, two and a half men? really?). I’m super disappointed about their decision to push back Parks and Rec. It’s the show I most look forward to and it’s really developed well this season.
The Office is over. It’s worthless now. Parks and Rec, Community and 30-Rock are the best shows on network tv hands down.
Parks and Rec is a great show. Disappointed that it’s going to be put off. Hope it catches a larger audience this upcoming season.
I am not a huge fan of park and rec, which is by far the most unimaginative of the thursday night NBC comedies….
However- Outsourced looks like a dead on arrival disaster- talk about picking a wound… I am curious how many episodes it actually airs before it is dumped.
Hey, posters: It doesn’t matter if you like “Parks & Rec” or “Community,” if you think the cast is hilarious, or that it’s gotten better this season – the ratings don’t merit a pickup. Period. It’s had its chance, and it’s done no better than “Kath & Kim” did in the same time period. And Nellie, “Community” has proven “it can open a night?!” What ratings are you looking at??? NBC’s Thursday night is surviving on critical acclaim alone. AMERICA AIN’T WATCHIN’. Dump the “smart,” “hip” “oh, they’re so clever” single-cams and go back to laugh-out-loud multis. Is it really that hard to figure out???
We should think about life and it sources