UPFRONTS 2012: NBC's Official Fall Schedule

Here it is!

MONDAY
8:00 The Voice (3rd edition)
10:00 REVOLUTION

NBC Mondays bring a fall edition of The Voice for the first time. While it may shorten the life of the show in the long run to have two editions a year, NBC really needs The Voice now and is looking to revamp some elements of it (including spinning chairs in the battle rounds, not sure how that will work). All four coaches will be back and it will certainly make NBC vastly more competitive on Mondays than it was this past fall with The Sing Off. They are choosing to save Smash for midseason and using their top show to launch the new high concept drama Revolution. While the show certainly looks interesting, it doesn't quite seem like a fit out of The Voice and could be male skewing like time slot competitors Monday Night Football and (likely) Hawaii Five-0. NBC may try to launch Revolution early after the Olympics to give it a head start on the competition as they hope it is closer to Lost than The Event.

TUESDAY
8:00 The Voice (3rd edition)
9:00 GO ON
9:30 THE NEW NORMAL
10:00 Parenthood (4th season)

Tuesday nights bring some changes to NBC as the first of four consecutive nights with comedy blocks. At 8pm is a second night of The Voice which will air the whole time and not just when the live shows start. This is a smart move and it was smart to hold The Biggest Loser until midseason because that show needs a break. At 9pm is two new comedies, the Matthew Perry-led Go On and Ryan Murphy's The New Normal. Both shows fit NBC's brand of comedy but could have limited appeal (particularly Go On). It's somewhat surprising that NBC didn't switch these two since I think Normal has more potential to break out and could probably use the better lead-in. These comedies are also candidates for early launches. At 10pm once again is Parenthood. Not only did the show get renewed but it will once again get the 10pm slot where it doesn't thrive but does better than most of NBC's other dramas. It only has a 15 episode order so NBC may have something else in mind for midseason.

WEDNESDAY
8:00 ANIMAL PRACTICE
8:30 GUYS WITH KIDS
9:00 Law & Order: SVU (14th season)
10:00 CHICAGO FIRE

Wednesdays is a major overhaul for NBC after another rough year on the night. At 8pm is two comedies - the oddly paired Animal Practice and Guys with Kids. Practice seems like a Thursday NBC workplace comedy while Guys with Kids looks like it belongs on ABC or CBS. These comedies could have a rough go of it opening up a night on Wednesday but Up All Night didn't completely tank here this past fall. Guys seems like it has a better chance to break out but NBC should have paired in with another multicam comedy. At 9pm is the veteran Law & Order: SVU. The good news is it will no longer be in competition with CSI but the bad news is that it will be in a tough timeslot that likely includes Criminal Minds, Modern Family, and The X-Factor. NBC just can't make Wednesday 9pm work so why not give it to the veteran show which may not have much left anyway? It makes sense. At 10pm is the new Dick Wolf drama Chicago Fire. This show seems like a good fit with SVU but it will still be hard to launch a 10pm procedural drama against (likely) CSI. Still, I can't blame NBC for this move because the 9pm and 10pm hours do have a nice flow to them.


THURSDAY
8:00 30 Rock (7th season)
8:30 Up All Night (2nd season)
9:00 The Office (9th season)
9:30 Parks and Recreation (5th season)
10:00 Rock Center with Brian Williams (2nd season)

Thursdays is made up entirely of returning shows as NBC clearly made the decision to rebuild a few nights at a time. With so much of their lineup in disarray, it makes sense to focus on the first three nights and I'm sure the bulk of their promotional material will go into those nights. If things work out, then they can start addressing Thursday nights but for now, they will stick with their niche comedies. There's not much to say about this night but it will likely sink to new lows next year. I'm sure NBC is aware of that and I don't think it's a bad thing that they're keeping their new comedies entirely apart from the existing, dying ones. At 10pm is the newsmagazine Rock Center with Brian Williams which was renewed despite miniscule ratings. I don't expect good things here but what else can NBC do? Prime Suspect, The Firm, and Awake all failed miserably here. It looks like NBC is taking a pass here. The only thing I think they could have done is maybe Law & Order: SVU but they needed that for another death slot so we are left with this.

FRIDAY
8:00 Community (4th season)
8:30 Whitney (2nd season)
9:00 Grimm (2nd season)
10:00 Dateline NBC (22nd season)
Fridays are very interesting as they will start with two low-rated comedies. NBC has not put comedies in the Friday 8pm hour in the fall since 1983 and I don't expect these shows to do anything at all. I don't really think NBC is either but it will be a pleasant surprise if they do. NBC can cut their losses if things don't work out here and they have several unscripted shows on deck if they need them. At 9pm is returning drama Grimm which surprisingly held up ok on Fridays this year as most thought it would die a quick death when the schedule came out last May. Some thought it should move to another night but it has a niche here so I think NBC made the right call. It might have helped them to pair it with a show like Hannibal but instead they will bring back veteran newsmagazine Dateline NBC at 10pm.


SATURDAY
8:00 Encores
If NBC isn't ready to aggressively try Thursday, they are extremely far away from trying Saturday.

SUNDAY
7:00 Football Night in America (7th season)
8:15 Sunday Night Football
NBC's yearly savior will once again air for the fall. As of now the midseason plan is Dateline NBC/Fashion Star/Celebrity Apprentice leading into new drama Do No Harm but these plans tend to change so I won't comment much on that.

MIDSEASON: Betty White's Off Their Rockers, The Biggest Loser, Celebrity Apprentice, Fashion Star, Smash, 1600 PENN, DO NO HARM, HANNIBAL, HOWIE MANDEL'S WHITE ELEPHANT, INFAMOUS, NEXT CALLER, READY FOR LOVE, SAVE ME, STARS EARN STRIPES, SURPRISE WITH JENNY MCCARTHY
NBC is holding lots of shows for midseason but the only scripted returning show being held is Smash. There are several new shows on deck with a possible pirates drama joining that list down the road. Other than the Sunday lineup, no specific times have been announced and so much depends on how the fall does anyway.

CANCELLED/ENDED: Are You There Chelsea?, Awake, Bent, Best Friends Forever, Chuck, Fear Factor, The Firm, Free Agents, Harry's Law, The Playboy Club, Prime Suspect, The Sing Off, Who Do You Think You Are?, Who's Still Standing?
Lots of cancellations of course including nine freshman shows from the past year. NBC probably needed to cut more dead weight than this but it's a start.

My Thoughts:
Overall, I think this is a better fall schedule than NBC had last year and it will certainly be up from last year due to The Voice. NBC has so many holes in their schedule and I think they're making the right move by focusing heavily on three nights (Mon-Weds) while letting many of its declining shows air on Thursdays and Fridays. A ratings turnaround is not going to happen overnight and NBC realizes that. I also think they are smart to aggressively go after comedy and keep the new shows in their own blocks. The problem is that I don't see a ton of new shows in their slate that could have mass appeal. I could see that with The New Normal, Guys with Kids, 1600 Penn, and Chicago Fire but that's about it. Too many of their shows, in both fall and midseason, look like more niche shows and that is the opposite of what NBC needs right now. So while I think the scheduling is not bad, the shows themselves may hurt the network. But who knows, I haven't seen much of them, it's just a knee jerk reaction to what I've read and seen.