Here is the official NBC fall schedule!
Past NBC Upfronts:
2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011
MONDAYS
8:00 The Voice (15th edition)
10:00 MANIFEST
NBC is once again going with
The Voice and a new drama on Monday night as they have pretty much every year since
The Voice became a force. New drama
Manifest has been described as a "
Lost in reverse" and is definitely a swing back in the genre direction. Perhaps NBC was trying to go with something that had more of a punch in anticipation that ABC will keep its popular procedural
The Good Doctor in this slot. It's definitely a big swing and that's good after the very underwhelming performances of
The Brave and
Good Girls this year. I think it could be better than those two shows but it seems closer to a
Timeless than
The Blacklist or early episodes of
Blindspot. Its trailer seems like a better version of ABC's spring flop (in this same timeslot),
The Crossing. At midseason, NBC plans to make a better effort to bridge the time between
The Voice cycles with
America's Got Talent: The Champions on a shorter winter run.
TUESDAYS
8:00 The Voice (15th edition)
9:00 This is Us (3rd season)
10:00 NEW AMSTERDAM
Another night and another new 10pm drama, NBC will send
Chicago Med to Wednesdays and replace it with another medical drama,
New Amsterdam. It seems like a fairly typical medical drama but
Chicago Med following
This is Us was not a bad pairing so I think it has a chance. NBC needed to do another new drama while
This is Us is still a big hit and can serve as a launching pad. It seems likely that
The Village will get the
Rise treatment and succeed
This is Us in the 9pm slot. And of course
The Voice leads off the night with plans for this past winter's hit
Ellen's Game of Games to again serve as a bridge between cycles.
WEDNESDAYS
8:00 Chicago Med (4th season)
9:00 Chicago Fire (7th season)
10:00 Chicago PD (6th season)
Now that they are firmly established, NBC is doing what some have suggested over the years - an entire lineup of Chicago shows. The #OneChicago brand will make for lots of opportunities for crossovers and I think the time is right for a move like this that can energize an entire night that way TGIT did at the beginning or when ABC launched all new shows on Wednesdays in the Fall of 2009. It's a very clear brand for the night and it seems like it will help all three shows.
Chicago Med is the lead off show, which is interesting since it's the youngest and perhaps most vulnerable. The one that started it all,
Chicago Fire, inherits the long time
Law & Order: SVU home to become the 9pm anchor while
Chicago PD continues at 10pm. I wouldn't be surprised to see a crossover kick off the season.
The Titan Games is tentatively slated for a short winter run at 8pm, not sure what that will mean for the night as a whole.
THURSDAYS
8:00 Superstore (4th season)
8:30 The Good Place (3rd season)
9:00 Will & Grace (2nd season)
9:30 I FEEL BAD
10:00 Law & Order: SVU (20th season)
Despite some rough spring ratings, NBC is sticking with the two hour comedy block on Thursdays. At 8pm is
Superstore and
The Good Place for a third straight year. These shows always seem to do well when paired together although they've never had to deal with the CBS comedy lineup much due to football and this year they will likely be facing
The Big Bang Theory and maybe
Young Sheldon for the whole fall. The reboot of
Will & Grace was a big success in the fall but the luster wore off quickly and it really wasn't much of a player in the spring, but it is renewed for two seasons and will get the 9pm anchor again. It is followed by
I Feel Bad, a new sitcom with Amy Poehler as a producer. It does not seem to line up tonally at all with the rest of the comedy night and I'm surprised NBC didn't go with bar comedy
Abby's in this slot. After nine years on Wednesdays and airing on every other night of the work week at some point in its long run,
Law & Order: SVU moves to Thursdays at 10pm for its record-tying 20th season. This seems like it will be a similar performer to
Chicago Fire, which occupied the slot this year.
FRIDAYS
8:00 Blindspot (4th season)
9:00 Midnight, Texas (2nd season)
10:00 Dateline NBC (28th season)
Fridays has NBC continuing with scripted offerings with
Blindspot surprisingly retaining its 8pm slot despite bad ratings all season. I wasn't shocked at a renewal, but I am a little surprised they're putting it at 8pm in the fall again. It will be followed by
Midnight, Texas, a horror show that was last seen in Summer 2017. This is a slot it maybe should have had when it was first announced but it's a low rated genre show that will have been off the air for over a year by the time it airs and that seems like a recipe for disaster. The plan is for
The Blacklist to take this slot at midseason and that seems like a more stable option.
Dateline NBC continues at 10pm.
SATURDAYS
8:00 Dateline Saturday
10:00 Saturday Night Live (Encores)
SUNDAYS
7:00 Football Night in America (13th season)
8:30 Sunday Night Football
NBC has football in the fall as usual. On tap for midseason is summer hit
World of Dance moving to the regular season and airing from 8-10pm and paired with
Good Girls, which had a modestly rated first season airing after
The Voice.
MIDSEASON: ABBY'S, AMERICA'S GOT TALENT: THE CHAMPIONS, THE ENEMY WITHIN, THE INBETWEEN, THE TITAN GAMES, THE VILLAGE, A.P. Bio, The Blacklist, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Ellen's Game of Games, Good Girls, The Wall, World of Dance
NBC has a lot on deck for midseason. I already mentioned NBC's plans for
America's Got Talent: The Champions, The Blacklist, Ellen's Game of Games, Good Girls, The Titan Games, and
World of Dance. One of the biggest stories in the days leading up to Upfronts was NBC's rescue of
Brooklyn Nine-Nine after its FOX cancellation. It seems like a natural fit with
Superstore, so it might succeed
The Good Place. As I mentioned, I am guessing
The Village succeeds
This is Us. That leaves
The Enemy Within and
The Inbetween as possibly Monday or Tuesday launches depending on how the fall newbies do. No word on the long gestating
The Gilded Age - perhaps it will be held to summer or even fall of 2019.
CANCELLED/ENDED: The Brave, Law & Order True Crime, Great News, Rise, Taken
FATES TBA: Better Late Than Never, Champions, Genius Junior, Little Big Shots, Timeless
There are several shows that haven't had confirmed plans, most notably
Timeless which is hoping for yet another last minute reprieve. Shockingly, NBC has not yet cancelled the incredibly low rated
Champions either. If they do end up renewing either, expect them to be very low priority shows. I think
Genius Junior is done while
Little Big Shots has become a disappointment but will probably find a spot somewhere, even if it becomes a summer show.
TO SUM UP:
This is a pretty safe schedule from NBC, but I like it for the most part with two notable exceptions and that is
I Feel Bad and their Friday night lineup.
I Feel Bad looks like an instant flop in a tough slot while the Friday lineup seems so much weaker than letting
The Blacklist start off the night with its full season order. I LOVE the Chicago Wednesdays plan. I think that's great branding for NBC and I think
Law & Order: SVU can hold its own on Thursdays. If NBC thinks
Manifest is their best pilot then it deserved the Monday 10pm slot. Both
Manifest and
New Amsterdam look decent, but I'm not sure they're game changers. I thought
The Village looked promising so I'm a little nervous about it getting the
Rise treatment after that didn't work out. I like
America's Got Talent having a winter run and they can use it to launch one of their new dramas if
Manifest doesn't work out.
No comments:
Post a Comment