UPFRONTS 2019: NBC's Official Fall Schedule

Here is the official NBC fall schedule!

Past NBC Upfronts: 2018   2017   2016   2015   2014   2013   2012   2011

MONDAYS
8:00 The Voice (17th edition
10:00 BLUFF CITY LAW

Since The Voice started airing in the fall in 2012, NBC has launched a new drama out of it every year except once. Fall 2019 continues that trend by pairing the veteran reality show with the new Memphis-set legal drama Bluff City Law. NBC has tried really ambitious shows like Revolution, Timeless, and Manifest in this slot before so this seems like one of their safer but blander attempts. As of now, Manifest is slated to take back its Monday 10pm slot at midseason. However, I'm sure that plan would change if Bluff City Law was a hit.

TUESDAYS
8:00 The Voice (17th edition)
9:00 This is Us (4th season)
10:00 New Amsterdam (2nd season)

NBC is keeping the status quo on Tuesday nights but the biggest news is that their biggest success, This is Us, was renewed for three seasons. That's a feat that's incredibly rare on TV and indicative of how important the show is to NBC. This three season renewal will put it through season six and while it is not an endgame necessarily, creator Dan Fogelman said at one point he envisioned it as a six season show so we'll see. The Voice continues at 8pm, but the Tuesday edition of The Voice has had a very tough time this season. Medical drama New Amsterdam had a great fall behind This is Us, but has struggled when airing behind The Village and then The Voice in the spring. It will get a chance to steady itself in the same slot.

WEDNESDAYS
8:00 Chicago Med (5th season)
9:00 Chicago Fire (8th season)
10:00 Chicago PD (7th season)

NBC finally gave in and moved all the Chicago shows to one night and made it their #OneChicago lineup. It paid off for them in a big way as Chicago Fire and Chicago Med are two of the only broadcast shows to be even (Med) or up (Fire) in the demo from last year. I would argue that this lineup has been the strongest overall 8-11pm lineup anywhere on network TV. Although the shows are getting older, there was no reason to do anything different yet and NBC wisely chose not to.

THURSDAYS
8:00 Superstore (5th season)
8:30 PERFECT HARMONY
9:00 The Good Place (4th season)
9:30 SUNNYSIDE
10:00 Law & Order: SVU (21st season)

The biggest changes for NBC in the fall is on Thursdays where they will launch two new comedies and move a third. Staying the same is Superstore leading off at 8pm after a solid spring, and Law & Order: SVU entering its record-breaking 21st (and perhaps final?) season. Moving timeslots is The Good Place, which hasn't been seen since January. It will be tasked with anchoring the 9pm hour which seems like a tall order for a niche show with a limited run each season. The two new shows are church choir comedy Perfect Harmony, starring Bradley Whitford, and immigrant comedy Sunnyside, starring Kal Penn and from The Good Place's creator. I'm not sure if either show will work, but I do think Harmony stands a better chance so I think its a better 8:30pm option.

FRIDAYS
8:00 The Blacklist (7th season)
9:00 Dateline NBC (29th season)

Despite having a ton of shows on the bench, NBC is still devoting two hours to Dateline NBC on Friday nights as they did quite a bit this season. This seems like a foolish idea when a low priority show could have worked here and there's plenty of those listed on the midseason list below. In the 8pm hour is season seven of The Blacklist, which didn't do great but wasn't a complete disaster in its move to Fridays this season.



SATURDAYS
8:00 Dateline NBC (encores)
10:00 Saturday Night Live (encores)

SUNDAYS
7:00 Football Night in America (14th season)
8:30 Sunday Night Football
Sundays will be football in the fall of course. The plan for spring (as of now) is the resurrection of Little Big Shots, now hosted by Melissa McCarthy, followed by the new Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist and the return of Good Girls.

MIDSEASON: COUNCIL OF DADS, INDEBTED, THE KENAN SHOW, LINCOLN, SMALL FORTUNE, ZOEY'S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST, America's Got Talent: The Champions, Blindspot, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Ellen's Game of Games, Good Girls, Hollywood Game Night, Little Big Shots, Manifest, The Wall, Who Do You Think You Are?, Will & Grace, World of Dance
NBC has a ton on deck for midseason and beyond. Some I already mentioned while others are likely to be winter fillers or held for summer. The Kenan Show sounds like it may not be seen until post-Olympics in Summer 2020 while Council of Dads seems destined to try to do what The Village and Rise could not: succeed as a This is Us spring replacement. Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Will & Grace are both being held for midseason after their declines this season while there is no natural landing spot for Lincoln or Indebted yet.

CANCELLED/ENDED: I Feel Bad, Midnight Texas

FATES TBA: Abby's, A.P. Bio, The Enemy Within, The Titan Games, The Village
Just like last year, several NBC shows have not had their fates decided. But aside from The Titan Games, none of these shows really seem to have a great shot given their minuscule ratings. If any of them besides Titan get a reprieve, my guess would be A.P. Bio for a third season.

TO SUM UP:
It's easy to look at this schedule and think it is very boring and it is, but NBC is perhaps the most stable network right now and their fall lineup worked for the most part before they had some midseason bombs. So a lot of this makes sense to me. The new trailers don't seem particularly strong to me and in particular, Bluff City Law, looks to be as generic as it gets. But the scheduling makes sense. The only major scheduling question mark I have is putting two hours of Dateline NBC on Fridays when they have so much waiting in the wings. Something like Blindspot or even the new Lincoln would have made sense. Keeping #OneChicago makes perfect sense and I get why they didn't change the Tuesday lineup although they may regret keeping The Voice as a full time Tuesday show if it continues like it did this spring.