Tagged: NBC

Upfronts Day Two: NBC and Some Guy Named “Leno”

Upfronts Day Two: NBC and Some Guy Named “Leno”

With Jay Leno sucking up the entire 10 PM (Eastern) block on NBC weekdays, one would think the venerable and ever-mutating Law &
Order would be in trouble.

Nope. It dodged the bullet. It’ll be in the family hour on
Fridays. Law & Order: SVU (their sex crimes show, not their tribute to gas guzzlers) will be on Wednesdays at 9 PM, preceded by a new “family drama,” Parenthood. Southland will follow L&O, and Jay Leno follows everything.

The Biggest Loser grabs two hours on Tuesday, followed by Jay Leno. Monday will see Heroes return for a while, followed by a new medical drama, Trauma, which will be followed by Jay Leno. Chuck will bump Heroes after the winter Olympics.

A new comedy called Community will start off following The Office
on Thursdays. Thursday editions of Weekend Update will take the 8 PM slot for about a month or so, at which time 30 Rock will return and take Community’s valued position. At that time, Community will take the
Thursday Weekend Update slot, although Update will return from time
to time. Parks and Recreation will take the in-between slot at 8:30, and everything will be followed by the omnipresent Jay “Mr. Overexposed” Leno.

Dateline gets moved to Saturdays to make room for Sunday
Night Football on – wait for it – Sundays. Jay Leno will probably guest
host both shows.

In NBC’s post-Olympics on-deck circle: the comedy 100 Questions, the reality show The Marriage Ref, and the medical show Mercy.

In a bit of non-network news, HBO has ordered 13 episodes
of an animated series starring Ricky Gervais, based on Gervais’s podcasts.

Watchmen: Now Universal joins in with new clips

Watchmen: Now Universal joins in with new clips

  • News
  • February 28, 2009

So far, Warner Bros., Paramount, and Fox have all had ties with Watchmen. Now, we can add NBC/Universal to the list.

Next week, NBC Networks will be airing never before seen exclusive Watchmen character profiles during the programming of shows on NBC, USA and SCIFI to gear up for the release of Watchmen on March 6th.

Here’s the schedule:

  •  March 1 – Clip montage featuring Dr. Manhattan airs exclusively during "National Treasure" on USA Network.
  •  March 2 – Clip montage featuring Rorschach airs exclusively during "Heroes" on NBC.
  •  March 4 – Clip montage featuring Ozymandias airs exclusively during "Ghost Hunters International" on SCI FI.
  •  March 5 – Clip montage featuring Nite Owl airs exclusively during "Battlestar Galactica" on SCI FI.
  •  March 5 – Clip montage featuring Silk Spectre II airs exclusively during "Burn Notice" on USA Network.
  •  March 5 – Clip montage featuring The Comedian airs exclusively during "30 Rock" on NBC.

Following their network airing, the clips will be available for viewing on nbc.com/watchmen.

Meanwhile, Disney is trying to figure out a way to tie things in. Some Ozymadias/ScroogeMcDuck crossover, I suppose. Or Donald Ducktor Manhattan, he’s already not wearing pants…

Fox Going to the Wolves in ‘Bitches’

Fox Going to the Wolves in ‘Bitches’

  • News
  • December 22, 2008

Fox network has announced work has begun on a new hour-long series, Bitches, described by The Hollywood Reporter as “a dramedy about a quartet of female friends in New York who are werewolves.”

Given the November 2009 release of both The Wolfman and the lycanthropes in New Moon, plus the Big Bad Wolf in NBC’s Fables project, it looks to be a hairy fall.

Michael Dougherty (X2: X-Men United) is writing the script for Warner Bros. TV which received a pilot script commitment complete with penalties if no film is shot. Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts (Pepper Dennis) will serve as executive producers alongside Dougherty.

Dougherty wrote about werewolves in Trick ‘r Treat a Warner Bros, film that got dumped earlier this year and will be a direct-to-DVD release.

Networks Fine Tune Second Half of Season

Networks Fine Tune Second Half of Season

  • News
  • December 4, 2008

As November sweeps end and the holiday lull sets in, the networks have begun modifying their line-ups for the second half of the season.

ABC

Nathan Fillion’s Castle will arrive on March 9 with his crime novelist character coming to the aid of Manhattan’s finest when a copycat uses his novels as inspiration. It’ll lead into the spring season of Dancing with the Stars meaning it will be heavily promoted and sampled.

The revamp of Rob Thomas’ Cupid arrives March 24 with Bobby Cannavale and The Spirit’s Sarah Paulson in the leads.

Meantime, Life on Mars takes over the Wednesday at 10 spot as previously reported but when its season ends; it will be replaced with The Unusuals as of April 8. The crime series stars Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia) as a cop in the homicide division.

 

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Television Notes

Television Notes

  • News
  • November 25, 2008

Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello broke the news that Tricia Helfer will shift from Battlestar Galactica skinjob to spy when she guest stars on NBC’s delightful Chuck. She’ll play a fellow Special Agent and wind up being considered as a replacement for Special Agent Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski). “General Beckman — who has been growing increasingly concerned about Chuck and Sarah’s intensifying bond — considers bringing in a new G-woman to work alongside Chuck. Enter Agent Forrest, who shows no fear, no remorse and, much to Agent Casey’s delight, is very easy on the eyes.”

As the first half of the television season reaches its conclusion, lots of network shuffling has been occurring so follow along:

First, NBC has scheduled the remaining episodes of Lipstick Jungle for Friday nights on December 5 and 12, and January 2 and 9.

Where’s Crusoe? Dumped on Saturday nights, beginning December 6, and likely to be canceled when the final six episodes air.

Life on Mars, the Americanized series based on the BBC show of the same name, will be taking a break after December 11 but will return and ABC intends to order additional episodes. The show returns January 28, scheduled after Lost on Wednesday evenings.

Speaking of breaks, Smallville will take a long break as well, not coming back with new episodes until January but it will kick off its second half with the eagerly anticipated Legion story from writer Geoff Johns.
 

ABC Reshuffles Schedule at Expense of Quality

ABC Reshuffles Schedule at Expense of Quality

  • News
  • November 24, 2008

When the writer’s strike crippled audiences getting to know and love many freshman series last season, NBC and ABC decided that five would be held back for reintroduction this fall.  The shows — Chuck, Life, Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money.  On Friday, the verdict came down that the plan didn’t work as anticipated.

ABC has chosen not to renew Pushing and Dirty Sexy Money beyond their first thirteen episodes for the season. Private Practice will be slotted behind Grey’s Anatomy to try and salvage the creatively disjointed series. Life and Chuck seem to be faring better and the network is supporting them.

Also being canceled is Eli Stone which was a midseason replacement last spring.

"It’s all true," Daisies creator Bryan Fuller told Entertainment Weekly. "I’m so very proud of this show and grateful for everyone’s hard work in bringing it to life.

Replacing the shows will be the eighth and possibly final season of Scrubs, which moves to ABC after seven years on NBC. It debuts on January 6 at 9 p.m. with two weeks of a full hour of new episodes followed by the series settling in on January 20 at 9:30.
 

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‘Heroes’ to Simplify for Volume Four

‘Heroes’ to Simplify for Volume Four

  • News
  • November 21, 2008

At the Screenwriters Expo in Los Angeles, Heroes’ creator Tim Kring addressed the criticism heaped on not only the second but the current third season of the NBC series.

“The problem is you run into a whole series of issues,” he said. “Where show and business run into each other. The network falls in love with characters, the audience falls in love with characters, the press falls in love with characters. And it’s contractually hard to get people onboard for a brief period… You find yourself writing for characters you thought would be gone.”

As a result, characters intended to be short-lived have gained prolong life. He does like having a large cast of characters to work with since it allows storytelling flexibility. “An hour of television should have the vibe as a day of your life,” he said.

He assured fans that the oft-used time travel elements would be dropped after the current volume, “Villains”, concludes next month. Kring called the serialized format, which he was working with the first time an “absolute bear of a thing. The serialized story is so Writers Room-intensive and requires an ‘all hands on deck’ quality to it; you’re often just carrying the water for the next storyline.”

After discussions with NBC and the dismissal of Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb, Kring said the series would continue to break the season into volumes to ensure compact storytelling and allowing different characters to be spotlighted.  As a result, viewers who might have found the mythos off-putting can sample each new arc.

“You can hop on the train and you won’t have missed too much."
 

Television Notes

Television Notes

  • News
  • November 18, 2008

USA Network will air the eighth and final season of Monk during the summer of 2009. The beloved series’ concluding season will include 16 episodes. With luck, he will continue to live on in Lee Goldberg’s delightful novels.

CBS’s Gary Unmarried was blessed with a full-season order while the network ordered three additional episodes of Worst Week.

NBC has given Medium an order for a total of 19 episodes, six more than previously ordered and less than a full season. With the recent cancellations, the peacock network may be short of inventory.  A timeslot for the series’ return has not yet been selected although Monday’s at 10 p.m. following Heroes is most likely.
 

‘Knight Rider’ Finds its Roots

‘Knight Rider’ Finds its Roots

  • News
  • November 11, 2008

Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Yancey Arias and Bruce Davison are being left at the curb as NBC orders a major retooling of its Knight Rider revival. The network has shown faith in the show, giving it a full season’s order, only to watch the ratings go into a death spiral.

"It’s a reboot," executive producer/showrunner Gary Scott Thompson told The Hollywood Reporter. "We’re moving away from the terrorist-of-the-week formula and closer to the original, making it a show about a man and his car going out and helping more regular people, everymen."

The series regulars were contracted for only the first 13 episodes and are not being renewed. Currently, the 15th episode is being filmed and the focus will be tightened on Mike (Justin Bruening), Sarah (Deanna Russo), Billy (Paul Campbell), Zoe (Smith Cho) and KITT.

The series kicks off the network’s Wednesday night crime block of shows, followed by Life and Law & Order. Viewers will have a chance to see the restyled series during a two-part episode in January.  They may even use its football prowess to run episode 10 on the weekend and wrap it up, bringing the audience they hope, for the conclusion the following Wednesday.
 

‘Chuck’ gets 3-D, Super Bowl Boost

‘Chuck’ gets 3-D, Super Bowl Boost

  • News
  • November 7, 2008

We love NBC’s Chuck. It’s a fresh take on spies and nerds that is appealingly cast and produced. The show has a great ensemble headed by Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, and Adam Baldwin.  That it continues to perform well in a television season that most call tepid is a good thing.

NBC agrees and continues to support the series.  Most recently it has announced an episode would be shot in 3-D but now creator Josh Schwartz tells Comic Book Resources the show will also receive a push via the Super Bowl, Sunday February 1.

 “It was NBC,” Schwartz, said, crediting the network. “They were doing this big promotion inside of the Super Bowl and handing out 150 million 3-D glasses, so we are the beneficiaries of that. Initially their plan was to have a bunch of shows do it, but it was logistically complicated, so Chuck seemed like the best fit for that type of thing.

“We are shooting the 3-D episode with Dominic Monahan and he’s loving it and loving his leather pants. Zach is the biggest Lost fan, so they talk Lord of the Rings and Lost and it’s huge for him.”

Among the promised three-dimensional images will be Nerd Herder “Jeff eating a urinal cake in 3-D.”

Schwartz says the support from the peacock network has been nothing short of incredible. “NBC has been an incredible partner for the show. I don’t want to sound like a corporate suck-up, but it’s true. They have believed in the show from the get-go. They supported the show by putting us on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. so we would have the Heroes connection and a better shot. They picked us up for the second season knowing the Strike was coming but still believing in us. Obviously, picking up the show for 22 episodes before it even airs is an incredible show of faith. They’ve also given us this 3-D episode that is going to air the night after the Super Bowl, so they’ve been as supportive as I could hope.

“We’ve been recovering from this post-Strike hangover,” Schwartz admitted. “We were doing pretty well before the Strike: every week was building and the numbers were pretty good. It was very encouraging, and then we went off the air for eight months and are in an incredibly competitive timeslot. Forget Gossip Girl or Dancing With the Stars, you’ve still got the CBS comedies and Monday Night Football, which is huge, and also Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. (Fox moves Sarah Connor to Fridays in mid-February.)
 

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