NBC sets 2011-2012 schedule
'Chuck' to Fridays, 'Harry's Law' to Wednesdays and more
Amber Heard, Naturi Naughton and Leah Renee of 'The Playboy Club'
Credit: NBC
One day ahead of its upfront presentation to advertisers, NBC has announced its schedule for the 2011-12 season.
Among the big changes fans will notice, "Chuck" has been shifted to Friday nights at 8 p.m. making room for a fall run of "The Sing-Off" on an all-new Monday nights with "The Playboy Club." "Chuck" will now be paired with the new drama "Grimm" in a fairly aggressive Friday programming push.
Tuesday is NBC's only night to remain entirely intact, with "The Biggest Loser" leading into "Parenthood," but Wednesday nights have been shaken up extensively, starting with new comedies "Up All Night" and "Free Agents" establishing an 8 p.m. comedy block, followed by transplanted drama "Harry's Law" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."
"Community" maintains its position leading off Thursdays, where it will be followed by "Parks and Recreation," leaving its post-"Office" slot, but establishing a critically adored, low-rated comedies. "The Office" will then give a boost to the new comedy "Whitney," which will be followed by the network's high profile reimagining of "Prime Suspect," starring Maria Bello.
NBC execs emphasized that if the NFL season is postponed or canceled due to labor unrest, the network has tentative plans for reality programming to fill Sunday nights.
NBC has held off on some big guns for midseason, which will be built around the return of "The Voice," airing on Monday nights from 8 to 10 p.m. in the spring, followed by the musical dramedy "Smash," executive produced by Steven Spielberg. Also waiting for midseason is NBC's series adaptation of "The Firm," which will air on Sunday nights at 10 p.m. after "Celebrity Apprentice," which will slide back an hour to 8 to 10 p.m.
The Emmy-winning comedy "30 Rock" will also be held back for midseason.
"Next season begins the rebuilding of the NBC primetime schedule, and our goal is to reinvigorate our audience with a line-up of appointment television that includes our best returning shows and a variety of innovative and attention-getting new series. We'll be placing a great deal of emphasis on how we launch each one of our programs and on maximizing the network's strengths throughout the fall and well into mid-season," states NBC Entertainment President Robert Greenblatt, unveiling the first schedule of his administration. "Considering it's only been three months since new management took over, I'm very pleased with what has resulted from a very strong pilot season. And with a powerful new asset like ‘The Voice’ already in hand, we go into the 2011-12 season with cautious but incredible optimism."
Here's how NBC breaks it down:
NBC FALL 2011-12 SCHEDULE
*New programs in UPPER CASE; (all times ET)
MONDAY
8-10 p.m. – "The Sing-Off"
10-11 p.m. – "THE PLAYBOY CLUB"
TUESDAY
8-10 p.m. – "The Biggest Loser"
10-11 p.m. – "Parenthood"
WEDNESDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – "UP ALL NIGHT"
8:30-9 p.m. – "FREE AGENTS"
9-10 p.m. -- "Harry’s Law"
10-11 p.m. -- "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"
THURSDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – "Community"
8:30-9 p.m. -- "Parks and Recreation"
9-9:30 p.m. – "The Office"
9:30-10 p.m. – "WHITNEY"
10-11 p.m. – "PRIME SUSPECT"
FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. – "Chuck"
9-10 p.m. – "GRIMM"
10-11 p.m. – "Dateline NBC"
SATURDAY
Encore programming
SUNDAY
7- 8:15 p.m. -- "Football Night in America"
8:15-11:30 p.m. -- "NBC Sunday Night Football"
NBC 2012 MID-SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
*New programs in UPPER CASE; (all times ET)
SUNDAY
7-8 p.m. – "Dateline NBC"
8-10 p.m. – "The Celebrity Apprentice"
10-11 p.m. – "THE FIRM"
MONDAY
8-10 p.m. – "The Voice"
10-11 p.m. – "SMASH"
A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.
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May 15, 2011 at 2:05PM EST Reply to CommentI have to wait until midseason for 30 Rock
Guest So that has already been decided? Is it starting in October or something?
May 15, 2011 at 2:12PM EST
May 15, 2011 at 2:44PM EST
May 15, 2011 at 3:15PM ESTRyan Thanks for the reminder Chris. I came to the comments all set to express righteous outrage and realized that your explanation is a practical one.
May 16, 2011 at 2:12PM EST
May 15, 2011 at 2:10PM EST Reply to CommentI like the idea of Chuck on Friday nights. In another thread I suggested NBC put Chuck on Saturday nights, assume all watchers are DVR watchers, and use it as a proving ground for DVR-resistant advertising models.
Where's 30 Rock? Held back to be slotted in when Whitney fails?
Bill It is going to be a competition I'm sure between Parks and Rec, Whitney, and Community. The network is probably banking on Community to lose.
May 15, 2011 at 2:23PM ESTGUest IT's the last season of Chuck, so i feel as if it is unfair to change it from the time slot that it has had all along for some new show. Friday is the worst day, almost all shows on Friday tank because everyone is doing something Friday night. This is really unjust to Chuck which has given so much to NBC and in return they have abused it when really its all they got.
May 15, 2011 at 3:06PM EST
May 15, 2011 at 3:17PM ESTI used to collect pogs What night Chuck is on doesn't matter in the least. Especially to NBC. It's audience is it's audience at this point. That is more than obvious to all involved. They'll watch whenever it comes on. The audience isn't going to grow. So why sacrifice a potentially bigger night? The Chuck audience is a guaranteed small one. Why not put it on a low rated night and cut your losses? Chuck fans need to step back and chill out. You guys need to realize that you are incredibly lucky to get this last final season to say goodbye to your show. TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET. On any other network without NBC's problems, Chuck would have been canceled after season 2.
May 15, 2011 at 3:23PM ESTChrissy Chuck's timeslot has always been tricky for me because of hockey and HIMYM. So, for me, this is great (assuming Fringe and Supernatural stay at 9). I assume NBC knows the audience isn't going to grow, and that the fans are a) DVR users and b) pretty loyal.
May 15, 2011 at 3:26PM ESTBuild A Better Fan @Guest:
May 15, 2011 at 3:30PM ESTOn the contrary, Chuck has been treated well. NBC has made advertising pushes and they've done special things for the show (including some Super Bowl promotion), and we've learned that Chuck's audience is its (slowly shrinking) audience.
In the end, TV is a business. Chuck's creators have always accepted that, and they've made every effort to cut costs and keep themselves on the air, improbably, for 91 episodes. I'm sure they're just grateful to have yet another season when they could have easily been canceled after two -- and they're down to a 1.4 demo.
And since everyone knows this is the last season, it doesn't matter that it's been moved to Fridays.
Let's not be sour about network treatment. This is one show that just can't complain about that.
Stacy Yeah, I'm a Chuck fan and I'm very thankful to get 13 episodes to end it. Think of how many shows don't get an ending or ones where the writers have 2-3 episodes to come up with an ending. I think it's awesome Chuck gets this chance and I can't wait until the final season
May 15, 2011 at 3:45PM ESTEd W
May 15, 2011 at 2:13PM EST Reply to CommentUp All Night? An adaptation of the British show?
May 15, 2011 at 2:31PM ESTBob
May 15, 2011 at 2:47PM EST Reply to CommentOther new shows being held for mid-season are:
-AWAKE
-ARE YOU THERE VODKA? IT'S ME, CHELSEA
-BEST FRIENDS FOREVER
-BENT
Fraggle Rock Me Amadeus
May 15, 2011 at 3:19PM EST Reply to CommentInteresting that NBC paired the laugh track laden Whitney with it's laugh trackless Thurs night comedy lineup. It's a show that would fit in with NBC's Friends era comedy lineup a lot more than the current one.
As for the show itself. I saw a clip and didn't exactly find it to be all too funny. I'm a fan of Whitney Cummings on the Comedy Central roasts and as a joke writer. But that looked like something from the Single Guy era.
Growing Pangs I wonder if NBC is going back to the standard laugh track sitcom? None of the shows they have done without laugh tracks have done all too well ratings wise. Sure, critics and people on the internet love them. But they don't do Two and a Half Men or Big Bang Theory numbers.
May 15, 2011 at 4:01PM ESTDan, can you comment on this? Are the rest of NBC's in development sitcoms laugh track'd?
May 15, 2011 at 5:55PM EST Reply to CommentChuck is a great show and he should not always be in line with the cancellation, this is a mistake, it is an excellent show. Chuck should always be renewed, the episodes are great especially the fourth season. The fifth season has to have more 13eps and should not be the last season. I do not know how NBC and Warner Bros. want to cancel chuck if this occurs will only diminish the audience, because chuck fans are the ones that give audience to them ...
renew chuck for season 6 too
please NBC and WB
jukeofurl
May 15, 2011 at 8:36PM EST Reply to CommentPLAYBOY CLUB? I thought they were all closed by 1983. AND most reprehensible title for anything ever since Mein Kampf - 'Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea.' Why not just call it "Ralph?"
Jason
May 21, 2011 at 4:49AM EST Reply to Comment>>"Next season begins the rebuilding of the NBC primetime schedule, and our goal is to reinvigorate our audience with a line-up of appointment television that includes our best returning shows and a variety of innovative and attention-getting new series" ... states NBC Entertainment President Robert Greenblatt,
Only if this schedule is an elaborate practical joke. Reading the 1-paragraph summaries of all of NBC's new shows, not one of them stands out to me as "appointment television" or "innovative."
It looks like NBC saw ABC's utter train wreck of new show development for 2010-11 and in Barney Stinson fashion declared, "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!"