Monday, November 14, 2011

SHUFFLE THE DECK CHAIRS: It's no shock that NBC is doing major schedule renovation come January, but some of the moves are surprising. Of particular note:
  • Parenthood will wrap for the season in February and be replaced by a Project Runway ripoff. Inexplicably, despite its severe ratings erosion, they're sticking with two hours of Biggest Loser to open the night.
  • Wednesday gets a thorough scrubbing--we still start with a comedy block (now, Whitney and Are You There Vodka, It's Me Chelsea?), with Rock Center replacing Harry's Law (which moves to Sundays).
  • Thursday gets a reshuffle--30 Rock, Parks and Rec, The Office, Up All Night are the new "Comedy Night Done Right," with The Firm getting the 10 PM slot. Community is being "put on the bench" with no specific return date, though Sony is clearly going to make a push to get through season 4, which gives them 100 episodes for syndication.
  • NBC's post-NFL Sundays? Dateline, Harry's Law, Celebrity Apprentice.
  • Total of 8 hours of reality and 3 hours of newsmagazine in 19 hours of non-scheduled reruns in primetime.
  • Also not on the schedule--Awake (the much touted Inception-y series starring Jason Isaacs, which I had assumed would get Thursday at 10), Fear Factor (which will apparently be used as Holiday season filler, because nothing says Christmas like "eat some slimy bugs!"), or Prime Suspect, which appears to be a goner.

ETA: Also announced--TAR will not be back on Sundays, at least for a while, once this race ends--they're giving that slot to Undercover Boss, making the night an utter whiplash of tone/audience, and new Rob Schneider sitcom ¡Rob! is getting the coveted slot out of Big Bang Theory on Thursdays.

38 comments:

  1. Duvall6:25 PM

    Nine hours of scripted programming a week?  Is there a reason why NBC should still be a network?

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  2. Jenn.6:27 PM

    Community?  Benched?  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  3. Maret6:38 PM

    WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!

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  4. KAAAAAAAHHHHHHNNNNN!

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  5. Maret7:01 PM

    I will say, I'm stupidly excited for Smash.

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  6. Meghan7:34 PM

    Way to go, NBC. I tune in for five half-hour sitcoms per week and you just took one away. I do appreciate not having to tune in on Wednesdays now but just eff you.

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  7. I. Am. Not. Happy.

    Can you hear Troy sobbing?

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  8. I don't want to live in a world where Whitney gets a pick up and Community is benched.  I will rip the 4 off my TV now.

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  9. Becca7:47 PM

    I just saw a friend of mine over the weekend, and her husband, who was working on Prime Suspect, officially started a new job last week, having already given up on PS. When the crew flees, it's a good sign something's up. As I'm not a half-hour comedy OR reality viewer, I think NBC continues to be my least-watched network, though I'll clearly give Smash a try, as I'm about to cut Glee loose.

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  10. The Internet is melting down over Community, but two thoughts (and I say this having watched "Community" from the go):

    1) This is not on NBC. This is season three of being on the same night and no one watches. Blame America. 

    2) This season has had about one and a half good episodes, so I guess this is also on Dan Harmon.

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  11. Prime Suspect is actually really good.  Sigh.

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  12. Randy8:17 PM

    Concur.  Community has actually had a surprisingly low batting average.  Don't get me wrong: when it works, it's brilliant, but I find it wildly inconsistent.

    Also, what's the statute of limitations when talking about shows being prematurely cancelled?  Because I WISH I had three seasons of Firefly to lament losing.

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  13. Hannah Lee8:20 PM

    His whole brain is crying.

    And it's not Styx's fault  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ZcDShqCl0 

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  14. Heather K8:23 PM

    I know, right?  Maria Bello is awesome but so is everyone in the cast.  I mean it is a well done cop show.

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  15. Hannah Lee8:25 PM

    There must be a typo in the schedule; Community can't be benched, because:


    Six seasons and a movie!!

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  16. JosephFinn10:20 PM

    I wish I could say I was surprised about Community.

    But the surprise for me would be Awake, which I assumed was all systems go.

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  17. What I'm hearing about Awake seems to be that there are real questions about "OK, so what do episodes 2 and 3 look like?" that aren't necessarily being answered to the satisfaction of anyone.  Given that similar complaints were levied against Kyle Killen's last show (though from the two episodes we saw, it had at least figured out part of the way), they may be reluctant.  Depending on how well/badly things go for NBC, I wouldn't be shocked to see Awake repurposed and stripped as a sweeps miniseries.

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  18. chuckie10:56 PM

    NBC's meltdown is karma for cancelling My Name is Earl.  Still bitter. 

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  19. xlynwoodx11:58 PM

    All this talk about Community and not one mention of Parenthood!  I'm so much more upset over that ending in February than anything else.

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  20. JosephFinn12:05 AM

    Actually, I'd be OK with that.  Kind of like how Journeyman should have been.

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  21. Dan Suitor12:14 AM

    I think Arrested Development is the Mendoza Line for the "gone too soon" argument. 53 episodes of a half-hour sitcom, round it off to 50, and maybe 30 of an hour-long series.

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  22. A lot of wrong posted here.  Community has a few wildly funny moments in every episode.  There's always humor to be found even if you don't enjoy the A or B plots.

    Also, the last 4 episodes have all been good to great, so this idea of "one and a half good episodes" is silly. 

    But this is the internet, where people are only excited to find something and then to bury it as soon as possible.

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  23. Benner8:45 AM

    i see what you did there.  you a Carson Daly fan too?

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  24. LDP in Cincinnati9:34 AM

    The most recent episode of Community has been the only good one so far this season.  "Wildly inconsistent" is an accurate description of this show.

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  25. Paul Tabachneck9:52 AM

    Parenthood ending in February can still mean a full 22 episodes, but Community is a devastating loss.  Is Up All Night really that good, or is this just everyone's favorite uncle flexing a muscle to keep the show on the air?

    Community proved last year, I think, that episodes of the show that feel like they're not quite "up to par" make a lot more sense in their season's context -- they're cutting it off at the knees by benching it.<span> </span>

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  26. The Halloween Community wasn't good?  Wrong.  The alternate timeline episode?  WTH?!

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  27. I am EXTREMELY BITTER about Prime Suspect.  It was filling the hole left in my heart by the cancellation of Detroit 1-8-7.  I need a good gritty cop show, and I've been loving the writing and acting on PS.

    My feelings about Community are mixed.  I feel it's pretty uneven.  My one must-watch on Thursday is Parks & Rec -- I've completely given up on The Office.  Whitney, though, is a piece of crap.

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  28. Watchman11:42 AM

    Prime Suspect has gotten much better after the first couple of episodes.  Sadly my mom turns out to be right (again)--you never get a second chance to make a first impression.  The first couple, especially the first one, were a mess.  I'll miss it.

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  29. Gleemonex12:12 PM

    What's the deal with TAR? I'm a lot more upset about that -- I don't watch the other shows, so I'll just sympathize from afar with the fans of the ones cancelled or in trouble (I have lost my fair share and more of brilliant-but-canceled ...). 

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  30. I am hardly excited to bury something that has had as many great moments and episodes of "Community," but I think this season, agreeing with others, has been wildly inconsistent. The Halloween episode was okay.  This past episode with Annie moving very solid.  The alt-timeline episode was fantastic.  The rest of them?  No thanks.  

    Maybe it just hurts to have it immediately followed by Parks and Rec, which is tossing a master class of comedy out there every 7 days.  

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  31. I also loved Detroit 1-8-7 and Prime Suspect.  Sigh.

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  32. Heather K1:56 PM

    They are casting for the next season.  Applications due Nov 30th.  Maybe they are just moving it around the schedule.

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  33. Genevieve4:34 PM

    Up All Night is pretty good - it's been consistently making us laugh and I've been more impressed with Arnett/Applegate's acting than I expected to be (as I'm a fan of AD but not as much of Gob, and hated Married With Children).  And I'm highly enjoying Maya Rudolph's Oprah takeoff.

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  34. Marsha6:25 PM

    Or maybe they've figured out that running seasons back to back makes people get bored with the formula.

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  35. J. Bowman8:15 PM

    MENDOZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

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  36. Dan Suitor8:39 PM

    Southland should be coming back at midseason for TNT, and I find it to be really effective.

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  37. isaac_spaceman9:12 PM

    Not really a fan of Up All Night -- the tone is too bleached-out for me, and I don't mean just because it's basically a suburban rich white people problems show.  Everything is so toned down.  It's weird to hear Arnett speaking like he was told to use his inside voice. 

    That said, holding Married With Children against Applegate is a little like saying you don't like Neil Patrick Harris because he was overly bland in Doogie Howser.  Applegate was a kid on Married With Children, and in Hollywood terms, she's had at least two careers since it went off the air. 

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  38. You know, Southland is one of those shows I've been meaning to watch.  Now may be the time -- thanks for the reminder!

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