While the Nielsen calendar says that Premiere Week begins on Monday, September 19, NBC will give some of its shows a head-start on the competition, while also delaying the launches of Friday offerings “Chuck” and “Grimm.”
NBC’s first premiere will be the Tuesday, September 13 return of “Parenthood,” which will get a boost from the final performance episode of the “America’s Got Talent” season. The next night, new comedies “Up All Night” and “Free Agents” will air in the 10 p.m. hour after the two-hour “America’s Got Talent” finale.
The network will still introduce the majority of its schedule in the regular Premiere Week, starting with “The Sing-Off” and “The Playboy Club” on Monday, September 19. That week will also feature premieres for “The Biggest Loser,” “Harry’s Law,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Community,” “Parks and Recreation,” “The Office,” “Whitney” and “Prime Suspect.”
“Chuck” fans are going to need to be patient. The perennial bubble show will start what will most likely be its final season on Friday, October 21, leading into the series premiere of “Grimm.”
Note that NBC’s schedule is still banked around the timely return of the NFL season, with Sunday Night Football set to premiere on September 8. With the St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears hoping open training camp on July 22 (and going head-to-head in the preseason opener on Aug. 7), the NFL and the NFL players’ association remain in the midst of intense negotiations to end what has already been a 113-day (as of July 6) lockout.
Here’s the NBC premiere schedule:
Thursday, September 8
8-8:30 p.m. “NFL Kickoff Special 2011” (regular season)
8:30-11 p.m. “Sunday Night Football” (regular season)
Sunday, September 11
7-8 p.m. “Football Night in America” (regular season)
8-11:30 p.m. “Sunday Night Football”
Tuesday, September 13
10-11 p.m. “Parenthood”
Wednesday, September 14
8-10 p.m. “America”s Got Talent” (season finale)
10-10:30 p.m. “UP ALL NIGHT”
10:30-11 p.m. “FREE AGENTS”
Monday, September 19
8-10 p.m. “The Sing-Off”
10-11 p.m. “THE PLAYBOY CLUB”
Tuesday, September 20
8-10 p.m. “The Biggest Loser”
Wednesday, September 21
8-8:30 p.m. “UP ALL NIGHT” (regular time period debut with original episode)
8:30-9 p.m. “FREE AGENTS” (regular time period debut with original episode)
9-10 p.m. “Harry”s Law”
10-11 p.m. “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”
Thursday, September 22
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, September 23
9-11 p.m. “Dateline NBC”
Friday, October 21
8-9 p.m. “Chuck”
9-10 p.m. “GRIMM”
10-11 p.m. “Dateline NBC”
Saturday, September 24
8-9 p.m. “Harry”s Law” (Repeat)
9-10 p.m. “Prime Suspect” (Repeat)
10-11 p.m. “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (Repeat)
