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”
First images from NBC’s ‘The Playboy Club’
First images from NBC’s ‘Prime Suspect,’ ‘Awake’ and ‘Grimm’
Katharine McPhee and Debra Messing in NBC’s first ‘Smash’ images
First images from NBC’s ‘Whitney’ and ‘Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea’