Cancel/Renewal Predictions. Pilot Preview. ABC. CBS.
Let’s talk about the last of the Big 3: NBC. It’s most likely to be the #1 network of the season, boosted by airing the Super Bowl, The Voice, Chicago P.D./Fire & The Blacklist. But it had one helluva rough season, its crop of new shows were a wash, Mysteries of Laura was (somehow) renewed while pretty much the rest of its freshmen shows came and went without so much as peep. As an example of how bad it is at NBC right now, this past week 5 of its hours were filled with Dateline. It could be looking at a steep drop in the ratings if it doesn’t shore up its schedule (particularly days when it’s not airing The Voice) quick.
Sunday
Current Schedule: Dateline/A.D.: The Bible Continues/American Odyssey
After football season was over, NBC aired A LOT of repeats and Dateline on Sundays. It’s like they just gave up on the day.
Originally I was gonna slot 3 female-led shows that NBC could promote as some sort of ‘Women Who Kick Ass’ night but then realized Shades of Blue would be better suited/more likely to get a post-Voice slot and Telenova was only half an hour.
Dateline will kick off the night because there’s only so many hours of the show that can be replaced, follow it with the slightly intriguing-sounding Blindspot (it may be NBC’s best bet of the night quality-wise and may be better to start it an hour earlier than when most cable dramas start). Chicago Medical may be a spin-off too many but at least it (probably) won’t out-and-out bomb, though I don’t foresee it becoming a runaway hit. That’d still be an improvement on all the dramas NBC have tried—and failed—to launch lately. Medical show Heartbreaker may be suitable follow-up, though I’m bearish on its prospects. Is it too early to start making predictions on which show will be the first to be axed in the fall season?
Monday
Current Schedule:The Voice/The Night Shift
NBC likes to gives its biggest, buzziest shows the post-Monday Night Voice slow, first was Revolution, then Smash, Blacklist, and State of Affairs. Whichever show gets the slow in the fall may not feel great to be on that list since 3 of those shows are cancelled and The Blacklist is hitting series lows after being moved. But, following the logic of it all, NBC will likely slot its big Jennifer Lopez-starring cop drama (I know, who the fuck, aside from the blind (and even then) will buy Lopez as a dirty cop) after The Voice. Hell they’ll probably get her to perform on the episode of The Voice preceding Shades of Blue’s premiere.
Tuesday
>Current Schedule:The Voice/Undateable/One Big Happy/Chicago Fire
The Voice starts off the night, Chicago Fire ends it. NBC has ordered a number of pilots, which means it could try launching comedies on another night, but Tuesdays comedy block will probably stay intact. Eva Longoria-starring Telenovela sounds extremely compatible to the post-Voice slot given their respective and likely audience. Out of the other comedies NBC has ordered, People are Talking or Superstore sound like a fit. People are Talking sounds like a good candidate…..to get its series order cut and not premiere until the summer of 2017 so Superstore it is.
Wednesday
Current Schedule:The Mysteries of Laura/Law & Order: Special Victims Unit/Chicago P.D.
The ratings on this night seems to swing wildly depending on whether or not there’s a crossover event on all of Dick Wolf’s shows. While it might seem like a good idea to keep Wednesday’s in tact, and it is, it’s a better idea to prop up NBC’s Thursday, which is on life support, to put it generously. Move Chicago P.D. over to kick off that night, keeping Mysteries of Laura and Law & Order in place. Crazy idea, slot comedies Coach and Crowded after Law & Order. I doubt it will happen, if anything Coach will get a Friday or earlier Wednesday slot, maybe even Thursday if NBC gives up on all drama Thursdays (or Tuesday if NBC wants to be crazy, the demographic of Coach does not match that of The Voice). The demographics of Mysteries of Laura fits well with Coach, but it would probably get stampeded by Modern Family.
Thursday
Current Schedule:Repeats/The Blacklist/Dateline
In theory, moving NBC’s smash hit The Blacklist to Thursdays to remake it as a drama night wasn’t bad on paper.
Except a) the audiences of Scandal and The Blacklist seemed to cannibalize each other a bit and
b) season 2 of Blacklist had been trending downward and was seemingly exacerbated by its move
While The Blacklist remains an extremely strong DVR player, NBC needs to build up the night quickly as the 2 dramas they surrounded it with (The Slap, Allegiance) quickly sunk like a stone.
With that in mind, move over Chicago P.D. from Wednesday so serve as a suitable lead-in, and close out the night with another seemingly testosterone-fueled show Game of Silence. It may be tempting to slot a different new show in the 1st hour and Chicago Medical in the last hour (y’know, to harken back to the days of ER) but 3 days in a row of Chicago [whatever] might be a bit much. I can’t wait ’till NBC greenlights Chicago Waste Disposal.
Friday
Current Schedule:Grimm/Dateline
Without some of sort of genre show to pair with Grimm this year as in years past (Constantine, Hannibal, Dracula), Friday is a bit tough to schedule. NBC could very well throw up their/its hands and say ‘fuck it’ and continue on with Grimm and 2 hours of Dateline, but The Player sounds like a show that will be schedule for the fall.
2015-16 NBC television schedule
new shows in italics
Sunday: Dateline/Blindspot/Chicago Medical/Heartbreaker
Monday: The Voice/Shades of Blue
Tuesday: The Voice/Telenovela/Superstore/Chicago Fire
Wednesday: Mysteries of Laura/Law & Order: SVU/Coach/Crowded
Thursday: Chicago P.D./The Blacklist/Game of Silence
Friday: The Player/Grimm/Dateline
Last Year’s Upfront Preview:
Part 3: NBC
Part 3: CBS
Part 3: ABC
Part 2: Pilot Preview
Part 1: Cancel/Renew
AVthatsme 