NBC Upfronts!
Each spring the networks hold their upfront meetings with the advertisers. Here they present their fall schedule and put on a sometimes literal song and dance in hopes of getting the most “upfront” ad dollars. NBC came out of the gate first with a list of their new shows. History has shown that most of these shows, if not all of them, won’t make it to the end of next season. Though the past year has mixed up the landscape and it appears “newish” ideas seem to be thriving– unless you’re trying to make a comedy. No one seems to want to touch those with a ten foot pole (a twenty foot pole?). Check out the list by clicking below…
20 Good Years - Pretty standard sit-com fare with Jeffrey Tambor and John Lithgow. Though the fact that it doesn’t star snarky, beautiful young-people does bode well.
30 Rock - Multiples of 10 are big this year at NBC, and especially in this comedy created by Tina Fey. It stars Few, Alec Baldwin and most of the cast of SNL in a show that is mostly about the innerworkings of SNL.
Friday Night Lights - A drama that is more likely based on the successful movie of same name than it is the successful book of same, follows around high school football players in a small texas town.
Heroes - NBC’s response to Lost is this drama that involves a group of teens who work at a magical sandwich shop– haha, NO. Actually, it’s about teens who all have super powers.
Kidnapped - There’s also a recent trend in network television to produce high-concept shows that can’t possibly get a second season (yes, Prison Break is coming back this fall, but is anyone actually going to watch it?). Here, the son of a wealthy family is– wait for it– KIDNAPPED, and everyone tries to get him back.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - Probably the most highly anticipated new show on NBC’s (maybe everyone’s) lineup is this new dramedy from Aaron Sorkin, the TV guru behind Sports Night and The West Wing. The series deals with the innerworkings of a show not unlike SNL. The show is apparently SO highly anticipated that NBC decided to make another version called 30 Rock and release it the same year. Why? Because you can’t turn down a Sorkin pilot and the network still seems to think that Tina Fey is the future of comedy and not Steve Carrell.
Andy Barker, P.I. - My personal favorite of the announced shows is this one created by Conan O’Brian and starring Andy Richter. Andy plays “Andy” an accountant who moves into the offices of a former private investigator. People start coming in with cases, and he begins picking them up. Hillarity ensues. I hear in season 2 Andy Barker will try to get on a show not unlike SNL.
The Black Donnellys - Oscar winner Paul Haggis created this drama about a group of brothers in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood who get involved in organized crime. I hear they turn to crime because everyone kept saying that their neighborhood was ‘up and coming.’
Raines - Jeff Goldblum is a detective who talks to the dead. THIS IS NOT A COMEDY!
The Singles Table - I assume this is a comedy, only because Harold of “Harold and Kumar” is in it. The premise is that a group of people at a wedding bond at “the singles table.” Perhaps hilarity will ensue, unless it’s actually a drama, in which case tears and hugs will ensue.
And that’s the list. My early prediction is that the only show that makes it to next May will be Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and maybe, MAYBE, 20 Good Years if it isn’t too broad. I will, however, watch all of these shows for at least 3 episodes. Which ones catch your eye?
Source: Zap2It’s 2006 Network Upfront Coverage
Tags: NBC, The Industry, Upfronts
May 16th, 2006 at 8:52 am
From what I saw in the NYT article, Andy Barker is only a mid-season replacement. Is it the new Arrested Development (which was the new Andy Richter Controls the Universe)?
May 16th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
Yes, Barker comes back in January with Scrubs and the The Singles Table– in theory. As for whether it’s the new Arrested Development, I’ll have to wait until I see it, but it’s clearly in the lead. In the meantime we’ll have to enjoy The Office and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (which is back mid-June!!).
May 16th, 2006 at 4:30 pm
I didn’t mean new AD, quality-wise. I meant new AD, jerked-around-by-the-network-wise. But yes … we’ll see.
May 17th, 2006 at 1:44 am
[...] There are definitely some shows on here that I will watch, but for the most part I get the sense that what we’re looking at is simply a list of good pitches– not good shows. NBC’s fall schedule is ballsy. It’s ballsy because it has to be. The network is in last place and needs not only a hit, but needs back some of its prestige–prestige lost over the past six years of Fear Factor and shitty Friends rip-offs. Unfortunately, after two days of network announcements it appears that NBC is going to be the exception to the pack. It perfectly illustrates what it is the networds need. ABC has three signature dramas, and now is looking to fill out the rest of the their schedule with programming that might appeal to… well, someone (anyone!). NBC, on the other hand, has a good bench. What it’s missing is a team captain– a show that can be the face of the network (a peacock beak, if you will). NBC’s fall roll-out wasn’t so much an effort to fill in the schedule as it was an audition with America for one or two huge hits. [...]
September 1st, 2006 at 4:59 pm
Very good reading. Peace until next time.
WaltDe
May 15th, 2007 at 1:21 am
[...] As for the new stuff, NBC has picked up five new dramas and one new comedy (with a couple new “alternative programming†choices thrown into the mix as well), a paltry sum when compared to last season’s seven dramas and three comedies. We obviously won’t know if the new line-up succeeds until the fall, but having so few new programs on the roster actually limits the risk and puts the focus on getting viewers to give a second look (or first) at their existing programming (read: watch Friday Night Lights!). [...]