NBC Upfronts

NBC announced their new fall schedule yesterday and changes are afoot.  The week gets off to a familiar start with The Voice returning for another round on Mondays, followed by The Brave, a new drama starring Anne Heche which is sure to do well.  Tuesday has an attempt at a comedy hour, with Superstore and The Good Place sandwiched in-between The Voice and Chicago Fire.  Wednesday has 3 returning dramas, starting with The Blacklist.

The network will try to revitalize the Must See TV brand on Thursday, with the revamped Will & Grace leading off the night and this year’s breakout hit This Is Us, before a dramatized version of the Menendez brothers murders.  Blindspot moves to Fridays, where it will lead off the night.

Midseason will bring comedies A.P. Bio, starring Patton Oswalt, and Champions, from executive producer Mindy Kaling.  On the drama side, there is Good Girls, about suburban moms who decide to start robbing banks, Reverie, starring Sarah Shahi as a hostage negotiator, and Rise, from the people behind ParenthoodTimeless, which was cancelled last week and then not cancelled, will also return at some point.

Cancelled shows include The Blacklist: Redemption, Chicago Justice, Emerald City, Powerless, Trial & Error, Grimm, and The Celebrity Apprentice.

2013 New Fall Season – Tuesdays

old-tv-set1It’s time to take a look at the Tuesday night offerings for this season, only 2 of which return from last year.

7:00

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Following the success of The Avengers, ABC, corporate sibling of Marvel, gets to air the spin-off featuring a team of SHIELD agents tracking down threats across the globe.

7:30

Brooklyn Nine-Nine – There hasn’t been a real police workplace comedy since Barney Miller left the air in 1982.  The premiere episode wasn’t bad, but sometimes a little bit of Andy Samberg can go a long way.

8:00

New Girl – This show really found its footing once Zooey Deschanel’s Jess and Jake Johnson’s Nick hooked up towards the end of last season.  The two have incredible chemistry, and keeping them apart really served no purpose.  Now if only they could find a consistent usage for Winston.

Supernatural – The show moves back to Tuesdays, in its original time slot from when it premiered, for its 9th season.  The show has tried to find a consistent purpose post-season 5 and the wrap up of the original storyline.  Maybe another year will do it.

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CBS Upfronts

PersonOfInterestRelevance1The big news out of the CBS upfront presentation wasn’t what they did pick up for the fall, but what they didn’t.  Leslie Moonves and company passed on yet another NCIS spinoff and a Beverly Hills Cop sequel with Eddie Murphy on board for a recurring role.  Instead, the network decided to take some chances in favor of higher-concept dramas and single camera comedies.  Hawaii Five-O gets shunted off to Fridays.  Person of Interest, with Sarah Shahi onboard as a series regular, moves to Tuesdays.  Thursday’s comedy block expands to two hours, where The Crazy Ones, a new series created by David E. Kelley and starring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar anchors the second hour.  Beyond that, a lot of CBS being CBS.