NBC announced their new fall schedule yesterday and, with something different on every night, it will look much different from the spring. The week gets off to a familiar start with The Voice leading in to the latest from the creators of Supernatural and The Shield, Timeless, about a trio of time travelers trying to save the history of the US.
Tuesday adds This Is Us, a new show staring Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia about ” a unique ensemble whose paths cross and their life stories intertwine in curious ways.” Blindspot moves from the cushy post-Voice slot to try and lead off Wednesday nights. The Good Place, a new comedy starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, arrives on Thursday, with The Blacklist moving back an hour.
Friday and Saturday remain uninspiring, with football remaining on Sundays, at least in the fall. Mid-season shows include a new vampire series inspired by True Blood author Charlaine Harris’s books, The Blacklist: Redemption, a spin-off starring Famke Janssen, a “reimagining” of The Wizard of Oz with Vincent D’Onofrio as the Wizard, Great News, the latest comedy from Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, Powerless, starring Vanessa Hudgens as an insurance adjuster in a world with superheroes, and Arnold Schwarzenegger in a revival of The Celebrity Apprentice.
Cancelled shows, never to be seen again, include Heroes: Reborn, Mr. Robinson, The Mysteries of Laura, Telenovela, and Undateable. With only 2 shows returning that I am currently watching, I guess we shall see which, if any, of the new shows stick.
Powerless was too much fun to succeed, and the freshman show, pulled off the air by NBC after only 9 episodes, was officially cancelled on May 11, exactly one year after getting its initial series order. Set on the fringes of the DC universe, the show focused on a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises that created products for citizens caught in the crossfire between the world’s heroes and villains.