NBC unveils 2018-19 schedule
Nine new shows overall; three to debut this fall
In advance of its upfront presentation on Monday, NBC unveiled its 2018-19 schedule and announced nine new series – three of them premiering this fall. Highlights include Dick Wolf’s trio of “Chicago” shows: Midnight Texas gets a promotion from a summer series to a fall pickup; and Brooklyn Nine-Nine is being held for midseason.
Monday night features the returning Voice, but in January and February, is the first-ever edition of America’s Got Talent, featuring a Champions edition. The new drama leading onto Voice is Manifest, where passengers of a flight encounter turbulence and afterward, find the world aged five years.
Tuesday nights has another edition of Voice (or AGT) with This Is Us and leading into new hospital drama New Amsterdam, a run-of-the-mill hospital drama.
Wednesday nights features the aforementioned Chicago block with Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago P.D. all together. Thursday has a comedy block with Superstore, The Good Place, Will & Grace, and the new I Feel Bad, a new single-cam comedy from Amy Poheler about a mom who is certainly “imperfect”. Thursday closes with Law & Order: SVU on a new night, in its 20th season.
Fridays had the returning Blindspot leading of the night, followed by Midnight, Texas and Dateline NBC.
Weekends remain unchanged, with football remaining on Sunday. NBC however, did not announce plans on what it would air on Sundays in midseason – and those enteries includes A.P. Bio, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Blacklist, Good Girls, World of Dance, Ellen’s Game of Games, and in addition to AGT: Champions, five new projects: Abby’s, The Enemy Within, The Titan Games, The Village, and The InBetween.
Also don’t forget, NBC has another midseason utility player available with The Wall. And NBC has punted on a decision on sophomore drama Timeless.
To see the official lineup, click here.
NBC is coming off a season ith a Super Bowl and Winter Olympics, so ratings declines are expected. But the network is doing all it can to remain on top and it may be easier given the weakness of the other broadcast networks. NBC made a smart move in picking up Brooklyn from Fox; it could be used to replace I Feel Bad, which seems to belong on ABC, given single-cam family comedies have thrived there. Manifest looks like another variation of Lost/Flash Forward/Revolution. Is there any demand for these type of dramas now?
In other NBC upfront news:
– Come Home to NBC: NBCUniversal’s Bravo announced it is reacquiring the rights to Project Runway, which moved to Lifetime a few years ago after a spirited bidding war. The move was made possible as Runway producer The Weinstein Co. went bankrupt after chairman Harvey Weinstein was ousted after sexual harassment allegations. The series originally ran on Bravo between 2004 and 2009.
– Seth Myers: “NBC stands for Nothing But Chicago”.
– During a interview about CNBC’s revival of Deal or No Deal, host Howie Mandel says he doesn’t remember model Meghan Markle, who appeared in only four episodes of the show in 2006. Markle, who went on to star in USA’s Suits, is marrying Prince Harry on Saturday. “To be honest, I don’t even remember her. I don’t,” Mandel told E! at the NBCUniversal Upfront presentation on Monday, as reported by Page Six.“I’d like to say I do and if she’s watching, and she’s not right?”
Of course, no one really expects Mandel to remember all the names of the models who opened suitcases on the show- after all, there were more than forty of them – with 26 per episode on the NBC version.
Mandel jokingly noted he wasn’t invited to the wedding.
Last but not least: the trailers for NBC’s new fall shows, all in this video below. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwc27Lsr1EY&t=0s&list=PLRUSbbQynOdHwY81FDvx_znYvyiF0E2LU&index=1