NBC unveils 2019-20 lineup

Four comedies and four dramas highlight fall slate with a lot of midseason shows

(Editor’s note: An earlier draft of this post incorrectly stated there were eight new series on the fall schedule when there are only three. The other five are being held for midseason. T Dog Media apologies for the errors. – T.H.) 

NBC released its 2019-20 season schedule Sunday in advance of their upfront presentation on Monday, containing eight new series – four sitcoms and four dramas.

The network decided to hold back much of their slate until 2020, with only three new shows debuting this fall. A ton of returning shows are scheduled for midseason: Manifest, the final season of Blindspot, sitcoms Will & Grace and Brooklyn Nine-Nine and six returning reality-competition shows: America’s Got Talent: The Champions, American Ninja Warrior, Ellen’s Game of Games, Hollywood Game Night, The Wall, and World Of Dance.

Several new series are scheduled for midseason as well: Bring The Funny, Small Fortune, Songland (debuts May 28 of this year) and That’s My Jam. Scripted series include dramas Council Of Dads, Lincoln, and perhaps one of the most innovative series of the season, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. Comedies include Indebted and The Kenan Show, featuring SNL’s Kenan Thompson, who plans to continue with the sketch comedy series.

Though NBC did announce Friday they were cancelling I Feel Bad, the fates of bubble series Abby’s, A.P. Bio, The Enemy Within, The Village and The Titan Games are being decided at a later date, though there is a good bet most of these shows won’t come back.

Here’s the fall 2019 slate:

Mondays has The Voice followed by new drama Bluff City Law, about a family law business. Tuesdays are unchanged with The Voice, This Is Us (just renewed for three more seasons), and hospital drama New Amsterdam.

Wednesdays remain unchanged with Dick Wolf’s trio of Chicago shows.

NBC is maintaining in Thursday comedy lineup with two new entries: sandwiched in-between Superstore and The Good Place is Perfect Harmony, a sitcom about a Princeton music professor stumbling into a small-town church during choir practice and tries to “mentor them”. In-between The Good Place and the long-running Law And Order: SVU is Sunnyside, a comedy about a New York City politician whose career ends after being busted for public intoxication and winds up living with his sister and gets hired by a group of undocumented immigrants (or I think that what the plot is.)

Fridays has The Blacklist and two hours of Dateline NBC; Sundays has football of course, but in January, the Sunday slots will be filled by Little Big Shots with new host Melissa McCarthy; Zoey’s Extrodinary Playlist, about a woman whereas after an unusual event, she hears the wants and desires of people through her music; and the third season of Good Girls.

Overall, this is an average, if bland schedule for NBC who leads the other networks among adults 18-49. The one show of interest for sure is Zoey; unfortunately it is buried on Sundays where NBC has had trouble outside of football season. Maybe pairing it up with one of NBC’s successful mid-season series (i.e. America’s Got Talent: The Champions) would help?

To view the entire schedule and descriptions for all of NBC’s new shows, click here.

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