NBC in 2025-26: More NBA, less entertainment
Tuesdays are set aside for hoops; Jimmy Fallon adds a primetime show
NBCUniversal held its upfront presentation on Monday, and while the focus wasn’t necessarily on NBC and its 2025-26 season (but on Peacock and the newly-reacquired NBA instead), we are seeing how primetime is shaping up next season and if you’re a fan of scripted and unscripted fare, you preferences will take a hit.
NBC’s schedule will set aside three nights for the sports: NBA games on Tuesdays, college football on Saturdays, and Sunday Night Football, with NBA games once the football season concludes. Striking a $2.5 billion, eleven-year deal with the league, this marks the first time NBA games will have a prominent prime-time slot for the entire regular season in history. When NBC had the rights between 1990 and 2002, their first game of the season didn’t come until Christmas.
NBC announced that Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan will be a “special contributor” to its NBA coverage, which marks his first regular role in media.
The 2026 Winter Olympics will also take up space on NBC’s schedule.
Not needing a whole lot of entertainment programming, NBC canceled five bubble shows last week: Night Court, Lopez vs. Lopez, Found, Suits LA, and The Immortal. With football and basketball populating the schedule, only seven hours of NBC’s 22-hour slate will have scripted programming – a historic low.
Monday features The Voice for two hours and drama Brillant Minds, with Tuesdays set for the NBA and Wednesdays remaining intact with Dick Wolf’s Chicago dramas.
Thursday has the two Law & Order shows and the returning Hunting Party. Friday has a new show from Jimmy Fallon, On Brand, with the late-night talk show host “starts a premier marketing agency and fills it with the most creative, clever and competitive go-getters he can find” (this would’ve been on CNBC several years ago when they were in the reality competition business.) On Brand With Jimmy Fallon is the only new show scheduled for fall.
Two other series are scheduled for midseason: The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, featuring 30 Rock alum Tracy Morgan (with fellow alum Tina Fey listed as co-creator), and nature series Surviving Earth.
Also back midseason are comedies St. Denis Medical and Happy’s Place, which is the only multicam sitcom on the schedule.
The entertainment cuts to the schedule are stunning and will likely result in layoffs at NBC’s entertainment division, resulting in fewer opportunities for talent. In 2022, NBC was talking about handing over the final hour of primetime back to affiliates and starting the Tonight Show perhaps an hour earlier. Don’t be surprised if this conversation resurfaces again at some point soon.