Network Upfronts Extravaganza – ‘NBC’ 2007/2008 Fall Schedule

Well, NBC has made it official (Variety), as their schedule has made it to press before their upfront presentation.

EDIT: NBC has now released their official Fall Preview Website with sneak previews of all of their new shows. Check it out at the link below.

NBC Fall Preview 2007-2008

Now, onto the summary of what went done, and then the final schedule with commentary after the jump.

– First, and most interesting, is that NBC has found as solution for their problem of Heroes going on hiatus: a prequel series. Heroes: Origins will be featuring characters not yet on the show, characters in the periphery, and then at the end of its run fans can vote on their favourite who would then join the main cast (I will talk more about this at some point, it’s fascinating). This is sure to keep fans happy, and gives the network more fresh programming.

“Heroes: Origins” will center on characters not yet seen on the original show. Peacock has also added an interactive element to the show: Viewers will be asked to pick their favorite character from “Origins,” who will then join the cast of the full-blown “Heroes” skein the following year. [Variety]

– NBC, you made a huge mistake placing Friday Night Lights at 10pm on Fridays. It’s a family show, damnit, and it deserves a slot where people can watch it together. Now, as it stands, it is far too late to get a decent shot at succeeding, and the show deserves much better. I also think that moving Las Vegas might have been a decent option, but I figure that the addition of Tom Selleck to the cast might be enough to give it some life. (I forgot about it in my predictions: whoops)

– I also forgot about football. Man, I don’t know how I forgot about the NFL so easily, but I did. This means that Law & Order, Medium and Lipstick Jungle (New Series starring Brooke Shields) won’t be around until January, which freed up some room on the schedule.

– The new shows slotted in where you’d expect them to [For full info on these shows, check out Cultural Learnings’ NBC Preview.]: Journeyman [Time-travelling drama] has been given the post-Heroes dead zone, which leave sci-fi contender The Bionic Woman to find for itself on Wednesdays (Against American Idol in the Spring). Life, meanwhile, inherits the tough Wednesdays at 10 slot, and Chuck (From Josh Schwartz) finds itself possibly facing House at 9pm on Tuesdays.

– Only two Deal or No Deals? It’ll work for now, but let’s not see any more NBC.

– The only shows missing? Crossing Jordan and…The Apprentice! Yes! Woohoo! *Fireworks* Trump has finally fallen.

I’ll have some more analysis later after the Upfront Presentation when they explain these ideas further, but for now here’s NBC’s final schedule [with full analysis of each night] after the break.

NBC Fall Schedule – 2007/2008

Mondays

8pm – Deal or No Deal

9pm – Heroes / Heroes: Origins

10pm – Journeyman [New Series]

It’s a decent night of television. Strong reality start, Heroes remains strong (And will mostly avoid repeats, with Heroes: Origins filling in 6 of its 30 hours), and Journeyman’s time-travelling aspects should play fairly well with Heroes. It has a chance to break the Mondays at 10 curse, I think, but still still struggle against CSI: Miami.

Tuesdays

8pm – The Biggest Loser

9pm – Chuck [New Series]

10pm – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Tuesday is a tough night, and it isn’t going to get any easier. The Biggest Loser has never been a ratings smash, and Chuck has Josh Schwartz but little else. I think it will struggle against House/Dancing with the Stars (Or whatever ABC/FOX go with). SVU, meanwhile, should remain strong.

Wednesdays

8pm – Deal or No Deal

9pm – Bionic Woman [New Series]

10pm – Life [New Series]

The lineup all depends on one thing: where ABC puts Lost. Either of the new dramas will struggle against ABC’s hit series, while I think Deal or No Deal could draw the casuals. Maybe NBC knows something we don’t? Either way, Bionic Woman better be a hit fast, or else American Idol will wipe the table with it.

Thursdays

8pm – My Name is Earl

8:30pm – 30 Rock

9pm – The Office

9:30pm – Scrubs

10pm – ER

A familiar, if rearranged, Thursday for NBC. Should be interesting to see how The Office fares going head to head with Grey’s/CSI, and if its improvement can perhaps boost the fading ER for what is likely to be its final season.

Fridays

8pm – 1 vs. 100 / The Spelling Bee [New Series](Rotating Reality Block)

9pm – Las Vegas

10pm – Friday Night Lights

This is a huge mistake, as I noted above, but starting with game shows has potential as well. They really should have opened with Lights, then the game shows, and then Las Vegas to close the night. The old people love them some Tom Selleck, they’ll be up then…or maybe not. Hmmm.

Sundays

8pm – Football (Fall) / Law & Order (Jan)

9pm – Football / Medium

10pm – Football / Lipstick Jungle

The midseason lineup looks decent for NBC here, once Football leaves, but I’m not sure how well Medium will perform against Desperate Housewives (It had to face Lost this season, NBC must hate it or something).