NBC unveils fall schedule (Tattle annotated version)

NBC ANNOUNCED its new shows for fall and midseason yesterday. Daily News TV critic Ellen Gray will begin to review them in September after she watches them, but Tattle isn't confined by such process. So here they are:

* "Blindspot" is a drama about a woman found naked and covered in tattoos (a/k/a clues) in NYC, with no memory of who she is. We lose interest a few minutes after she puts on her clothes.

* "The Player" is a thriller about a former military operative turned security expert in Las Vegas. Wesley Snipes stars. At least for a few weeks we'll bet on black.

* "Heroes Reborn"? The show had promise the first time, but now our TV is experiencing heroes overkill.

* In the sitcom "People Are Talking," two diverse neighboring couples (code for one's not white) are best friends. Sounds like a premise people will not be watching.

* "Heartbreaker" stars Melissa George as one of the world's top heart-transplant surgeons. So what happens in the second episode?

* "Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris" sounds about as promising as possible for a variety show. Harris sings, dances, does magic, tells jokes - he doesn't even need guests.

* "Coach" brings Craig T. Nelson back to the character of football coach Hayden Fox. He's retired now, but springs back into action to help his son, who was hired as a coach at an Ivy League university that knows little about sports. Anyone at NBC ever hear of Hall of Famers Calvin Hill, Sid Luckman and Chuck Bednarik from Yale, Columbia and Penn?

* Tattle can't criticize the idea behind Jennifer Lopez's "Shades of Blue," about a New York detective and single mom (shades of "The Mysteries of Laura") forced by the FBI to inform on dirty cops, because we've been working on a similar pitch - so it must be a good idea.

* "Crowded" is a sitcom about a couple whose empty nest becomes full again when two grown daughters and the husband's parents move in. Without the husband's parents it's that old Ted Knight chestnut, "Too Close for Comfort."

* Eva Longoria stars in "Hot & Bothered," a behind-the-scenes look at a Latino soap opera. At least it sounds differente.

* "Superstore" is a workplace comedy about employees at a megastore. If it works, it's "Taxi" in Walmart. If not, it's cleanup in aisle four. But we're totally watching the week workers protest for a higher minimum wage.

* "You, Me and the End of the World" is a dramedy about what happens when Rob Lowe, Jenna Fischer and Megan Mullally find out that the Earth is on a collision course with a comet. Exciting or comet-ose.

* Oliver Platt and S. Epatha Merkerson are among the ensemble in "Chicago Med," a Dick Wolf drama that has the advantage of multipart stories with "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago P.D."

* And, lastly, in "Game of Silence," not in any way to be confused with "Game of Thrones," a successful Atlanta lawyer has his world upended when his long-lost childhood friends reappear with a dark secret. Isn't that why there's Facebook?

Really, NBC, with this lineup you couldn't find room for "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"?

For the record, NBC is canceling the comedies "Marry Me," "About a Boy," "One Big Happy," "A to Z" and "Bad Judge,"plus the dramas "State of Affairs," "Constantine" and "Allegiance."

Fox, by the way, canceled "The Following," starring Philly's Kevin Bacon.

"Age of Ultron," the Avengers sequel, topped the domestic box office for the second weekend in a row with an estimated $77.2 million, according to Rentrak estimates yesterday.

The film has earned a staggering $312.9 million in just 10 days in theaters, tying with "The Dark Knight" to become the second-fastest film to do so.

It trails only the original "Avengers," which made $103.1 million in its second weekend in theaters and had a domestic total of $373 million at the same point in the cycle.

"Hot Pursuit," alas, opened cold, earning a less-than-impressive $13.3 million in its debut.

"Critics were very tough on 'Hot Pursuit,' " said Rentrak senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

"It was a formula that for whatever reason didn't resonate with the critics, and I think that had an impact on its box office," Dergarabedian said.

The word "formula" could be a tip-off.

Anthony Geary, whose character Luke Spencer's marriage to Laura in 1981 on "General Hospital" was the biggest moment in daytime TV history, is leaving the soap after nearly three decades.

It was Geary's decision. Genie Francis, who played Laura but hasn't been on "GH" since 2013, will return this summer to participate in the story of Luke's exit.

Geary, 67, began playing Luke in 1978 but left the show in 1984. He returned in 1991 but, tired of the character, played Luke's look-alike cousin. Audiences didn't like it, however, so the cousin was killed off and Geary resumed playing Luke in 1993, and has remained with the show since then.

"There was a point after my back surgery last year where it became clear to me that my time is not infinite," Geary told TVInsider.com. "And I really don't want to die, collapsing in a heap, on the 'GH' set one day."

On the plus side, if that did happen, you could come back as your cousin.

- Daily News wire services

contributed to this report.

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