NBC announces fall line-up
SO MAYBE NEXT season won’t be the last for NBC’s “30 Rock,” after all? Following days of online reports that the network had given the sitcom created by and starring Upper Darby’s Tina Fey 13 episodes to wrap things up, NBC entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt said Sunday that “we haven’t definitively said that” to the people at “30 Rock” or to those at “The Office” or “Community,” both of which will also return.
UPDATE, 4 p.m. Monday, May 14, 2012:
On Monday, NBC entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt announced that next season would, after all, be the last for "30 Rock," apparently contradicting what he'd told reporters only the day before.
SO MAYBE NEXT season won't be the last for NBC's "30 Rock," after all?
Following days of online reports that the network had given the sitcom created by and starring Upper Darby's Tina Fey 13 episodes to wrap things up, NBC entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt said Sunday that "we haven't definitively said that" to the people at "30 Rock" or to those at "The Office" or "Community," both of which will also return.
"Community," which is moving to 8:30 p.m. Fridays, where it will follow "Whitney," may return without creator Dan Harmon in charge, though Greenblatt, who spoke with reporters in an afternoon conference call on the day before presenting his new schedule to advertisers in New York, said he expects "Dan's voice to be a part of this show somehow."
If Harmon's replaced, it won't be because of his public squabble with "Community" co-star Chevy Chase, Greenblatt said.
"Do No Harm," the drama set and filmed in Philadelphia about a neurosurgeon (Steven Pasquale, "Rescue Me") with what sounds like a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" problem, won't premiere until next winter, after the end of "Sunday Night Football," when it will air at 10 p.m. Sundays, following "The Celebrity Apprentice."
Why there?
Because, said Greenblatt, the Donald Trump "reality" competition show attracts one of the network's strongest 18- to 49-year-old audiences on that night.
And speaking of the under-50 set, you can blame them for the cancellation of "Harry's Law," which was watched by too few of an age that advertisers target.
"Smash," which has a new showrunner, Joshua Safran ("Gossip Girl"), whom Greenblatt expects to "shore up the serialized storytelling," won't return until midseason.
And because "The Voice" is NBC's most-watched show after "Sunday Night Football" — now the most-watched series in prime time on any network — it will move to two cycles a year.
In all, NBC's ordered 10 new series for next season, six of which are scheduled to premiere this fall: "Revolution," an action series from J.J. Abrams set 15 years after the world goes off the grid suddenly; "Go On," a comedy starring Matthew Perry ("Friends") as a widowed sportscaster who's forced into group therapy to keep his radio job; "The New Normal," a comedy from "Glee" producer Ryan Murphy about a gay couple and the woman who agrees to carry a baby for them; "Animal Practice," a comedy starring Justin Kirk ("Weeds") as a "top-dog New York veterinarian"; "Guys With Kids," a comedy produced by NBC's own Jimmy Fallon, about three new fathers "trying desperately to remain dudes"; and "Chicago Fire," a drama from "Law & Order" producer Dick Wolf about the firefighters, paramedics and rescue workers in a Chicago firehouse.
Renewed for 2012-13: "The Voice," "Parenthood," "Smash" (midseason), "The Office," "Up All Night," "Rock Center with Brian Williams," "Grimm," "30 Rock," "Law & Order: SVU," "Community," "Parks and Recreation," "Whitney" and "Fashion Star."
Outta here: "Prime Suspect," "Best Friends Forever," "The Firm," "Free Agents," "The Playboy Club," "Chuck," "Harry's Law," "Awake," "Bent," "Are You There, Chelsea?" n
Contact Ellen Gray at 215-854-5950 or graye@phillynews.comor follow on Twitter @elgray.Read her blog at EllenGray.tv.