NBC Announces Renewals, Premiere Dates

BURBANK, February 15: New episodes of The Office, ER
and Law & Order: SVU, among
other comedies and dramas, will return to the NBC schedule in April, while the
freshman shows Chuck and Life, as well as Heroes, have been renewed for the 2008-2009 season.

My Name Is Earl will
return with a one-hour episode on Thursday, April 3; the Emmy Award-winning 30
Rock and The Office will return on Thursday, April 10, as will Scrubs. ER
also will come back on April 10 with new episodes following the complete run of
Lipstick Jungle, which concludes
on March 20. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit will return with fresh episodes on Tuesday, April
15. Law & Order resumes with
original episodes on Wednesday, April 23. Meanwhile, Medium continues with originals.

The freshman drama series Chuck and Life,
plus Heroes, will be held till
the fall, and according to NBC, all will have major relaunch campaigns when
they return for the new season.

Marc Graboff, the co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and
Universal Media Studios, noted: "These pickups are a sign of our
confidence in these quality series and will allow the respective producers to
get a head start on their creative arc for next season. As a result, they give
us a lot to build on as we point to next year's schedule."

—By Mansha Daswani