NBC Fall Schedule Emphasizes “Stability”

NBC has unveiled its fall schedule, which sees 16 returning shows and just one new drama: Law & Order: Organized Crime.

On Mondays, returning coaches Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani and host Carson Daly feature in the perennial hit The Voice, followed by the fall return of Manifest at 10 p.m.

The Tuesday lineup stays intact with The Voice leading into the fifth season of the hit drama This Is Us, followed by New Amsterdam.

Wednesdays see the return of the “Windy City block,” with Chicago Med at 8 p.m., followed by Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D.

The comedies Superstore and Brooklyn Nine-Nine anchor Thursday nights, with Law & Order: SVU in the 9 p.m. slot, leading into Law & Order: Organized Crime. The spin-off features Christopher Meloni reprising his beloved SVU role as Elliot Stabler, who returns to the NYPD to battle organized crime after a devastating personal loss.

On Fridays, The Blacklist returns for its eighth season, followed by two hours of Dateline NBC.

Sunday Night Football will be back, broadcasting 19 games throughout the NFL season.

For later in the year, comedy premieres include Kenan, starring Kenan Thompson as a recently widowed host of Atlanta’s number two morning show who struggles to balance his job and his young daughters. Tina Fey & Robert Carlock’s Mr. Mayor stars Ted Danson as a wealthy businessman who runs for mayor of Los Angeles for all the wrong reasons. Producer and star Dwayne Johnson is set for Young Rock from Nahnatchka Khan (Fresh Off the Boat), in a series focusing on and inspired by the formative years of the global superstar. Returning are Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and Good Girls.

NBC ordered 12 scripted pilots in its last development cycle, with decisions yet to be made due to delayed production schedules.

Both returning alternative hits and new series will also arrive to conquer midseason, led by the fourth season of the Ellen DeGeneres hit Ellen’s Game of Games. Joining Ellen in prime time as a master of ceremonies is Jimmy Fallon, who will executive produce and host That’s My Jam, a new comedy variety event series inspired by the popular, celebrity-fueled musical segments made famous on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The comedy continues with True Story, starring Ed Helms and Randall Park as hosts of a hybrid alternative-scripted series in which everyday Americans sit down to share their most extraordinary and unbelievably true stories for the first time. Small Fortune is a game show that sees teams of friends and family take on tiny games to win huge money.

Thanks to the ingenuity of our creative teams and our partner studios, NBC has assembled a remarkably stable schedule at a time when stability is called for,” said Paul Telegdy, chairman at NBC Entertainment. “With the reopening of the Universal lot for select productions this week, we are confident that our schedule will premiere intact later this fall. We design shows for longevity and this schedule remains a powerful propulsive force for shows to start here and carry on entertaining across generations.”

Telegdy continued, “Our brand has always championed positive programming, and the events of this year have allowed us the time to take pause, examine our business with a new lens and take some immediate action. Since many of our writers’ rooms have not yet opened, we are taking this opportunity to offer all of this season’s showrunners the chance to enrich their team with an additional diverse writer at any level. It is not the solution by any means, but it is something we can do right now to take a positive step.”