Tag Archives: NBC

TV reminder: ‘Community’ premieres tonight at 8PM on NBC (at last!)

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Call it a miracle: October 19th February 7 has finally arrived!! After an excruciatingly long wait, Community is back in session tonight at 8PM on NBC. Creator Dan Harmon is out, Chevy Chase’s character will have exited the show by the end of the 13 episode fourth season, and so a waft of change is in the air as the Greendale gang return for another year of mind-blowing metatastic insanity. Tonight’s premiere is titled “History 101” and in it everyone’s favorite Dean Pelton will take charge of a school-wide competition he calls “The Hunger Deans.” You can get a taste for what’s in store tonight and beyond by watching the “Epic Trailer” that’s embedded above. (Chang is back and his name is Kevin?!)

Do you consider yourself a true Community fan? Well you better tune in tonight at 8 and show the show some love. If you want six seasons and a movie……..

The Lonely Island returns with “YOLO” (Featuring Adam Levine)

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Andy Samberg made a surprise return to Saturday Night Live last weekend, and he brought with him his Lonely Island pals. Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer teamed up with host Adam Levine of Maroon 5 and NBC’s The Voice and musical guest and up-and-coming rapper Kendrick Lamar to cook up a new music video called “YOLO.” It’s some of their best work yet. Watch it here. And like most of TLI’s clips you’ll have it on repeat in no time.

FOX orders futuristic drama from J.H. Wyman & J.J. Abrams [Update: Another Abrams pilot a-go at NBC]

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With Fringe in his rearview mirror, showrunner and sometimes writer and director J.H. Wyman has a new drama at FOX to work on. Today FOX ordered to pilot an hourlong drama from Wyman and J.J. Abrams, the same auspices that brought us Walter Bishop and the rest of the Fringe family. The untitled project is being produced by Abrams’ production company Bad Robot in collaboration with Warner Bros. TV. It’s being described as “an action-packed buddy cop show set in a near future when all LAPD officers are partnered with highly evolved humanlike androids.” Yeah, count me in. Wyman is writing the script and serving as executive producer, a title he shares with Abrams, Bryan Burk, and Kathy Lingg. After the script is locked in and casting choices are made, the pilot will be made and if all goes well we’ll have another Abrams/Wyman futuristic drama on the air in the fall.

Update: Mere moments after wrapping this post news broke that another pilot headlined by J.J. Abrams was ordered by NBC. (After landing the Star Wars directing gig and two pilots at two of the major broadcast networks, somebody is having the best week ever.) This project also falls under the Bad Robot/Warner Bros. TV banners and Abrams is working closely with Alfonso Cuarón (director of Harry Potter and the Prison of Azkaban). It’s working title is Believe and the script is currently being penned by Cuarón and Mark Friedman (Home of the Brave, The Forgotten). Believe is about “the unlikely relationship between a young girl in possession of a great gift/powers — which will come into their own in seven years — and a man sprung from prison who has been tasked with protecting her from the evil elements that hunt her power.” Abrams, Cuarón, Friedman, and Bryan Burk are executive producing. Cuarón is on tap to direct.

‘Revolution’ expands into webisodes in six-part animated series

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While Revolution is on its long hiatus until March, here’s something to bide the time. NBC is releasing six webisodes that take place in the world where power is everything imagined by creator Eric Kripke and executive producer J.J. Abrams. The animated installments star Sgt. Joseph Wheatly, the Militia Corporal from the show played by Reed Diamond who turned on our rebel group and shot and nearly killed Charlie Matheson in the underground tunnels leading out of the subway in Philly. The first webisode titled “Wheatley’s Letters: May 7th” is embedded above. A new one will release every Monday through February 18; you can find them at the show’s official YouTube channel. Also available for viewing today is the pilot featuring commentary by Kripke and director John Favreau; watch it here.

Revolution returns March 25 on NBC.

TCA 13: ‘Smash’s new leader Josh Safran injects NBC’s musical with new life (season 2 preview inside)

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When Smash returns for its second season this February, it won’t feel all that different but you should know that the musical drama has undergone significant behind-the-scenes changes in the interim. Right off the bat, Smash creator and Broadway vet Theresa Rebeck has stepped away as showrunner and taking her place is former Gossip Girl executive producer Josh Safran. Also, you will surely notice the absence of many season one characters including Raza Jaffrey (Karen’s boyfriend Dev), Jaime Cepero (Eileen’s annoying assistant Ellis), Brian d’Arcy James (Julia’s husband Frank), and Will Chase (Julia’s old-time crush Michael). But even with all of these players out of the picture, the show won’t deviate from its roots.

“I don’t think its changed that much,” said Safran. “It’s still the same Smash, just bigger with more music and younger in regard to some cast members.” New additions include Andy Mientus (from Broadway’s Carrie) who plays a poor kid from Brooklyn with dreams of writing for Broadway; Jeremy Jordan (from Broadway’s Newsies) plays a Brooklyn-born singer with a self-destructive streak, Krysta Rodriguez (from Broadway’s The Addams Family) plays Karen’s fun and spunky new roommate who is looking for her big break on Broadway; and Julian Ovenden (from TV’s Foyle’s War) will be Bombshell‘s John F. Kennedy. The season will also welcome many talented and musically-inclined stars including Jennifer Hudson (as Veronica Moore, a threat to Karen and Ivy), Liza Minnelli (as herself), Sean Hayes (can you say Will & Grace reunion!?), Nikki Blonsky (Hairspray), Jesse L. Martin (Law & Order), and Daniel Sunjata (Rescue Me). Also, Bernadette Peters returns as Ivy’s mom.

“There’s more than one original song per episode: bigger [and] more is something we played with,” added Safran. “We have more original songs [per episode] and diverse musical styles. I kind of wanted to represent the bigger theatrical worldview on the show this season.”

Executive producer Neil Meron admitted that the first season had its ups and its downs. “First seasons of shows need time to find themselves, to lock into what they are, especially with a show like Smash,” he said. “There are so many moving parts to figure out the mechanism. It’s a fantastic machine. When certain moments worked in season one, I dare anybody to say what could be better.” Then: “There were certain story lines that were pinpointed that you’d say, ‘Yeah, they’re right it could be a little bit more impactful.” Confirmed at a previous junction: Debra Messing’s hideous scarf collection has been tossed in the garage (and the crowd went wild). Now only if they’d get rid of her depressing son… at least Ellis the terrible has made an exit stage right.

Will Smash‘s Broadway musical Bombshell actually inspire a real show in New York City? “When we watch Bombshell moments, we think wouldn’t that be great on Broadway? But that’s where we leave it,” Meron said. “Our first priority is to make the show. It will inspire more conversation, but have we done anything about it? No.” Take that as a maybe! Announced at TCA panel was a soundtrack featuring 22 cast-recorded songs from Bombshell that will release February 12.

Smash returns Tuesday, February 5 with a two-hour installment. The space after the break is home to a brand new season 2 preview and a behind-the-scenes clip. Continue reading TCA 13: ‘Smash’s new leader Josh Safran injects NBC’s musical with new life (season 2 preview inside) →

TCA 13: J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke promise a bigger, better, more surprising ‘Revolution’ this spring (new trailer inside)

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Revolution is on break until March and executive producers J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke accept the extended with a positive attitude and they think viewers should as well. “When we were doing Lost, that [scheduling] helped us enormously,” Abrams said. “So when the idea came up for Revolution I was really relieved. I thought, and still think, that it will get us to a place where it will be the best possible way for the viewer to watch the show.” Added Kripke: “The little break has afforded us the ability to take a breath, look at what we’ve done, really analyze it, and make adjustments. It also supplied us a natural break point between the season’s first half and second half, and the second half sort of lives as its own continuous piece.” While Kripke maintained that “we learned that we did a lot of things right,” he also admitted that “the pace of the shocking surprises were a little too slow.” So what can viewers expect next?  The “second [half will be] bigger, better, more exciting and [with] more revelations–at the same time maintaining the format.” The shock factor will increase as well.

What else? When Revolution returns this spring, the action will continue “exactly” where we left off. “Giving [Monroe] power was more about making him an unstoppable force,” said Kripke. “We start to deliver on the promise of the title. The revolution begins.” Kripke fed the questions, “Can [the Matheson family] stick together in the face of these overwhelming odds and danger? And can you maintain your soul when you’re a warrior?”

Kripke went on to say that he’s definitely planning ahead for upcoming seasons of the show, but they’re at the “cocktail napkin sketches” state at the moment. “Because [the world is] so expansive, there’s no end to the stories we can tell,” he said.

Revolution returns March 25. Get a glimpse of what’s to come in a new trailer after the break. Continue reading TCA 13: J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke promise a bigger, better, more surprising ‘Revolution’ this spring (new trailer inside) →

TCA 13: Exec prod David Schulner hypes NBC’s ‘Do No Harm’ (new trailer inside)

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Do No Harm is a high-concept show coming to NBC later this month that can be viewed as a modern take on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In short, it follows protagonist Dr. Jason Cole (say it fast: “Doctor J. Cole”–get it?) who has a mysterious dual-personality. Every day at 8:25PM his dangerous, adventure seeking alter ego Ian Price consumes his body; 12 hours later he returns to his “normal” self. At the TCAs today, executive producer David Schulner talked about his new series which he originally pitched as “Dexter meets House.”

“I think ultimately you can only write the show that you want to watch, and this was a show that I wanted to see on TV,” Schulner said. “I wanted it to be fun. I wanted it to be thrilling. I wanted it to be a roller-coaster ride. And I wanted it to have stakes. I also wanted there to be a love story at the center of it. Hopefully those ingredients will make it different than what has come before.”

What has come before are NBC shows that ring similar to Do No Harm and they are last season’s fantastic but short lived Awake and before that there was My Own Worst Enemy with Christian Slater. “I took lessons from those shows, and this is a show you’re going to want to watch. It’s thrilling and fun. That’s the big difference.” I’d say that Awake was all of those things as well, so you’ll have to tune into Schulner’s take on the fractured personality theme to see how it really compares.

How will Steven Pasquale’s Jason Cole/Ian Price interact with one another? “Ian’s a little bit like a cat,” Schulner proposed. “The cat wants to play with the mouse. It’s a constant cat-and-mouse and chess match.”

Determine if Do No Harm is a show you want to watch when it premieres January 31. Click after the break to watch a new trailer.

Update (1/7): Today David Schulner announced that actor James Cromwell (who is coming off his stint as American Horror Story: Asylum‘s Dr. Arthur Adren) will be joining the cast of Do No Harm as “Jason’s mentor, who may or may not have his best interests at heart.” Just another reason to tune in. Continue reading TCA 13: Exec prod David Schulner hypes NBC’s ‘Do No Harm’ (new trailer inside) →

TCA 13: NBC’s Bob Greenblatt pats own back for hugely successful fall season

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The Television Critics Association is back for its winter tour. It’s the time of year when the major networks and their shows talk about their fall performance and preview what’s to come midseason and beyond. Of the big four networks, NBC was up first today and man-o-man was the Peacock’s chairman of entertainment Bob Greenblatt happy to see a sea of press because this marks the first time in a long time that his network has something positive to really talk about. NBC’s had a great fall as they currently find themselves the #1 network in the adults 18-49 demographic and #2 in total viewers (still trailing CBS). “What a difference a year makes, right?” he exclaimed toward the crowd packed with press and critics. “I’m going to bore you with statistics because I’m not sure when I’m going to have the chance to do this again.” The major stats are as follows: for the first half of the season, NBC is up 24 percent and 19 percent in the 18-49 demo and total viewers, respectively. The net can thank the ultimate Monday pairing of The Voice and Revolution for their recent success, as well as high ratings for Sunday Night Football and their surging sitcom Go On. In 2012 FOX entertainment president Kevin Reilly accused the heads of the other major nets of having their heads up their asses. Greenblatt responded directly today with the most publicist quote to come out of his panel: “I can guarantee you, we don’t have our heads up our asses,” he said.

Greenblatt and NBC entertainment president Jennifer Salke used the rest of their time to discuss specific shows, new ones and old. Jump after the break for the bullet-point breakdown. Continue reading TCA 13: NBC’s Bob Greenblatt pats own back for hugely successful fall season →

Bryan Fuller’s NBC ‘Munsters’ reboot ‘Mockingbird Lane’ is dead

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Since we saw it coming, I’ll be brief. Pushing Daisies creator imagined a modernized Munsters reboot starring Jerry O’Connell as Herman Munster, Portia de Rossi as his wife Lily, Mason Cook as their son Eddie, Eddie Izzard as Grandpa, and Charity Wakefield as Marilyn. Ultimately network brass decided not to move forward with the making of the series called Mockingbird Lane. But instead of throwing out the expensive pilot directed by Bryan Singer, NBC aired it as a Halloween special in late October. On a Friday night at 9, a respectable 5.4 million viewers tuned in and the episode scored a 1.5/5 rating in the adults 18-49 demo. With decent ratings and additional scripts already written, those who enjoyed the sneak peek at Fuller’s vision for The Munsters hoped that NBC would give it a chance on their schedule. Today Fuller broke the bad news in a single tweet:

“I tweet with a heavy heart. NBC not moving forward with #MockingbirdLane. From producers and cast, thank you all for enthusiasm and support.”

It wasn’t meant to be. But for Bryan Fuller it’s on to the next one: he’s hard at work producing another NBC drama Hannibal that stars Mads Mikkelsen as Dr. Hannibal Lector in the role made famous by Anthony Hopkins in the classic 1991 film Silence of the Lambs.

‘Community’ clip: Joel McHale introduces an upcoming Christmas-themed scene with Dean Pelton

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Community star Joel McHale is here to spread holiday cheer with an exclusive look at the upcoming fourth season of his cult comedy. McHale introduces a clip from a future Christmas episode that prominently features the one and only Dean Pelton. He quickly manages to turn his gift giving of adorable little pups into a creepy moment thanks to his ongoing obsession with Jeff Winger.

We are reminded that Community returns to NBC at last on February 7, 2013.

2013 Midseason TV preview & schedule: NBC

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As the holiday season approaches, many of your favorite shows go on hiatus so you can spend time with your loved ones. Most will return to the airwaves in early January and with them comes some new programming–some of which are worth checking out. In this year’s midseason TV preview posts, I will recommend which new shows are worth watching as well as offer schedules provided by the networks themselves. Midseason is on the horizon; out your calendars and let’s do this thing!

This midseason NBC is adding thirteen series to its schedule, three of which include two new dramas, a comedy, and a reality series. Though the four of them combined do not carry the same amount of buzz that FOX’s The Following is getting, you still might want to tune into them as their premises are tantalizing enough. Do No Harm, from executive producer David Schulner (The Event) stars Steven Pasquale as a respected neurosurgeon with a deep, dark secret–every night at the same hour, something inside [Pasquale’s] changes, leaving him almost unrecognizable – seductive, devious, borderline sociopathic. Some are calling it a modern day tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. To me it sounds sort of like the premise of NBC’s promising but cancelled series Awake. Do No Harm premieres Thursday, January 31 at 10PM, the same night 30 Rock airs its series finale. Watch a trailer after the break.

The other new drama coming to the Peacock is Deception (formally called Infamous). It hails from Liz Heldens (Prime Suspect, Friday Night Lights) and stars Meagan Good, Victor Garber, Tate Donovan, Katherine LaNasa, and Laz Alonso. It’s a soap wrapped in a family murder mystery and it premieres Monday, January 7 at 8PM. Trailer after the break.

NBC’s latest sitcom 1600 Penn follows a typical American family who just happen to live in the White House. Actor Josh Gad stars, and he also co-created the show with Jon Lovett. Jason Weiner (Modern Family) directed the pilot. It also stars Bill Pullman and Jenna Elfman. It premieres Thursday, January 10 at 9:30PM. Trailer after the break.

The new reality series Ready for Love is a “relationship show about making real connections” from executive producer Eva Longoria. It premieres Sunday, March 31 at 8PM.

My recommendation: Skip Deception (unless you want another soap on your schedule–but Revenge already fills that void magnificently) and try out Do No Harm and 1600 Penn. Take note, however, that Do No Harm is in the Thursday at 10PM timeslot and that’s a very tough place on the sked to achieve success.

Shows that are returning to NBC’s schedule include The Biggest Loser (premiering Sunday, January 6 at 9PM), Betty White’s Off Their Rockers (Tuesday, January 8 at 8PM), Smash (Tuesday, February 5 at 9PM), Community (Thursday, February 7 at 8PM), The Celebrity Apprentice (Sunday, March 3 at 9PM), Fashion Star (Friday, March 8 at 8PM), Grimm (Friday, March 8 at 9PM), The Voice (Monday, March 25 at 8PM), and Revolution (Monday, March 25 at 10PM).

Jump after the break to view the full schedule. (NBC isn’t providing a tidy midseason schedule so we’ll have to do with what we got.)

Look in the gallery below for key art (aka TV promotional posters).

Continue reading 2013 Midseason TV preview & schedule: NBC →

TV PSA: ‘Revolution’ gears up for midseason finale on Monday, won’t return until March

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The battle for power begins on Monday, November 26 as we head toward the midseason finale of NBC’s buzzy new drama Revolution. So says the promotional artwork whipped together for next week’s pivotal episode titled “Nobody’s Fault But Mine.” Following the Led Zeppelin heavy “Kashmir” episode that aired earlier this week, Charlie, her uncle Miles, Aaron, and Nora have finally made it to Philadelphia  the city where Sebastian “Bass” Monroe has set up camp. Will Charlie (at long last) rescue her captive brother Danny? Will Miles succumb to Monroe’s pressure and rejoin the Republic (as was hinted at in last week’s hallucination)? What is Monroe’s ultimate plan when/if he gains power via the pendent with Rachel’s help? These are the questions you should be asking heading into Monday’s episode. Expect a major cliffhanger at the end–why?–because new episodes won’t return until March 25 and NBC has to leave viewers begging for more during such an excruciatingly long hiatus.

Revolution‘s midseason finale airs Monday, November 26 at 10PM on NBC.

[Image via TVLine]