Sports On The Forefront, Jimmy Fallon In Primetime, And 3 New Series

The password is: sports. Effective in October, NBC will showcase the NBA on Tuesday, which marks the beginning of its 11-year agreement to present NBA and WNBA regular-season and playoff basketball games. And it means that three nights on NBC this fall (including football on Saturday and Sunday) will feature sports. Factor in singing competition The Voice, newsmagazine Dateline, and newbie On Brand with Jimmy Fallon, and just seven hours of NBC’s 22-hour seven-night primetime line-up will be populated with scripted programming in the fall.

On Brand with Jimmy Fallon, the only new series on NBC at the start of the season, follows what happens when Jimmy Fallon, per the logline, “starts a premier marketing agency and fills it with the most creative, clever and competitive go-getters he can find.” The series debuts Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET out of The Voice in September and then moves to Friday at 8 p.m. ET into veteran Dateline.

As always, the majority of NBC’s scripted dramas are from producer Dick Wolf. Wednesday and Thursday remain intact, with Wolf’s Chicago trio – Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Chicago PD – on Wednesday, and Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU in the Thursday 8-10 p.m. ET block. Sophomore The Hunting Party caps off Thursday at 10 p.m. ET. Earlier in the week on Monday is sophomore Brilliant Minds out of The Voice on Monday.

Overall, NBC will feature three confirmed new primetime series next season, including Tracy Morgan and Daniel Radcliffe comedy The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins from 30 Rock creators Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, and nature documentary series Surviving Earth. The eight-episode special event Surviving Earth will take at the journey into prehistory to learn the lessons from past mass extinctions.

NBC’s two returning comedies – St. Denis Medical and Happy’s Place – will be held until later in the season. And the network is eyeing other comedy pilots, including Stumble from Jeff and Liz Astrof (Trial & Error), and an untitled project from Sierra Teller Ornelas (Superstore, Brooklyn Nine-Nine) as potential series pickups.

Not returning on NBC are dramas Suits LA, Found and The Irrational, and comedies Night Court and Lopez vs. Lopez, which each ran for three seasons.

The bottom-line: Sports of any kind always seems to resonate, even at a time when the typical content provider is scrambling for eyeballs. So, three nights of sports (particularly returning Sunday Night Football) could be beneficial to NBC. But the absence of any comedies in the fall is an oversight. Jimmy Fallon in late night is probably more than enough. And why not try to launch a new drama when returnees Brilliant Minds and The Hunting Party did not necessarily have much of an audience this season?

Here is NBC’s primetime line-up this fall (with the only new series in bold).

Monday
8:00 p.m.: The Voice
10:00 p.m.: Brilliant Minds

Tuesday (September)
8:00 p.m.: The Voice
10:00 p.m.: On Brand with Jimmy Fallon

Tuesday (October)
8:00 p.m.: NBA

Wednesday
8:00 p.m.: Chicago Med
9:00 p.m.: Chicago Fire
10:00 p.m.: Chicago PD

Thursday
8:00 p.m.: Law & Order
9:00 p.m.: Law & Order: SVU
10:00 p.m.: The Hunting Party

Friday
8:00 p.m.: On Brand with Jimmy Fallon
9:00 p.m.: Dateline

Saturday
8:00 p.m.: Big Ten Saturday Night / Notre Dame Football (also live on Peacock)

Sunday
7:00 p.m.: Football Night in America (also live on Peacock)

8:20 p.m.: NBC Sunday Night Football (also live on Peacock)