NBC Unveils 8 New Shows For Upcoming Season, Slim Lead In Key Adults
- by Wayne Friedman , May 12, 2019
As NBC TV nears a slim seasonal ratings win for prime-time, the network announced it will add eight new shows to its lineup next season -- four dramas and four comedies.
The latter is particularly important to the network.
“We have a renewed focus on comedy,” says Paul Telegdy, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, in a Sunday press call prior to the network’s presentation on Monday. Two of the three new shows this fall will be comedies on Thursday night.
George Cheeks, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, says the network continues to offer seasonal episodes with fewer breaks -- meaning repeats -- during a particular TV season. “We are giving a lot of shows like ‘Manifest,’ ‘Will & Grace’ (both starting midseason), a clean run -- as opposed to a staggered run, where we have seen some audience decline.”
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As many networks have done through the years, Telegdy emphasizes that shows don't have lesser value if they don't debut in the fall.
“There is no negative to a show being launched midseason,” he says. “The traditional periods -- fall, midseason, summer -- are not part of the discussion at our network from a year-round schedule point of view.”
He added: “We have enormous marketing resources on a year-round basis.” This includes major sporting events such as the Olympics, he says, as well as music and other specials.
NBC executives didn’t offer much insight into the programming for its forthcoming NBCU streaming service -- which will primarily be an ad-supported TV platform. Still, Cheeks says NBCU’s effort around all production and distribution decisions -- whether to run new shows on linear TV or streaming -- "is a very collaborated and cohesive enterprise.”
The network looks to finish first among a key ad-audience group -- 18-49 viewers -- for the traditional September-to-May season, the fifth time in six years.
But the network, as well as virtually all linear TV networks, continues to see overall double-digit-percentage declines in core prime-time program viewing -- even when including time-shifted programming across seven days.
Through May 7, NBC is at a Nielsen 1.6 rating/7 share among 18-49 viewers for the season so far -- looking at live plus-seven days of time-shifted viewing, plus live program-same day rating for the most recent weeks. This is just ahead of CBS and Fox, each with a 1.5/7.
A year ago, NBC was at a 2.2/9, largely due to airing the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics. CBS was at a 1.6/6, while Fox and ABC each came in at a 1.5/6.
NBC is launching two comedies in the fall on its perennial Thursday night lineup of comedy: “Perfect Harmony” and “Sunnyside.”
In “Perfect Harmony,” a Princeton music professor (Bradley Whitford) accidentally finds a small-town church choir in need of help. It airs 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.
At 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, “Sunnyside” is about a disgraced New York City Councilman looking to help a group who dreams of becoming American citizens.
NBC is starting up one drama this year: “Bluff City Law” at 10 p.m. on Monday. It stars Jimmy Smits in a legal family drama, in which father-daughter attorneys take on social injustice.
Other shows for this season -- yet unscheduled:
“Council of Dads” is a drama about a father looking to his friends to provide “back-up” following his health scare. “Lincoln,” based on the best-selling book “The Bone Collector,” follows a former NYPD detective and forensic expert to solve the city’s most confounding cases, all while working to stop a serial killer.
A third drama, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” is about a computer coder who hears about desires/wants of people through songs.
Two other comedies will go midseason: “Indebted,” about a young man’s parents who show up at his door broke, and “The Kenan Show” starring "SNL" vet Kenan Thompson. He juggles a job and parenting his two girls -- sometimes offering help in inappropriate ways.
NBC FALL 2019-20 SCHEDULE
(New programs in UPPER CASE; all times ET)
MONDAY
8-10 P.M. — The Voice
10-11 P.M. — BLUFF CITY LAW
TUESDAY
8-9 P.M. — The Voice
9-10 P.M. — This Is Us
10-11 P.M. — New Amsterdam
WEDNESDAY
8-9 P.M. — Chicago Med
9-10 P.M. — Chicago Fire
10-11 P.M. — Chicago P.D.
THURSDAY
8-8:30 P.M. — Superstore
8:30-9 P.M. — PERFECT HARMONY
9-9:30 P.M. — The Good Place
9:30-10 P.M. — SUNNYSIDE
10-11 P.M. — Law & Order: SVU
FRIDAY
8-9 P.M. – The Blacklist
9-11 P.M — Dateline NBC
SATURDAY
8-10 P.M. — Dateline Saturday Night Mystery
10-11 P.M. – Saturday Night Live (encores)
SUNDAY
7-8:20 P.M. — Football Night in America
8:20-11 P.M. — NBC Sunday Night Football
Wayne, it's not surprising that so many "outsiders" are mystified at the continued success of the broadcast TV networks in selling off most of their primetime GRPs each year in the upfront at premium CPMs. Here, they are losing "key" 18-49 viewers at about 10% each year and currently delivering a mere 1.5-2% of all 18-49s per commercial minute per network show---yet the money keeps pouring in. How can this be?
The reason is simple. Adults---or men and/or women ---aged 18-49 is merely one of two common audience metrics---the other is 25-54-----which are used by buyers and sellers as the basis gross GRP tonnage guarantees. They are not the "targets" for most of the brands involved who, as a rule, slice and dice consumers by mindsets and much more refined demos. Why buy broadcast TV at all? Because broadcast offers coverage of 88-90% of all TV homes---unlike cable, which is down to something like 75% thanks to cord cutting.
But there's much more to it than that. Many advertisers are very concerned about "the look of their TV buys" and how being on "big time" TV shows such as those the broadcast nets put out impresses their distribution chains and other interested parties. Not that cable takes a back seat in the upfront. It doesn't. Indeed cable offers a far greater degree of targeting selectivity---at lower CPMs--- than broadcast---plus worthwhile, if not spectacular reach potentials. So, it's a perfect complement---providing the buyers consider cable's commercial clutter issues and try to avoid the most serious offenders.