More must-see TV
NBC is bringing back its “must-see TV” Thursday franchise this fall with the revival of Will & Grace, and by moving its heartwarming hit This is Us to the same night. The network announced its schedule May 14, kicking off the annual week where broadcasters outline next season’s plans to advertisers. The comedy Will & Grace, which first aired from 1998 to 2006, unites its ensemble of Debra Messing, Eric McCormack, Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally with the original creative team. If the resumption goes well, NBC hopes there will be more than the 12 episodes now on order, said Robert Greenblatt, NBC entertainment chairman.
Will & Grace will begin Thursday’s lineup, followed by Great News, a sophomore comedy produced by Tina Fey. The key to re-establishing Thursday nights, which NBC dominated during the 1980s and 1990s, is bringing the fans who made This is Us the year’s biggest new hit, to that night at 9 p.m. The show also gets the high-profile slot after next winter’s Super Bowl.
NBC will introduce eight new series next season but sprinkle them throughout the year. Only the Will & Grace reboot, a Dick Wolf-produced limited series on the Menendez murders and The Brave, an action series starring Anne Heche as an undercover military hero, will begin in the fall.
NBC was offered but declined American Idol, which rival ABC scooped up. After first announcing the cancellation of the time travel series Timeless, NBC bowed to fan complaints and said it would bring the freshman series back.
NBC didn’t include some other series in its order for next season Chicago Justice, Trial & Error and The Carmichael Show — but Greenblatt said that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re dead. Other new series ordered by NBC:
Good Girls, a drama about three suburban moms who rob the local supermarket
Reverie, a thriller about a former hostage negotiator brought on to save people lost in a virtual reality program
Rise, a drama starring Josh Radnor as a teacher who revives a high school theatre department
A.P. Bio, a comedy produced by Lorne Michaels and Seth Meyers about a philosophy scholar who goes to work teaching biology in high school
Champions, a Mindy Kaling-produced series about a gym owner and his brother who must cope with a new teenager in the household.