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NBC Upfronts
The network that gave us Cheers, The Cosby Show, Seinfeld, Friends and Frasier has only four sitcoms on the 2004-05 fall schedule it presented to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall yesterday — half the number it started with this season. The last time NBC had so few comedies was 1980, when the cast of Diff'rent Strokes didn't yet have police records.
NBC ordered five new comedies but you'll only see two of them — Joey and Father of the Pride, this fall, because NBC president Jeff Zucker and his team don't think there are enough time periods where new sitcoms can break through. The others — Crazy For You, The Office and The Men's Room — will be rolled out in the second half of the season or maybe even the summer.
"Today comedy is in a challenged state," NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly told reporters. "Let's play to other genres right now. The best way to keep comedy on the schedule right now is to keep it off in the short term." It sounded a little like that famous quote by an American soldier in Vietnam: "We had to destroy the village in order to save it."
Sitcoms used to be the best way to lure young viewers — the kind advertisers will pay the more to reach.
That's why NBC — which has taken in the most ad revenue of the major networks for most of the last 20 years — had so many of them. But reality shows are now the most effective draw for youthful eyeballs raised on MTV's The Real World. And that's what NBC has replaced four of its comedy time periods with this fall.
Here's a night by night look at the network's plans:
MONDAY: The network kept Fear Factor at 8, followed by Las Vegas — the only show Jeff Zucker unveiled last fall that is getting a second season — at 9. Zucker is hoping that viewers who like the breezy Vegas will flow right into LAX, which stars primetime vets Heather Locklear and Blair Underwood as rival supervisors at Los Angeles International Airport.
TUESDAY: Canceled sitcoms Whoopi and Happy Family started off decently in the 8 pm hour last season, but were demolished when Fox's American Idol showed up. So Zucker is moving Average Joe into the spot this fall. Later in the season, the hour will be occupied by Mark Burnett and Sylvester Stallone's new reality series with aspiring boxers, The Contender — seen as a male-skewing alternative to Idol.
Average Joe should deliver some kind of lead into the Siegfried & Roy-inspired Father of the Pride at 9, which NBC apparently didn't think was strong enough to lead off the night. Those computer generated white tigers don't seem as cuddly after one of the real ones mauled Roy Horn. NBC tried to mitigate those concerns by showing advertisers a tape of a (somewhat) recovered Horn, but he still doesn't look so hot. NBC is on the hook for 13 episodes, leading one former network chief to compare the show to an expensive Hawaiian shirt you bought after getting drunk. Scrubs returns at 9:30 followed by Law & Order: SVU at 10.
WEDNESDAY: It's been awhile since a crime drama worked at 8 pm, so putting new series Hawaii there is a head-scratcher. NBC executives insist the show has broad appeal and is light enough to play there. We'll see. The West Wing, back at 9, will run repeat free and get rested at some point so that NBC can run Revelations — a science vs. faith drama with Bill Pullman that the network hopes will catch fire with The Passion of the Christ crowd. Law & Order is back at 10.
THURSDAY: There was a collective sigh of relief at NBC headquarters in Burbank when the Friends spinoff Joey was screened. It's easily the funniest sitcom pilot on any network in several years. Now the network will have to manage expectations — even if Joey does two-thirds of the rating Friends did at 8 pm, it's a big hit. But you can bet Zucker's competitors will dwell on the poor comparison. After Will & Grace, the 9 pm hour goes to Donald Trump's reality fest The Apprentice — 34 episodes worth. When those run out, Zucker said one or two of the back up comedies will go into the hour. ER returns at 10.
FRIDAY: After Dateline at 8, NBC is sliding Third Watch — now the most watched drama among 18 to 49 viewers on the night — down to 9 pm. It will lead into Medical Investigation (new title please — it sounds like it's on The Learning Channel), based on cases from the National Institute of Health. It looked kind of like CSI with victims who are still alive. An NBC executive said any comparison to CSI would be welcome.
SATURDAY: Finally, a network has the guts to admit it plans to air repeats on Saturday night. The Apprentice will get a second run at 8, followed by the theatrical films that NBC still has to get off the books.
SUNDAY: American Dreams is back for another 13 episodes at 8 pm, but the network may also look at putting comedies in this hour after seeing Fox's The Simpsons show some weakness this past season. Law & Order: Criminal Intent returns at 9 and comeback kid Crossing Jordan is set for 10 pm.
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Dying is easy, comedy is hard — and at NBC, it's even harder.