Southland being canceled prior to the first airing of its second season wasn’t yet another sign of the Leno-pocalyse, but just the another clean up action in the post-Ben Silverman NBC era. (the first being the reduction of Day One to a four hour miniseries)
What other Ben Silverman garbage is likely already loaded on the truck and is ready to be dumped?
I’d lay odds that Parenthood is the next “surprise” to be canceled. It’s production was pushed back because of medical issues with its star and isn’t scheduled to appear until next spring. I’ll guess we never see it.
The others are easy for anyone reading our NBC Renew / Cancel posts. Trauma, Mercy and Parks & Recreation are all Silverman-era detrius that will at some point this season be flushed prior to the end of this season.
The only vestiges of the Silverman era left at NBC at the end of this season are likely to be Biggest Loser and Celebrity Apprentice. Based on their most recent ratings, they aren’t going anywhere.
Is this hope for the Leno Skeptics? I don’t think so. That move was all Jeff Zucker, and he’s also not going anywhere.
Wait, Chuck came about during the Silverman era. What are you saying Bill? WHAT ARE YOU SAYING???
But seriously, it will probably/hopefully be either Trauma or Mercy…and soon.
P&R may be garbage in the ratings, but it has turned its quality around from last season where it’s probably the funniest returning comedy this season. And Parenthood still looks good to go since critics spoke highly of its pilot and the switch from Maura Tierney to Lauren Graham has been publicized just this past week.
i think who ever read the scripts for trauma and mercy and decided that, that would be good television should be flogged ….
How could I have forgotten about Chuck!
I guess I just don’t think of it as a Silverman era show.
At this point it seems NBC has devolved to Fox circa. Early-mid 90s. So they have a good ten-fifteen years before they’re back on to the top.
I’m afraid you may be right, but Parks & Rec is doing better out of Community than it did out of SNL: Weekend Update. Trauma and Mercy will be gone by the end of the season. I agree with Chief that Chuck might be one of the remaining silverman shows.
Parenthood had a good cast, so I wonder how well it will test? But we’ve seen how another tv show based on an 80’s movie that earlier failed as a series (EASTWICK) is performing, so there is always the chance that Parenthood will be cancelled before it airs too.
P&R should have been cancelled last season.
@ Jeremy, or CW circa 2005.
I highly doubt Parenthood will be canceled before it airs. They took the trouble to sign Lauren Graham onto the project, even if she did have a development deal with NBC. I think they will likely stick with it and see how it goes mid-season.
Parenthood has cast Lauren Graham so I doubt they will axe it before it airs. As for getting a second year, who knows.
Trauma will likely be axed in a month, either before airing all 13 episodes or after.
Mercy could get a full season since it isnt doing as badly as other series.
Parks & Rec will get a full year but then be axed or replaced with 100 Questions.
Chuck could go either way.
Parenthood is the only new show that is creating any sort of buzz on the entertainment sites for NBC. Sure most of that buzz is due to a cast member getting sick and being replaced, but buzz is buzz. I think Parenthood has the best odds to survive out of everything listed above.
I think Parks and Rec is safe for the season. I don’t know of a midseason comedy on NBC’s roster. I also can’t imagine the network will be able to come up with an additional 5 hours of programming in one season, so it seems The Jay Leno Show might need to stick around at least another season while the net rebuilds.
I heard they recently bought a hyped J.J. Abrams pilot. That’s a good sign. They obviously know they need big names and big quality to create buzz for the network again.
I think they’d have to be fairly dumb to cancel something purely because Silverman liked it, as long as Chuck holds up in the ratings I can’t see it going anywhere.
Does anyone watch Parks & Recreation? It looks like a clone of The Office, which is a show that’s always seemed to be far more popular than it deserves to be. Either way, my wife and I haven’t spent more than a minute or two trying to watch it and we’re stuck on figuring out why it’s on. Amy Poehler is so much better than that.
Joshua, you may well be right, but Southland’s situation indicates that decisions can often come even when work is well underway. They were in the middle of the production of their 13 episode order when the cancellation notice came in.
That has got to be one of the most disgusting pictures I’ve ever seen. If that doesn’t convince all of us to recycle, nothing will!
I never saw Southland, but Trauma and Mercy were awful. They were so unoriginal relying on every cliche in the book that tt was almost painful to watch them. (I do however give kudos to Kate Mulgrew as the gin drinking cigarette smoking mother in Mercy. It was the only thing that gave me a chuckle)
I said in the Jay Leno article that NBC is less likely to take chances on new shows because the number of hours available for programming is less. But the flipside is that awful dramas like Trauma and Mercy were green lit by NBC and are stinking up the coveted time slots available. If you know the space on the schedule is limited, you should have showcased your A Game and taken a chance on some creative programming instead of relying on the same tired cop\rescue\medical drama.
Is it bad that I don’t know which medical series I’ve caught a few episodes of (and didn’t mind it at all), Trauma or Mercy?
The one about an ex soldier girl who served in Iraq?
I wouldn’t care at all if it got cancelled, but It’s pretty much Grey’s anatomy 2, except the main character is a badass ex soldier not an annoying person like in Grey’s.
Trauma’s definitely going to be cancelled before Parenthood. It got a 1.7 in the demo!
Bill, but with Southland they have the season 1 ratings to look at to base their decision to yank it (although it was not their official reason to cancel it but it was a huge factor for sure) Parenthood is a new show with buzz so I’m sure NBC would want to know how this show will perform in the ratings so unless there will be another production problem, I’m confident Parenthood will be aired.
mercy is a wreck of a show…how did the leading actress ever get cast?
she is unwatchable as well as unlikable.
I think you are spot on with the guess Parenthood doesn’t make it. Both with the push-back due to Maura’s treatment, then having to recast, we may never see the show. Or it could be pushed to summer/fall if NBC wants it bad enough (with their ep order, I wouldn’t be surprised if they burn it off in the summer – call it the #1 new summer show for PR sake – then cancel it like the Philanthropist/Listener).
I think Trauma will be the next to go. Dan and I from the beginning thought Mercy was a goner and NBC would keep Trauma around instead; however, with Trauma bombing and pricey – and Mercy performing better in demo and cost – I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep Mercy around for awhile (cause really, what else do they have right now to fill their non Tuesday/Thursdays?) & dump Trauma.
I’m sure since NBC wants Amy around they’ll at least pick up Parks for a full season. If Community can find its own footing at 8p though, it’s possible Parks will be done after this year. If Community stays lower than Parks in the demo, Community will be gone after this season (unless they keep it strictly due to lack of programming).
Who knows though about sitcoms lately. I never thought Better Off Ted would be renewed, and I was way off on that one. I knew they would renew Til Death, but that’s just because Sony gave them a free LED TV with every episode ordered.
Parenthood isn’t going anywhere, they have nothing else for midseason – to say nothing of the summer scripted programming NBC said they were interested in.
Trauma will get axed as soon as someone else cancels a show and gets the spotlight off Southland.
Mercy will probably air the entire order; they might even get a couple extra to last until the Olympics.
P&R vs. Community is the only thing worth watching. Neither is performing well, although P&R is the one that’s trending upwards. NBC could axe – or keep – one or both.
If I had to guess which show gets the axe first, I’d say Trauma. Why? Money, plain and simple. It’s the most expensive show of the 3, and the one with the most negative reviews I believe.
I do really believe they are trying to get rid of Silverman’s trash. Not all of it, but enough try to get them back into a position of rising in the ratings.
Leno cant go anywhere for 2 years (I believe thats how long his contract is) and P&R is probably safe because it jives with The Office and Community. Plus NBC seems scared to let go of Poelher because Im sure she could get another deal on the other networks pretty quick. I dont really think it has anything to do with the quality, because we all know quality doesnt necessarily equal ratings.
Trauma and Mercy both currently have the same score on Renew/Cancel index. But only the fact that Trauma costs way more (I dont know how much more, maybe one of you guys could help me out?) makes me think it would go before Mercy.
Biggest Loser, Celeb Apprentice and Chuck are safe Im sure.
Amy Poehler is the worst thing to come out of SNL EVER.
Why on Earth a decision was made to first give her, then renew her (a) show is beyond me. I couldn’t even bring myself to watch an episode of P&R after the horrible promo commercials they ran for it before the first season began.
Community is great.
And as for NBC being compared to “early-mid 90s” or with the first year of CW…How sad is it that NBC is being compared to when networks were first starting out? FOX started, what, 1987? They were trying to find footing, so it was ok they stumbled a bit. NBC started DECADES before that; what’s THEIR excuse???
Oh yea: Silverman/Zucker.
Regarding Southland, how can NBC order 13 episodes then renig after just 6? Isn’t there like contracts or something that make them pay for all 13?
Petrie, I’m sure NBC has well defined (but private) payment obligations to the Southland producers. Just as certainly they have the right to air (or not air) whatever they want.
“Parks & Rec” is great. Unfortunately NBC seems to have no confidence in it. I have not seen ONE promo for S2. This most it gets its that they promote “Community” then say “after a new ‘Parks & Rec’, its The Office! Jim & Pam go to…”
Petrie – there is no difference between what NBC did with Southland and what other networks do to shows when they get canceled after 2 or 3 episodes. The CW recently canceled TBL after only airing 2 episodes and I’m sure there was a similar episode order for that show.
Eric (Ohio), give it a chance. I hated her on SNL but P&R is great.
Jay Leno keeps getting the blame for any NBC shows that is on before or after him that winds up in the dumper…like the local news.
I think that having Conan FOLLOWING the news is the real reason for the local news ratings to fall.
I know that when NBC started Conan at 11:35 I switched to the local CBS news station…so that I wouldn’t miss the start of Letterman.
I think that many local news fans do the same thing.
Most local news vuewers are not fans of the “masturbating bear – 13 year old boy humor” of Conan the lame.
At this point NBC is just toxic. It kills what ever it has scripted wise like Roundup. Got a good scripted show then just use NBC on it and it will surely die. Just look at medium on Friday nights, the show was kicked around by NBC from time slot to time slot and now its winning it time slot on Firday. Even where it was winning in late night is now in 2nd place often in prime ages groups.
Maybe this network will get rebranded once its sold.
well only non silverman shows are Persons Unknown and some reality /gameshows
More negativity. Wow, what a surprise. Sure is easier to write, huh? Our daily dose of what’s wrong with the world. Never mind that people are excited about Lauren Graham joining Parenthood. Let’s just cancel it before it airs, right? That’s a better story! Yeah. And never mind that Amy Poehler and Parks & Recreation is funny, absurdist humor that fits well on Thursday. Let’s just cancel it now! It’ll make a great headline on TVBTN! They’ll throw a victory parade! Now we can bash Ben Silverman and NBC more!
Seriously, dude. What is your problem?
Bill
Zucker hired Silverman and trumpeted him around as the saviour of programming, Silvermans programming failure is Zuckers $50m+ failure.
NBC – Nearly Buried Completely
Jace, you’re right, I should have gone with a big hug for all of NBC’s ratings success.
HAHA….I love Winnie The Pooh!!!!
My interpretation of Bill’s picture:
Eeyore is NBC.
Pooh is CBS.
Tigger is FOX.
Piglet is ABC.
They love Eeyore’s sadness.
Ummm…Wouldn’t Chuck be Kevin Reilly’s doing. Reilly was fired around May 27th meaning he’s the one who made the decision to pick it up. And I assume when a network picks a show up that’s when they assign network staff to work with the show’s creators so Kevin Reilly would have been the one who chose which network people guided chuck down the line.
By that logic I think Reilly deserves the credit for Chuck making it on the air more than Silverman.
NBC had Lauren Graham on contract and decided to put her on Parenthood instead of developing her own new show? She’s a fine talent who puts butts in the seats. No wonder the network is in the crapper.
I don’t agree. Southland didn’t have bad ratings. It had great ratings in the first three episodes. I think that if they putted it on Monday at 9:00 it would have better ratings than Trauma and many things that air on NBC.
“She’s a fine talent who puts butts in the seats.” LOL @ the sarcasm.
That is definitely the perfect picture to represent NBC.
My buddy works as an EMS and asked me who he could write to to have “Trauma” taken off the air. He said it’s offensive to his profession. I do not work as an EMS, but I’m sure he is correct. Certainly, the show is offensive to television.
Seriously, the peacock survivors can point fingers at Silverman all they want for these stinkers. He NEVER put anything on NBC as bad as this show. You’d think for $3-$4 million bucks an episode (and an $8 million pilot), they could have at least made the thing look good. It looks like somebody’s YouTube project.
Southland had horrible ratings after the first 3 episodes- its finale got a 1.9 against light competition. Trauma got a 1.7 in its last episode.
Poelher is the worst part of P&R yet I love that she’s the reason people are speculating P&R will stick around. The suporing cast is great though in particular the Boss, then intern, and Tom Haverford.
Having worked around landfills (sampling and testing groundwater monitoring wells) as part of my “career” prior to my current calling, I just wanted to say how much I appreciated that BEAUTIFUL photo of the truck unloading garbage. As I used to say during those good old days – “It smells like MONEY!”
Unfortunately for NBC, however, it just smells like garbage!
Hey – how about a show about GARBAGE MEN? (or women)? Fred Sandford was a scrap dealer, but how about a show based on garbage men/women and their daily trials and tribulations. We’ve had shows about taxi drivers, small plane pilots, cops, doctors, nurses, etc., etc. Maybe it’s time for something about garbage men (sanitation engineers).
I know I’d watch it!!!!!!
give ben mccenzie a good part in jj abrams new show and all will be forgiven for the southland cancellation … i didnt like the rest of the cast anyways.
EMTs. Whatever they call themselves.
mark-allen writes, “mercy is a wreck of a show…how did the leading actress ever get cast? she is unwatchable as well as unlikable.”
NBC actually thought they scored a real find with her. They scored a real something alright. To answer other people’s questions, I understand “Mercy” is a very low-cost drama. I presume this is because when you get a lead actress who can’t act, you don’t have to pay her very much.
even better yet reunite him with shwartz on chuck by making him a nemisis or something.
Is Chuck considered a product of the Silverman era? Either way, dump it.
@Riff – Silverman did put Trauma on the air. He “left” NBC at the end of July so it was picked up and began filming under his watch.
What if they replace the trash with even more trash?
What next?
craigUK, I didnt’t mean to imply that Zucker isn’t at fault for Silverman, he is. But Silverman shouldn’t get any blame coming for The Jay Leno Show. That was all Zucker.
Tom, even though I didn’t think of it that way (Chuck), I should have! I was right without even knowing it!
Sure most of the NBC shows are less than thrilling but what are they going to replace them with? Do they have anything in development? I thought I read an article on this site insinuating that ‘no, they don’t even have anything in development’.I suppose they could go out and buy stuff from the UK again like they did with Merlin or buy from Canada, otherwise it’s just them making the best of a bad situation and picking the lesser evils.
And just to add to what Tom said, Silverman helped launch the fall season.
NBC have major fixing to do.
Trauma is most definitely terminal.
As beloved as Ron Howard may be and as mega-successful his films have been, the fact is that he has not had a single successful television show of his own ever. Parenthood will fail again.
Tom writes, “Silverman did put Trauma on the air. He “left” NBC at the end of July so it was picked up and began filming under his watch.”
Silverman was “reassigned” in December and his day-to-day job was given to Angela Bromstad. So, Bromstad put “Trauma” on the air. Silverman greenlit the script, but she was the one who greenlit the pilot (and then the show) itself. She must have seen a different script than the one we all saw…
nknisey – I think NBC will keep Parks for the year but then drop it. Also I think Community is good enough to stick around for another year due to lack of comedies. NBC barely has any dramas left so its likely Mercy will be kept for the whole season just to prove that they have something. Its possible Parenthood could be moved to summer, but since it was already pushed to midseason not likely. It seems that NBC wants to air Parenthood but the Maura Tierney illness was just an unfortunate obstacle. I hope it doesnt get the Merlin or Philanthropist treatment. With Day One reduced, that leaves more room for it. Trauma is as good as dead.
Parenthood has exactly 0 episodes in the can right now since the Pilot needs to be re-shot. Frankly, I’m not even sure they can get 13 episodes completed considering how far behind they are. I’m cautiously optmistic about it’s long term future.
Trauma is DOA.
@Riff – I could be wrong but I don’t remember anything about Silverman being demoted in December nor can I find anything with a Google Search. In fact, this article from April (http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/04/angela_bromstead.html) is entitled “Will Angela Bromstad Save NBC or Become Another One of Ben Silverman’s Scapegoats?” and the Reuters article that detailed his “leaving” (http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSTRE56Q2TT20090727) verifies that he was co-chairman at the time (which is the same title he held at the beginning of his run)
I certainly wouldn’t let Ms. Bromstad off the hood but she still reported to Silverman as far as I know.
Trauma for sure is going, Mercy is pulling about average viewer numbers but isn’t doing well in the demo, i think chuck should take that spot and persons unknown or the jj abrams show should take traumas spot, and i don’t think parenthood is going anywhere, its got a great cast and ron howards producing, why would you try and break that guys heart
NBC does not have a deep bench… The comedies are likely to stay.
Community benefitted initially from its Office lead in and, when it moved to 8:00, that it sucked less than SNL. If it holds or shows a modicum of ratings growth in the coming weeks, it’ll stay. P&R has shown a modicum growth. If this trend holds, NBC will keep it.
The dramas on the air now are doomed. They barely do better than Leno and are WAY more expensive. Trauma and Mercy are almost out of here.
Parenthood would have to reshoot only scenes with Lauren Graham. They could have a pilot ready in a few weeks. NBC will have to decide if that show is ready for primetime. The pedigree is good, but that does not automatically make for a well executed product. Frankly, in these times a lighter drama would probably play well in Peoria (and the rest of the country).
Bill, to be fair I wouldn’t really call Celebrity Apprentice or The Biggest Loser Silverman shows either. Biggest Loser has been around since 2004 and Celebrity Apprentice is really just The Apprentice glammed up.
Mercy is doing worse than Trauma. Mercy should get the axe before Trauma. If it were me, I’d kill two turkeys with one swing of the axw; save myself the effort of having raise my arm twice. Last week Mercy and Trauma got the same key ratings. At least Trauma has the excuse of competing against the CBS powerhouse sitcoms, and one of ABC’s biggest shows. Mercy is up against Fox’s copycat dance show/AI placeholder, Old Christine, and Hank–lame, lamer, lamest. And Trauma has had better reviews than Mercy, but that’s really a moot point.
@Tom (the other) –
Silverman was never formally reassigned, but all known scuttlebutt indicates he was yanked off those duties as Riff said.
@Kozy –
Trauma also costs far more per episode than Mercy and airs in an hour with better overall viewership (more people are watching TV at 9 than 8).
I don’t think anyone is predicting either show will be around in March, but even NBC won’t throw Trauma’s budget away every week.
The industry at least seems to want Lauren Graham to succeed. She’s picked up SAG, Golden Globe, and critics’ assn (TCA) nominations despite being on a WB show. But that Emmy nom has proven elusive…
Mercy is doing better than Trauma and its cheaper so its likely NBC will keep Mercy over Trauma. Parenthood does have 0 episodes produced so far but the series has time to produce some episodes.
I like Trauma and Mercy. Have DVR’d and watched all episodes.
Just gotta say, does NBC really think that “Friday Night Lights” would have done worse than Southland, than Trauma, than Mercy? Is FNL so loathsome that NBC dare not air it until May sweeps are finished? I know I am grateful we will see FNL on free television for 26 more episodes (at least), but why NBC feels the need to delay the show until JUNE (not exactly time of year for a football show) is inexplainable, given the disastrous season thus far. Seems like we should be seeing “Chuck” earlier and “FNL” as soon as the first-run rights to DirectTV are fulfilled.
parks and rec is out performing community…. plus it has the star power of an nbc developed celeb in amy pohler…. it isnt going anywhere
Jamie, time will tell where Community and Parks & Rec settle in the ratings now that the move has been made. Could be that both go.
Trauma looks really good tonight…they should cancel Heroes and replace it i’m sick of it, it’s terrible now
Jamie, Parks and Recreation is an Office remake it’s terrible…My Name is Earl was ALOT better
my theory is parks and recreation will be renewed, i think the boss-es at nbc thinks it’s gonna be a “hit” like the office
parenthood is not exactly a viewers magnet based on the previews i saw, hence potential competition against american idol this spring
while trauma is in a terrible terrible timeslot, it’s a 10pm show(BLAME JAY!), i can see a potential in that show, too bad nbc don’t
also “mercy” is also in really bad timeslot, again a 10pm show(BLAME JAY!) only rate above average because of weak competition.
i think they should moved 2 hours of celebrity apprentice on monday next spring and put 2 dramas on sunday especially those 10pm-ers shows since “brothers and sister” and soon-to-be cancelled “cold case” and “three rivers” cant’ barely register
i don’t see any of nbc new shows surviving in the ratings game, “100 questions” pilot is terrible, while “day one” also has potential in 10pm but since jay leno, yeah, i think nbc gave up their faith in that show
how bout jay leno show at 8, or give jay leno a syndication show produced by nbc universal, cheap and jay is kinda, kinda a household name, could , could be a hit!.
what do you guys think? jay at 8 or jay at syndication?
i have an idea…they should get rid of heroes and put trauma in that spot then jay..i think that would get both of trauma’s and jay’s ratings up…and heroes is terrible so it should go
There is a lot of talk of dumping all these shows but what exactly is going to replace them? More hours of Lenoz? They have to keep something.
jay wouldn’t even want to do more than an hour of entertainment so they won’t do that
Persons Unknown is set to premiere on Wednesday March 3 so they will probably let mercy air until then then replace it with Persons Unknown
Tar – Where did you hear that about Persons Unknown premiere?
Dan, search it on Google, you can watch the trailer..it looks so sweet..much rather have it then Mercy
Brendan & Tar – It does look good but I think NBC may air it alongside Chuck on Mondays. They currently have Parenthood planned for Wednesdays at 8 but that could change. If Mercy gets a full year, it will either finish early or move somewhere else for its remaining episodes. I can see
Mondays
8:00 Chuck
9:00 Persons Unknown
10:00 The Jay Leno Show
Wednesdays
8:00 Parenthood
9:00 Law & Order SVU
10:00 The Jay Leno Show
With this for mondays and wednesdays Mercy could move to fridays.
Is the person is charge now the one that just bought the JJ Abrams Spy Show?
I’m also curious who greenlighted Heroes, that was taking a chance and it payed off.
Not so much recently, but i’m pretty sure it sells tons of dvd’s and sells around the world, and is on verge on syndication.
I want Trauma in a better timeslot like maybe tuesdays
Brendan: Tuesdays is NBC’s best day outside of Sunday Night Football. There is NO chance Trauma will move to Tuesdays.
And Brendan, Tuesday is a good night for NBC *because* Biggest Loser is there, not because it has some mystical property that improves the ratings of any NBC show that goes there.
I was just saying that I would like it to be out there because I like that show
Ben Silverman is a puppet. Sure he signed some people and did a few things here and there. Some left over projects and shows he had will be canceled then put out to pasture. Regardless of this change he was only there for a few years so it’s not going to change much if anything. The real problem child of NBC is the CEO Jeff Zucker. While he had some initial success creating a spike in earnings as technology evolved NBC didn’t and it’s been all down hill from there. To be honest until they bring in a younger head of programming that’s connected with today’s TV audience who’s allowed to do what’s needed to get things turned around NBC will remain in the crapper for years to come.
NBC will have some issues for the foreseeable future. In order to rebuild, they will just have to copy the formula Fox started when they entered into network TV land. Essentially, they just have to schedule for the 8-10 block everyday.
They have a couple of strong shows (similar to fox back in the day). They should keep some of the strong shows that have a good following (which would include shows like Chuck, The Office, 30 Rock, Heroes). The one strong positive for Chuck is the support from advertisers (Subway for one). If advertisers support your show, that helps make them more financially viable for the network and helps sell ad space during their scheduled time on air. NBC needs to learn from fox with regards to promoting shows across multiple levels of media (ie…Glee).
Networks rise and fall based upon the strength of their schedule and shows. ABC was in poor shape a few years ago and they resurrected themselves. CBS was as well (I remember Letterman joking about the poor lead ins back when he first came to the network).
One thing that some of the networks need to understand that if you are competing with a large number of alternative viewing options (cable, online, etc), your ratings will change. If you have a strong fan base that actively follows your show…that show is actually important to your network and you should keep it on air. Imagine if CBS kept Moonlight on for another season or two? (Vampires just recently became popular).
Just some random thoughts.
i love parks and recreation. i hope it doesn’t get cancelled.
While Leno has taken up an hour every weekday from NBC, one of their competitors, Fox, has been working with less their inception pretty much as they don’t have 10pm programming at all and appear to be doing okay. NBC needs to find a way to step it up, but it might be too little too late and work with a clean slate or something and find some footing.
NBC going down! I’m not even sure what do they have for fall 2010
Day one is a miniseries, they canceled Southland, there’s a problem about Parenthood, Trauma/Mercy have low ratings, heroes going very downhill and law & order: svu’s ratings are just very average
It doesn’t look good at all
i watched the new shows that nearly replaced chuck i was pretty disappointed to be honest. and they were goin to cut chuck after season 2 i thought chuck, 30 rock and heroes was the best thing they have left i am sure i might be missing a few decent ones but honestly the past 2 yrs or so those are the only scripted shows i watch on nbc
Jeremy, you forgot Friday Night Lights
While Mercy and Trauma continue to stink up the place, don’t shovel Parks and Recreation into the truck too just to satisfy the “rule of threes.” Parks and Recreation continues to get funnier every week, has gained a foothold in ratings and may develop into something important for NBC. Canceling it would be a mistake…but that’s just the kind of dumb move NBC would make.
I fully expect Parks to survive at least through to the Olympics.
The numbers are bad and I don’t think they’re going to get much better unless NBC completely changes the Thursday running order but as far as I can tell the only replacement options NBC currently has is 100 Questions, which looks beyond awful. My guess is Parks survives because of a complete lack of alternatives and because it gels well (style wise at least) with the rest of the comedy block. I’d be amazed if a third season was ordered though. The fate of Community on the other hand is much more interesting…
Trauma and Mercy are both dead and the question is how long can they stay on the schedule, with little in the way of replacements they may be left with no choice but to keep one of them on the air somewhere on the schedule.
As far as Parenthood goes, that looked like the best drama pick-up Silverman made and the closest thing to a hit (and I use that word very loosely) NBC had with decent star power behind and in front of the camera. However the behind the scenes problems, which in their defence they had no real control over have thrown the show into chaos. A post-Olympics debut on Wednesday will put the show against Idol, which doesn’t seem like a good place for a new show to establish itself and the recasting done doesn’t fill me with confidence, its a shame they couldn’t get Helen Hunt on board although given NBC’s current state not a huge surprise.
With that said I still expect Parenthood to make it on the air post-Olympics and fill its 9-13 episode order. I’m not confident it’ll get a second season though.
What happens at NBC next season is going to be interesting though, will Gaspin have the money to play with to cancel Trauma, Mercy, Parenthood, Parks, Southland and Law & Order? Plus Heroes and Chuck are very much unknowns right now and SVU isn’t exactly setting the world alight at 9PM either. Ideally I imagine Gaspin would like to axe just about everything on the schedule and start from scratch but is the money there to do that?
Is he going to be in a position where Heroes for example has to come back cheaper still as a place holder next year?
Quit trashing Chuck. I do hope they place somewhere besides Monda or Friday. As for Mercy and Trauma I burned out of medical dramas a a long time ago. Leno at 10 has hurt Nbc. I am also so tired of all of the reality shows.
I actually think that Parks and Rec is a lot better this year! Last year it was disappointing, but i find myself laughing quite often this year.
I think what you write is mostly accurate excpt for Parenthood. Since they recast I think it will air but for how long who knows. Just because critics like it certainly doesn’t mean ratings. It seems to be the opposite most often. As for the Lauren Graham getting theshow due to her other contract as someone mentioned that contract was annulled by NBC according o Ms. Graham herseld on Ausiello’s blog. So she got the part simply because they actually wanted her to be on their show apparently. Go figure.
Luvmygrys writes, “Quit trashing Chuck. I do hope they place somewhere besides Monda or Friday. As for Mercy and Trauma I burned out of medical dramas a a long time ago. Leno at 10 has hurt Nbc. I am also so tired of all of the reality shows.”
I do hope they place “Chuck” somewhere besides Monday or Friday — like the landfill in the picture above. As for “Chuck,” I burned out of computer geek dramedies a long time ago. “Chuck” at 8:00 has hurt NBC. I am also so tired of the “Chuck” show.