NBC 2012-13 schedule - plenty of comedy

Rather than cram their dozen of so comedies into two nights of no-repeat laughs, NBC has opted to scatter their comedy-heavy lineup over four nights...

MONDAY
8-10 p.m. – “The Voice”
10-11 p.m. – “REVOLUTION”

TUESDAY
8-9 p.m. – “The Voice”
9-9:30 p.m. – “GO ON”
9:30-10 p.m. – “THE NEW NORMAL”
10-11 p.m. – “Parenthood”

WEDNESDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “ANIMAL PRACTICE”
8:30-9 p.m. – “GUYS WITH KIDS”
9-10 p.m. – “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”
10-11 p.m. – “CHICAGO FIRE”

THURSDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “30 Rock”
8:30-9 p.m. – “Up All Night”
9-9:30 p.m. – “The Office”
9:30-10 p.m. – “Parks and Recreation”
10-11 p.m. – “Rock Center with Brian Williams”

FRIDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “Whitney”
8:30-9 p.m. – “Community”
9-10 p.m. – “Grimm”
10-11 p.m. – “Dateline NBC”

SATURDAY
Encore programming

SUNDAY (Fall 2012)
7- 8:15 p.m. — “Football Night in America”
8:15-11:30 p.m. — “NBC Sunday Night Football”

SUNDAY (Post-football/Winter 2013)
7-8 p.m. – “Dateline NBC”
8-9 p.m. – “Fashion Star”
9-10 p.m. – “The Celebrity Apprentice”
10-11 p.m. – “DO NO HARM”
(New shows in ALL CAPS)

I’m more than a little surprised that NBC has opted to hold back so many shows and is seemingly throwing “Community” to the wolves with a terrible Friday night slot following a totally incompatible “Whitney”. While “Whitney” may have improved towards the end of its first season, its style is drastically different from that of “Community” which centers around a niche form of absurdist humor and borderline fantasy. “Whitney” is a straight-forward relationship sitcom with a studio audience providing the laugh cues. Two different animals here.

There were a whole host of comedies and dramas I would have rather seen and with their Thursday night lineup aging and the entire network in need of an overhaul, I was favoring my schedule which I threw together as the series pick-ups were announced.

MONDAY
8 PM COUNTY/The Voice (2 hours)
9 PM DO NO HARM
10 PM HANNIBAL/Smash

TUESDAY
8 PM Whitney/The Biggest Loser (1 hour)
8:30 PM GUYS WITH KIDS
9 PM 1600 PENN/The Voice Results (1 hour)
9:30 PM Up All Night
10 PM Parenthood

WEDNESDAY
8 PM BAD GIRLS
9 PM NOTORIOUS
10 PM Law & Order SVU

THURSDAY
8 PM ANIMAL PRACTICE/Community
8:30 PM NEW NORMAL/30 Rock
9 PM GO ON/The Office
9:30 PM SAVE ME/Parks & Recreation
10 PM REVOLUTION/CHICAGO FIRE

FRIDAY
8 PM THE FRONTIER/Who Do You Think You Are?
9 PM Grimm/READY FOR LOVE
10 PM Dateline

SUNDAY (after NFL season)
7 PM Dateline
8 PM Harry’s Law
9 PM The Apprentice (2 hours)
10 PM

Generally speaking, NBC is going to burn out viewers by running “The Voice” twice in one television season. They are throwing away the 10 PM drama hour on Thursday by placing the horribly-rated newsmagazine “Rock Center” there and are doing themselves no favors by opting to continue “The Office”, contrary to previous reports, with no end date in sight. The show is a shell of its former self and while I still love it and the bulk of their Thursday comedy line-up, it’s obvious that it isn’t drawing viewers at decent levels so it’s time to cut bait and start the Thursday comedy season early with a slew of new comedies as I proposed in my well thought out schedule.

What are your thoughts? Which shows would you have kept or axed or liked to have seen included? Save Me 1600 Penn Next Caller Guys With Kids Animal Practice New Normal Go On Do No Harm Chicago Fire Revolution Infamous