NBC was the first U.S. broadcast network to reveal its schedule for the 2017-18 television season last week. Some highlights, including a big move for This Is Us:
— NBC is bringing back “Must See TV” on Thursday nights with the return of Will & Grace. Will & Grace’s episode count has been increased to 12.
— Great News is coming back for a second season! Executive producer Tina Fey will make recurring appearances.
— This Is Us will move to Thursdays at 9 p.m., moving from Tuesdays. It will also air following the Super Bowl on Feb. 4. Update May 30: This Is Us is moving back to Tuesdays. It will continue to air at 9 p.m.
— Trial & Error will also be back at midseason.
— The Sackett Sisters starring Casey Wilson and Busy Phillips is still in contention. So, fingers crossed the network picks it up.
— Superstore and The Good Place are moving to Tuesdays.
— Timeless was cancelled, but then brought back to air as a summer series after NBC and Sony Pictures Television worked on reducing the licence fees.
— Mindy Kaling’s new project, Champions, will air in midseason. She’ll appear on a recurring basis.
My (New) Picks: A.P. Bio, Champions, The Brave and Good Girls.
NBC’s Fall 2017 Schedule:
MONDAY
8pm — The Voice
10pm — The Brave
TUESDAY
8pm — The Voice
9pm — This Is Us
10pm — Law & Order True Crime: The Melendez Murders / Chicago Med
WEDNESDAY
8pm — The Blacklist
9pm — Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
10pm — Chicago P.D.
THURSDAY
8pm — Superstore
8:30pm — The Good Place
9pm — Will & Grace
9:30pm — Great News
10pm — Chicago Fire
FRIDAY
8pm — Blindspot
9pm — Taken
10pm — Dateline
SATURDAY
8pm — Dateline Mysteries
10pm — Saturday Night Live (Encores)
SUNDAY
7pm — Football Night in America
8:20pm — NBC Sunday Night Football
Not Returning: Aquarius, The Blacklist: Redemption, Grimm and Powerless.
Midseason: Chicago Med, Shades of Blue, Timeless, Rise, A.P. Bio, Good Girls, Champions and Reverie.
New Shows:
A.P. Bio (Comedy — Midseason)
Logline: A hilariously cynical Ivy League professor loses out on his dream job and goes to work as a high school biology teacher where he imposes his unorthodox teaching style and uses the kids to plot out revenge on those who wronged him.
Cast: Glenn Howerton, Patton Oswalt, Mary Sohn, Lyric Lewis, Aparna Birelle, Nick Peine
Champions (Comedy — Midseason)
Logline: Vince is a charismatic gym owner with no ambition who lives with his younger brother Michael, a gorgeous idiot. Their simple life of women and working out is put on hold when Vince’s teenage son is dropped off on their doorstep by Priya, one of his old high school flings.
Cast: Anders Holm, Andy Favreau, J.J. Totah, Mouzam Makkar, Nina Wadia, Mindy Kaling
Will & Grace (Comedy — Revival)
Logline: Will, Grace, Karen and Jack are back 10 years later.
Cast: Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Megan Mullally, Sean Hayes
The Brave (Drama)
Logline: A look into the complex world of our bravest military heroes. While DIA Deputy Director Patricia Campbell and her team of analysts wield the world’s most advanced surveillance technology from Washington, D.C., Adam Dalton and his heroic Special Ops squad of highly trained undercover specialists use their unbreakable bond and commitment to freedom to save lives of innocent people and execute missions in some of the most dangerous places in the world.
Cast: Anne Heche, Mike Vogel, Sofia Pernas, Tate Ellington, Natacha Karam, Demetrius Grosse, Noah Mills, Hadi Tabbal
Good Girls (Drama — Midseason)
Logline: Three “good girl” suburban wives and mothers suddenly find themselves in desperate circumstances and decide to stop playing it safe and risk everything to take their power back.
Cast: Kathleen Rose Perkins, Mae Whitman, Retta, Matthew Lillard, Manny Montana, Reno Wilson
Law & Order True Crime (Drama – Limited Series)
Logline: Focuses on Lyle and Erik Menendez, brothers who killed their parents in 1989, claiming they had suffered a lifetime of abuse from them. After a mistrial and deadlocked juries — there was one trial but two separate juries, one for each brother — the young men later were re-tried and convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.
Cast: Edie Falco
Reverie (Drama — Midseason)
Logline: A former detective specializing in human behavior is brought in when the launch of an advanced virtual reality program has dangerous and unintended consequences.
Cast: Sarah Shahi, Dennis Haysbert, Jessica Lu, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Kathryn Morris
Rise (Drama — Midseason)
Logline: When dedicated teacher and family man Lou Mazzuchelli (Josh Radnor) sheds his own self-doubt and takes over the school’s lackluster theater department, he galvanizes not only the faculty and students but the entire working-class town. Inspired by Lou Volpe as chronicled in the book Drama High.
Cast: Josh Radnor, Rosie Perez, Marley Shelton, Auli’i Cravalho, Damon J. Gillespie, Amy Forsyth, Rarmian Newton, Ted Sutherland, Casey Johnson, Taylor Richardson, Joe Tippett, Shirley Rumierk
