NBC 2013-2014

All sorts of exciting events to read about online this week. Near the top of the list, TV Network Upfronts. Meaning we get the fall schedules and find out what shows are new/renewed/cancelled.

Up first, NBC. Will there be anything to watch? Well, besides the Winter Olympics, which I will watch all of.

Late Night
First, there is the late night shakeup, with today’s news that Seth Meyers is taking over for Fallon. Now I’m a big fan of Seth Meyers. I’ve enjoyed him on Weekend Update and saw him do stand-up a year or two ago. My first reaction is that it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Two Weekend Update hosts, back to back, both from New York. Will they be the same show? Actually no, and I actually warming up to the idea. While both Fallon and Meyers were Weekend Update hosts, they have completely different styles. Fallon can kill the music parts, which are the only thing I see of his, online. That’s not Meyers game. What could be his game, is a 12:35 Daily Show style show. He already does this once a week at the Update Desk. Add in a daily format, which he can handle, since most news jokes get played out by the time SNL comes around. The question will be if he can handle the interviews. I don’t know if he can, but he should be better than Fallon.

Renewals
If I had to rank the bubble shows up NBC from this past season for the order I’d renew them.

1. Parks & Rec – No doubt.
2. Community – I didn’t like this season, but the cast is too good to give up on.
3. Guys With Kids – I didn’t get how no one watched this. It was the best pure sitcom I had seen in a long while.
4. Go On – I like Matthew Perry a lot. I watched this whole season. It never quite figured itself out. There were some really good episodes. The cast was a bit too large and they weren’t developed enough. Even at the end of the season, I didn’t know the names of all the members of the support group.
5. New Normal – The only one on the list I didn’t stick out for the season (I quit short of half way through), which is why it’s last. I tried to like it. I wanted to like it. The leads were solid. The show was actually destroyed by the grandmother and assistant. 

Just Parks & Rec and Community. No surprise. I would have liked for one of the others to make it.

New Shows
Not a ton jumped out at me on the schedule. The Michael J. Fox Show will get a watch, but the fact that it was given the 9:30 spot, and not 9, makes me wonder if it turned out less than excellent. Although if NBC is the judge, that either means it’s actually good or so bad even they realized it.

I see a midseason show from Bill Lawrence, Undateable. I always give his shows a chance. Ok, maybe I never gave Cougar Town a chance.

The odd one on the list: The Million Second Quiz. If I understand this correctly, players live in a bubble answering questions 24 hours a day for 12 days and it will air in primetime. But people at home can play along and possibly appear on the show. So I don’t really know how it works. It’s pretty save to say during those two weeks if you watch any NBC, they’ll mention it.

Outlook
I’ll give some of the new shows a try, at least the Thursday night lineup. It looks like the spring might be where it’s at for me on NBC. Whenever Community and Undateable show up along with Seth Meyers, they will add to Parks & Rec and SNL. Hopefully for NBC’s sake, one of the other shows makes the list.