NBC Showcases New Lineup at Upfront Presentation for the 2021/2022 Season
Fresh off the official announcement of its fall TV schedule, NBC offered a more detailed look at its plans for the 2021/2022 TV season at its Upfront Presentation.
The network is starting with a big risk by holding all of its comedies until mid-season.
Joining Mr. Mayor, Young Rock, and Kenan will be new series American Auto and Grand Crew.
American Auto stars Ana Gasteyer, and follows “a major American automotive company in Detroit, where a floundering group of executives try to rediscover the company identity amidst a rapidly changing industry.”
Nicole Byer and Echo Kellum star in Grand Crew, a comedy that focuses on “black people, dating and wine.”
Once known for its Thursday night “must-see TV,” the network will give the night over to Law & Order. Longest running live-action series SVU and hit spinoff Organized Crime will have new drama For the Defense as a lead-in. The show “looks inside a criminal defense firm, putting the lawyers under a microscope, along with the criminal justice system.”
Every season a new drama gets the choice Monday post The Voice spot. This year the lucky winner is Ordinary Joe.
Starring James Wolk, it “explores the three parallel lives of the show’s main character after he makes a pivotal choice at a crossroads in his life. The series asks the question of how different life might look if you made your decision based on love, loyalty or passion.”
Due to the Winter Olympics in February, The Voice will only have one cycle in the fall. Blake Shelton, John Legend, and Kelly Clarkson will be joined by new coach, superstar Ariana Grande.
The Voice will be followed on Tuesdays by new sci-fi/fantasy series La Brea. “When a massive sinkhole mysteriously opens in Los Angeles, it tears a family in half, separating mother and son from father and daughter. When half of the family find themselves in an unexplainable primeval world alongside a disparate group of strangers, they must work to survive and uncover the mystery of where they are — and if there is a way back home.”
Natalie Zea, Eoin Macken, and Jon Seda star in the new series.
NBC’s top-rated drama This is Us recently announced that Season 6 will be its last. However, fans will have to be patient since the show won’t return until spring. On the plus side, this means there won’t be any interruptions.
Debris, Good Girls, Manifest, and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist are all noticeably missing from the schedule, but the network has not made any final decisions on these shows yet.
NBC will also enter the high profile limited series genre with The Thing About Pam. Starring Academy Award winner Renée Zellweger stars in the story based on a popular Dateline NBC segment. “What appeared to be a straightforward murder case would eventually set off a chain of events exposing both a wrongful conviction and a diabolical scheme involving a woman named Pam Hupp.”
The network devoted a significant amount of its presentation to streaming platform Peacock. Trailers for Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol and Dr. Death were revealed.
The Lost Symbol is an origin story for Brown’s signature character Robert Langdon.
Joshua Jackson, Alec Baldwin, and Christian Slater star in the limited series Dr. Death, which focuses on Dallas surgeon Dr. Duntsch (Jackson), whose patients keep leaving surgery “permanently maimed or dead.”
Here’s NBC’s fall schedule. New shows in bold.
NBC FALL SCHEDULE 2021
MONDAY
8-10 PM — The Voice
10-11 PM — ORDINARY JOE
TUESDAY
8-9 PM — The Voice
9-10 PM — LA BREA
10-11 PM — New Amsterdam
WEDNESDAY
8-9 PM — Chicago Med
9-10 PM — Chicago Fire
10-11 PM — Chicago P.D.
THURSDAY
8-9 PM — LAW & ORDER: FOR THE DEFENSE
9-10 PM — Law & Order: SVU
10-11 PM — Law & Order: Organized Crime
FRIDAY
8-9 PM – The Blacklist
9-11 PM — Dateline NBC
SATURDAY
8-9 PM — Drama Encores
9-10 PM — Dateline Weekend Mystery
10-11 PM – SNL Vintage
SUNDAY
7-8:20 PM — Football Night in America
8:20-11 PM — NBC Sunday Night Football
What are your thoughts on NBC’s upcoming TV season? What new show are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments below!
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Stephanie Holland
Stephanie Holland is a nerdy lover of Star Wars, Disney, Doctor Who, Arrowverse, Star Trek and WWE. Is living the dream of turning a lifelong obsession with TV into an actual job. Still waiting for a reboot of the '80s classic Small Wonder.