In an attempt to turn around its current ratings slump, NBC will look to Martha Stewart picking an apprentice and singer Amy Grant making wishes come true when the fall season begins.
NBC said Monday that it will introduce six new series in September, including only one comedy: “My Name is Earl,” featuring Jason Lee (“Chasing Amy”) as a downtrodden lottery winner.
NBC is doing away with the fourth installment of the “Law & Order” series, “Trial By Jury.” The Mark Burnett/Sylvester Stallone boxing series “The Contender,” “American Dreams” and “Third Watch” are also being shut down.
NBC is moving the drama “The West Wing” to Sunday nights, with the campaign to replace Martin Sheen as the president in full swing.
All the broadcast networks release their fall schedules this week, and NBC was the first to do so. The network is finishing up a poor year, slipping to fourth among the 18-to-49-year-old viewers its advertisers want. NBC failed to replace the departed “Friends” and “Frasier.”
Despite relenting to CBS on what was once its most dominant night, NBC said it is returning its Thursday schedule intact: including the troubled “Friends” spinoff “Joey.”
Stewart’s starring role in “The Apprentice” will give NBC two versions of the reality show running this fall. The home improvement guru’s show will air Wednesday night, with Donald Trump keeping his Thursday time slot.
Gospel singer Grant stars in “Three Wishes,” a reality show where she travels across the country trying to pay medical bills for those who are otherwise unable to do so.
NBC will air three new dramas: “E-Ring,” a Jerry Bruckheimer production with Dennis Hopper and Benjamin Bratt, about life in the Pentagon; “Fathom,” about a strange new form of sea life; and “Inconceivable,” a medical show set in a fertility clinic.
Two other shows, “Scrubs” and “Fear Factor,” are returning but have not yet received time slots for next season.
The full schedule can be found here.
Credit: Yahoo/AP
