This column was supposed to go up on Thursday, and then NBC started announcing things. And then more things, and then even more things. As such, this schedule is based on what was already known by very early Friday morning… meaning, it’s not as blind of an entrance as our earlier predictions were. (You can find those here: FOX – ABC – CW). How right will we be? Will the schedule be good enough that we’ll all be saying “Let’s All Be There” again? We’ll find out Monday when NBC announces their actual schedule.
Enjoy. Please note that we didn’t schedule Sundays, as Football usually takes over that time in the Fall; and because of the Winter Olympics, we have no real predictions for midseason.
MONDAY
SHILO: There’s been talk of moving The Voice to a different airing schedule (Wednesday/Thursday vs. its current Monday/Tuesday) for next season. However, I don’t know if NBC is necessarily in the position to attack right now. The Voice might be able to finish The X Factor off after three mediocrely rated seasons and further suppress a weakening Idol, but they’d be giving up prime real estate that they’ve been controlling every since the reality-competition’s debut season. The show could be damaged by a move to a busier television night and there’s no guarantees that whatever they replace it with on Mondays and Tuesdays will sustain itself, so for now, until NBC can get another couple of scripted pieces for its schedule, I say leave The Voice at 8:00.
At 10, I’d put on Crisis. NBC made quite an impact this past fall with the launch of Revolution and they need to go about the same strategy – an action-heavy, splash-y drama that can get attention in the increasingly crowded television landscape. Revolution has weakened too much for it to be allowed to stay behind the higher rated Voice broadcast, so I would slot in Rand Ravich’s Crisis, which centers around a Washington tragedy and the aftermath that will have to be dealt with. It sounds big and loud enough to cut through the fall clutter and could better utilize the lead-in, as well as similar enough to Revolution that the sci-fi drama’s fans could conceivably stick around on Mondays. Plus, it’s different enough from Castle and the drama that CBS will go with that it will undoubtedly have its own audience rather than having to fight for the same type of viewer.
CRAIG: While I agree with The Voice for 8:00, I have different ideas for what to do with 10:00. Instead, I would put the remake of Ironside with Blair Underwood after The Voice. I think it’d appeal to people of various backgrounds, demographics, and ethnicities, much like I think The Voice does successfully. I doubt anyone is particularly nostalgic, saying “we need Ironside back,” but if the stories are there, with the right amount of emotion and interest, both things that I know Underwood is capable of, I think it could be a winner there.
TUESDAY
SHILO: As mentioned above, the network isn’t in the position to move The Voice yet, so the results show should stay at 8:00. The only exception I would make is moving it to 9:00 and hoping there’s a halo effect on its 8:00 and 10:00 hours. If they do that, new shows in each hour could benefit in ways that Go On and The New Normal didn’t this past season.
At 9, I’d put on The Blacklist. Reportedly, this James Spader-starring drama is one of the highest testing in NBC history with the character the highest testing of any from a Sony TV production. In taking a page from CBS and the way they launched Person of Interest, another highly testing property, The Blacklist, could be placed behind one of the network’s highest rated hours and lead-out by a solid, consistent performer. It’d get a showcase at a time where there’s no insurmountable player on another network and it’d be the latest genre for The Voice results show to try and launch, which could help it. This season, the show has led into comedy, reality, and supernatural shows, so perhaps NBC takes a page from their Monday lineup and goes for something a little more action-y, different from the other networks, and big enough in concept to snare casual viewers.
Revolution’s slump gets it booted from its Monday perch, but it didn’t do badly enough to where a move away from The Voice is necessary. Instead, it gets pushed to Tuesdays, where it can act as a lead-out for The Blacklist and go up against Sons of Anarchy. It still gets a little bit of help from The Voice and is paired with a show in The Blacklist that it could potentially feed off of, considering how well the pilot tested, while seizing a weak network hour for its own. There’s a possibility that it collapses regardless, The Voice’s huge demo being the only thing holding it up, but NBC needs to make a move that rejuvenates their Mondays and gives The Blacklist something semi-established to pair with.
CRAIG: At the time this is being (re-)written, at least, I’m going to throw Crisis in at 9 after The Voice. It might be very action packed (I hope), and I’m hoping Gillian Anderson is in it a lot. If Blacklist is picked up… I’ll have to think about changing my plans.
I’m always for keeping consistency whenever possible in a TV schedule, and I feel that the people who watch Parenthood are largely used to watching it on Tuesdays at 10PM, so I’d keep it there. It may be a little less compatible, but at the end of the day, is Parenthood really expecting to gain that many viewers from a lead-in, anyway? The people who enjoy it, already do and watch it, and recommend it to their friends to see. And, thankfully for NBC, there seem to be plenty of people watching, especially when compared to the rest of the network.
