With NBC presenting their midseason offerings to the press on Wednesday, now seemed a good time to roll out the last of our “Midseason Report Card” posts, this time focusing on the peacock network that brings us siblings, voices, and Chicago everything. As with the previous posts of this nature, opinions come from KSiteTV’s Craig Byrne and Shilo Adams.
If you’re curious, here are some previous midseason report card posts as well as what we thought going in to Fall 2016. And then, let’s get started!
Analyzing the 2016 Fall Schedule: NBC | Midseason Report Card: ABC | Midseason Report Card: The CW | Midseason Report Card: CBS | Midseason Report Card: FOX
BEST SCHEDULING MOVE
Shilo: Considering the buzz that This Is Us accumulated during the summer, it ended up in the exact spot that it should have. It was in the 9:00 hour, which makes sense given that its a family drama, and given a strong, compatible lead-in with The Voice; couple those with the fact that This Is Us was able to overwhelm what similar competition it had (e.g. ABC’s female-friendly family comedies, The CW romantic dramedy No Tomorrow) thanks to its twist-heavy narrative and NBC was able to find a show to control the entire night with. If that wasn’t enough, they’re in an exceptional position going into next season because ABC and CBS are non-factors at 10:00, so if NBC can find something that can draft off of This Is Us, they could become even more dominant going forward.
Craig: I might not have pegged “Tuesday at 9” as the ideal place for This Is Us, but it certainly worked, giving NBC a solid middle for their Tuesday nights. The first half of the week is very strong for NBC, and This Is Us gives the network a consistent three days to launch the week. I do hope they can continue this momentum at midseason when they no longer have football to rely on.
WORST SCHEDULING MOVE
Shilo: I don’t know if this is necessarily a bad move, but I would’ve liked for NBC to actively schedule Fridays this fall. I understand why they didn’t, as they had a lot of moves to promote and wanted to give all three new fall shows extra attention, but it kept their schedule from becoming truly great. Caught on Camera is late season filler at best, so if they wanted to go easy on Fridays while turning up the rest of the week, they could’ve at least put low-priority scripted (e.g. Grimm) or slightly stronger unscripted in that first hour before two-hour Datelines. But I guess, given how well their schedule broke for them, NBC made the right call by pooling their resources on other nights and punting on Fridays.
Craig: I don’t know what other options they may have had, but ultimately, moving Blindspot to Wednesdays at 8 may have doomed the show. However, as I said, I’m not entirely sure what other options are available, and being that it’s from an outside studio, I’m sure it’s not a priority. I also agree that Fridays seem to be an afterthought, which is a shame because Grimm at its height proved that there can be decent programming there ratings-wise. I do get amused looking at their Friday numbers now, knowing that they axed Constantine when it was doing better than a lot of what’s there in present day. I wish something like Timeless could work on Friday nights, but it’s probably too expensive to even be something they’d think about.
