NBC Preps for The Office Without Steve Carell and a Possible Heroes Movie & more
5/17/2010 12:27:00 PM
kenmouse
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Can you picture The Office without Steve Carell? Yeah, we can't either, but NBC's top brass just filled us in about their plans in light of his recent admission he's ready to walk. And gave you Heroes fans a teensy bit of hope too...For the record, the Peacock net peeps seem just as willing to let Steve Carell abandon Dunder Mifflin as we fans are. "We hope we can keep him around for a long time," NBC's primetime entertainment president Angela Bromstad told reporters today. However, Steve's contract is up at the end of the 2010-11 season, and he told BBC Radio "I think that will probably be my last year."
NBC Uni TV Entertainment chairman Jeff Gaspin added: "The Office is a great ensemble show, and the producers are preparing in the event he chooses to move on." So who would fill his shoes? Any ideas?
Meanwhile, NBC has decided to pull Heroes off the air as a series, but Bromstad says she'll talk soon with executive producer and creator Tim Kring about doing some kind of TV event to wrap up storylines. No dates yet. No details. Just that it could be a two-hour movie in 2011. It sounds as though nothing has been discussed yet with Kring himself so…we'll see.
"We have satisfied the viewers' desire for the show," Bromstad says, hinting at the plummeting ratings in the past two seasons.
They also explained (sorta) the decision to pull Parks and Recreation from the fall lineup.
NBC Adds 5 Comedies, 7 Dramas to Refresh Last-Place Schedule
NBC, the U.S. broadcast network with the smallest prime-time audience, added five new comedies and seven dramas to rebuild its schedule following the failed experiment with Jay Leno’s talk show at 10 p.m.
The lineup will include shows from J.J. Abrams, Jerry Bruckheimer and David E. Kelley, NBC said yesterday in a statement. “Law & Order: Los Angeles,” from producer Dick Wolf, was picked up as “Law & Order” was canceled, and the comedies “Outsourced” and “Love Bites” were added.
NBC has made an about-face, returning to scripted programs after handing one-third of its prime-time schedule to comedian Leno. He returned to late-night in March. The network, part of General Electric Co.’s entertainment division, also canceled the science fiction drama “Heroes” as it tries to rise from last place among viewers ages 18 to 49, the group advertisers covet.
“It’s a 180-degrees different direction than last year,” Brad Adgate, research director at New York advertising agency Horizon Media, said in an interview. “They have some big names in terms of producers.”
CBS Corp., Walt Disney Co.’s ABC and News Corp.’s Fox will also present their schedules this week as network executives meet with their biggest advertisers ahead of the TV season that starts in September.
Ad sales during the so-called upfronts may jump 20 percent to $8.26 billion this year from 2009, when companies cut marketing budgets during the recession, according to Anthony DiClemente, an analyst at Barclays Capital in New York.
‘Building on Progress’
NBC’s average primetime audience this TV season shrunk 12 percent to 5.57 million. Among viewers 18 to 49, it is off 8.2 percent to 2.47 million, according to data from Nielsen Co.
The midseason replacement “Parenthood,” which started after the Winter Olympics, has helped to limit the audience losses.
“We’re unveiling a schedule that builds on the progress we’ve made since the Olympics,” Jeff Gaspin, chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment, said on a conference call.
Monday and Wednesday nights will be all-drama, and Thursday, anchored by “The Office” and “30 Rock,” will have five comedies.
“Chase,” from “Pirates of the Caribbean” producer Bruckheimer, features Kelli Giddish as a U.S. marshal tracking down fugitives and will run on Mondays at 10 p.m. “Undercovers,” from “Lost” creator Abrams, joins the new “Law & Order: Los Angeles” and returning “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” on Wednesdays, starting at 8 p.m. “Harry’s Law,” from “Boston Legal” creator Kelley, stars Kathy Bates as a lawyer who starts a practice in a run-down shoe store. It will begin later in the season.
‘Proven Hitmakers’
“We wanted shows from proven hitmakers to be part of the portfolio and final lineup,” Gaspin said in an interview. He said he will pitch the network to ad buyers this week by saying, “We think we have a lot of potential and we want you to be part of our schedule.”
The network decided in January to shut down Leno’s one-hour talk show after affiliates complained low ratings were harming their local newscasts. He returned to his old “Tonight Show” spot, replacing Conan O’Brien, who will go to Time Warner Inc.’s TBS on cable.
NBC produced 20 pilots for the coming season, double last year’s number and the most since 2003.
Other new dramas include police series “The Cape,” the legal show “Outlaw,” and “The Event,” a thriller involving the biggest cover-up in U.S. history.
Comedies
New comedies include “Outsourced,” about an American running a call center in India, and “Love Bites,” a one-hour comedy following three loosely connected stories about love, marriage and dating. “Friends with Benefits,” from Brian Grazer’s Imagine Television studio, follows a group of dating 20-year-olds.
Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable operator, plans to take control of New York-based NBC Universal through a venture with Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE, whose ownership will drop below 50 percent from the current 80 percent.
GE lost 41 cents to $17.64 on May 14 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Comcast, based in Philadelphia, fell 16 cents to $17.60 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
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