THE FATE OF TV: NBC

NBC may not be in its Friends and/or Seinfeld glory days... but it is getting better...

First of all let’s start by remembering that a couple of years ago NBC was completely broken. Its staple comedy block was under-performing and they didn't have any real hits. Now, with much better programming and getting more attention, the network is on its way up.

I am glad they had the good sense to cancel Do No Harm and Animal Practice pretty quickly too. Let’s see what is going on with the remaining shows.

	Comedies	Dramas
Chopping block	The New Normal (Cancelled) 1600 Penn (Cancelled) Guys with Kids (Cancelled)	Smash (Cancelled) Deception (Cancelled)
Bubble	Go On (Cancelled) Whitney (Cancelled) Community (Renewed)	Hannibal
Reasonably Safe	Parks & Recreation (Renewed)	Grimm (Renewed) Parenthood (Renewed) L&O: SVU(Renewed) Chicago Fire(Renewed) Revolution (Renewed)
?	Up all night (Cancelled)

What my logic says

Purely based on logic, NBC’s future programming decisions are pretty straight forward.

Comedies: My logic tells me that all three in the chopping block will go and probably one of the comedies in the bubble. Which one? Hard to say, their ratings are equally bad.  Oh, and what is going on with Up All Night? I see everywhere that it is ‘certain to be cancelled’ but not officially cancelled.  I guess we are mostly sure it is not coming back, right?

Dramas: Smash and Deception are gone.

What my gut says

Between Go On, Whitney and Community I think they will cancel Whitney. NBC may want to keep the Mathew Perry comedy around and Community is sort of a cult-hit. NBC probably wants to have one quirky show on the schedule. For some reason my gut also tells me they may save one of the shows in the chopping block, and I think it could be The New Normal, but that gut feeling highly contradicts my logic. As for the dramas, my gut agrees with my logic. I was slightly inclined to believe they may save Deception but given that it is one of only two under-performing dramas I highly doubt it.

What I hope would happen in an ideal world where I program all 4 networks

For the comedies, my only wish is that they don’t cancel Community. It is certainly one of the most original shows on the air right now and of much better quality than any of the other NBC comedies. Even in the post-Harmon days, I am enjoying the show. For the dramas, I would sooner cancel Law & Order than Deception, but of course that is not going to happen. In fact, now that I think about it, Deception is probably my second favorite drama of the NBC line-up (following Revolution). I am also a little sad about Smash. It was supposed to be the huge break-out hit of NBC and I thought the pilot had so much potential. I really wanted to like it and keep liking it and although I don’t think it is terrible I find myself constantly forgetting about its existence… However, I still like Smash much more than Law & Order! 

You May also want to read about the fate of the other networks

ABC, CBS, FOX, THE CW

Update March 14th, 2013
Smash has been moved to Saturdays... so yeah, it is pretty much gone already.... sad :(

Update April 5th, 2013
Not many changes to the predictions, Smash has not been officially cancelled, but it is pretty clear it is not coming back. It is looking more likely that the 3 comedies in the chopping block will be gone and the buzz is that Up all Night will be gone as well, which makes sense. I think Community is in good shape, which is good and I can focus my 'saving shows' efforts elsewhere.

Update April 20th, 2013
I previously stated that I though there was some hope for Deception and The New Normal. I no longer think that, both will get cancelled, so will Whitney. Hannibal is predicted to get renewed (although I think it is a little to soon to predict that) which makes me happy! I just saw the pilot and I loved it, and Bryan Fuller has a really bad track record with his shows (Pushing Daisies, Mockingbird Lane), so I am very glad he finally gets a show on the air for longer than a year. I think Go On will get renewed, so no need to freak out about those two. As for Smash... I really don't know how else to break it to people, but that show is not coming back! Stars are moving on, the show has been dumped to Saturdays... I mean, it couldn't be clearer than that, the time for fan campaigns is already gone. I am truly sad for the loss of this show, but I don't think there is hope for it.

Update April 27th, 2013
Yesterday, NBC was the first network to break news of early renewals. The net announced pick ups for 5 dramas: Revolution, Grimm, L&O: SVU, Chicago Fire and Parenthood. So basically all the shows I was expecting to return. My guess is that NBC might make a similar announcement for the comedies some time before upfronts, and my money is on Community, Go On and obviously Parks & Rec. I don't think there is hope left for Deception and if for whatever reason they decide to renew Smash, that would be the biggest shock of my TV career. About Hannibal... In my previous update I said the 'likely renewal' prediction was premature, and apparently I was right since most sites have downgraded it to the bubble due to ratings drop. I am a little scared about this one, mainly because of Bryan Fuller's track record of creating awesome shows that get cancelled. I think NBC might give this show a chance, provided that ratings stabilize

Update May 7th, 2013 FINAL PREDICTION
We are less than a week away from upfronts and most of the programming decisions have been made already. I changed my mind a few times, but here it goes... my very last predictions before official announcements:

DECEPTION--> Cancelled (Cancelled May 8th)
HANNIBAL--> Renewed (really on the fence about this one)
THE NEW NORMAL--> Cancelled (Cancelled May 10th)
1600 PENN--> Absolutely Cancelled (Cancelled May 9th)
GUYS WITH KIDS--> Cancelled (Cancelled May 9th)
GO ON--> Renewed (Cancelled May 10th)
WHITNEY--> Cancelled (Cancelled May 9th)
COMMUNITY--> Renewed (Renewed May 10th)
PARKS AND RECREATION --> Renewed (Renewed May 9th)
UP ALL NIGHT--> Cancelled (Cancelled May 9th)
SMASH--> Cancelled (Officially Cancelled May 10th)

I'll be back after upfronts to reflect on how well I did with my predictions this year.
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