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Writers strike? What writers strike?
On Friday, NBC unveiled its fall lineup, including several new series, Tuesday night comedies and lots of football. And the broadcaster is adamant that its fall shows will launch on schedule, despite the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike.
“We have a lot of unscripted because we do have The Voice, and we have Saturday night football and Sunday Night Football, so that is a nice security blanket to have. But the truth is the business has changed so much in the last few years, and we are really on a year-round development cycle and production cycle,” Jeff Bader, president, entertainment program planning strategy, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, told Adweek. “So we’re in the fortunate position that many of the shows that we’ve announced for the fall, we will have them even if there’s a prolonged strike.”
According to Bader, new episodes of Night Court, Quantum Leap, The Wall and new shows The Irrational and Extended Family would all be available “even if the strike goes on for an extended period.”
Dick Wolf’s shows, such as the Chicago lineup of shows and the Law & Order franchise, “at some point” could get pushed to the second half of the season. However, the broadcaster has a contingency plan.
“We also have ready to go for the fall if we need it, La Brea, Magnum P.I., Transplant, Weakest Link—so those are also available for the fall if the strike does go to the point where we need to start replacing shows,” Bader said. “We’re in very good shape.”
NBCUniversal will tout NBC’s new lineup during its upfront presentation Monday morning at Radio City Music Hall. The event will no longer feature Linda Yaccarino on stage, as the longtime ad sales chief departed the company Friday morning to take over for Elon Musk as Twitter’s new CEO.
Regarding the schedule, Bader noted that the “core schedule” was so strong that many series are coming back in their time periods.
The Voice kicks off its 24th cycle in the fall on Mondays at 8 p.m., with new drama The Irrational, starring Jesse L. Martin, coming in at 10 p.m.
