NBC’s schedule for the 2017-18 season will attempt to re-create the mystique of its vaunted “Must See TV” Thursday night lineups.
In the schedule announced Sunday, the network is moving its breakout hit drama “This Is Us” to 9 p.m. Thursday and will use the Must See TV tagline to promote its new night, which will also have a revival of a past Must See favorite, “Will & Grace,” returning for 12 episodes with its original cast. It will air at 8 p.m.
Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt believes “This Is Us,” a series that received critical kudos as well as strong ratings, gives NBC permission to dust off the Must See label.
“We think ‘This Is Us’ is a show that’s peerless at the moment in broadcast television, and we decided to move it to Thursday night and not just throw it there and hope for the best but strategically surround it with shows that are very strong, and our hope is to create the return of Must See TV,” he said in a telephone news conference.
The move is a sign of how, as the TV marketplace becomes more crowded, any kind of brand name or marketing theme that resonates with the audience is embraced. The Must See TV promotional tag was first used in the 1990s, when NBC had such powerhouse hits as “Friends,” “Seinfeld,” “ER” and the original “Will & Grace” on a night that it long dominated in the ratings.
Thursday is also coveted for advertisers who want to reach moviegoers and shoppers before the weekend.
“This Is Us” will also get a special airing in the post-Super Bowl time slot after NBC’s broadcast of the game on Feb. 4.
“Will & Grace” will be paired with a returning comedy, “Great News,” for which Tina Fey is executive producer and may be an occasional guest star.
The lineup will be capped at 10 p.m. by a new true-crime iteration of the “Law & Order” franchise from Dick Wolf that will dramatize the Menendez brothers murder case. Edie Falco has been cast.
The Thursday-night lineup will be off for six weeks in the fall as NBC airs its share of the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” package.
On Monday, “The Voice” returns to lead off the night at 8, followed by “The Brave,” a new drama about a military special ops squad that stars Anne Heche.
The Tuesday edition of “The Voice” will lead into the returning comedies “Superstore” and “The Good Place,” with “Chicago Fire” returning to 10 p.m.
“The Blacklist” will be back at a new time — Wed-nesday at 8 p.m. — followed by “Law & Order: SVU” at 9 and “Chicago P.D.” at 10.
The drama “Blindspot” moves to Friday at 8 p.m. followed by a second season of “Taken” at 9 and “Dateline NBC” at 10.
“Dateline Saturday Night Mystery” and encore episodes of “Saturday Night Live” will return. “NBC Sunday Night Football” runs through December.
“Chicago Med,” “Little Big Shots,” “Shades of Blue,” “Timeless” and “The Wall” have also been renewed. No decision has been made on “Chicago Justice” and “Trial and Error.”
In a similar strategy to last season, NBC will roll out series throughout the year. Other new series include:
“A.P. Bio,” a comedy about a philosophy scholar who goes to work as an AP biology teacher. Glenn Howerton and Patton Oswalt are in the cast.
“Champions,” a comedy about a charismatic gym owner whose hedonistic life is interrupted by the arrival of a teenage son from an old fling. Anders Holm and Andy Favreau star.
“Good Girls” is a dark comedy about three suburban moms that NBC describes as a mix of “Thelma & Louise” and “Breaking Bad.” Retta, Mae Whitman and Reno Wilson star.
“Reverie” stars Sarah Shahi as a former hostage negotiator turned professor enlisted to save people who become lost in an advanced virtual reality program.
In “Rise,” Josh Radnor plays a teacher who takes over his school’s theater department.
NBC has also ordered game shows produced by Ellen DeGeneres and Neil Patrick Harris and a do-it-yourself reality competition series, “The Handmade Project,” co-hosted by Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman.
