Just when you think NBC is done announcing shows for the 2011-2012 season, they go and add some more. The newest additions are Free Agents, a comedy based on Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, BFFs and Bent. This means that NBC has now ordered 11 new series in total.
The new show orders came just before NBC went and canceled two of its dramas, Law & Order: Los Angeles and The Event, along with a comedy, Outsourced.
I guess there was a lot of timeslot real estate available.
Deadline.com announced the new pickups Friday morning. Free Agents is an adaptation of a British comedy, which will star Hank Azaria (the guy who does all those Simpsons voices) and Kathryn Hahn. The technically untitled comedy based on Chelsea Handler’s book, Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, will star Laura Prepon playing the Chelsea-role. BFFs is apparently a seriously cheap production (Deadline.com quotes an agent as saying it was “made for nothing”) that will star Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair. The final comedy, Bent, stars Amanda Peet and David Walton. It will most likely not appear until midseason.
The new comedies join an already impressive roster of five new dramas and two more new comedies set to debut on NBC during the next season. On Wednesday, NBC announced two dramas and two comedies for its fall lineup: Prime Suspect (a British adaptation, starring Maria Bello), Smash (a Glee-like show with a Broadway theme), (based around comedian Whitney Cummings) and Up All Night (starring Christina Applegate).
A second announcement on Thursday added three more dramas to the list: The Playboy Club (about Playboy bunnies in the 1960s), Awake (a bizarre procedural) and Grimm (a police procedural where they investigate fairy tales).
The new additions seem to indicate that NBC’s fall schedule is pretty much full. The network will have at least four returning comedies (Community, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation and The Office), along with four dramas (Law and Order: SVU, Harry’s Law, Parenthood and the newly-renewed Chuck).
As for any remaining leftovers? They’re dead. Deadline.com reported the cancellations of Law & Order: L.A. and The Event. Outsourced is doomed too.
In addition to these cancellations, NBC passed on a host of pilots including Wonder Woman, 17th Precinct, Metro and A Mann’s World.
What do you think of NBC’s new shows? Which will you watch? Leave a comment below!
(Image courtesy of WENN)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
Laurel grew up in Mamaroneck, NY, Grosse Pointe, MI and Bellevue WA. She then went on to live in places like Boston, Tucson, Houston, Wales, Tanzania, Prince Edward Island and New York City before heading back to Seattle. Ever since early childhood, when she became addicted to The Muppet Show, Laurel has watched far too much TV. Current favorites include Chuck, Modern Family, Supernatural, Mad Men and Community. Laurel received a BA in Astrophysics (yes, that is possible) from Colgate University and a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies and History of Science from Columbia University before she realized that television is much better than studying.
