NBC Fall Schedule Punctuated By 'Night Court'-Led Tuesday Night Comedy Block, 'La Brea' Pushed to Mid-Season and Big Ten Football on Saturday Nights
Network offsets strike volatility with game show 'The Wall' and 'Dateline' anchoring Fridays and live football on back-to-back weekend nights
NBC seems to have managed just fine while figuring out its fall schedule amid an industry-crippling writers strike, with its "continuous production model" enabling it to build a Tuesday night comedy block around Night Court, and the network's $350 million multi-year deal with the Big Ten allowing it to put together powerhouse back-and-back nights of live weekend primetime football.
NBC will now move its broadcasts of Notre Dame football games to prime-time on Saturdays, while interspersing games from the Big Ten Conference in that prime-time slot, as well.
Unlike Amazon's "Thursday Night Football," NBC's perennially dominant NFL "Sunday Night Football" schedule is packed with teams that actually made the playoffs last year.
Meanwhile, NBC has a strike-proof Friday night set up, as well, with game show The Wall leading into Dateline.
NBC also has reality competition show The Voice anchoring Monday and Tuesday night.
With the strike, some shows had to be pushed off to midseason, including La Brea, as well as Law & Order: Organized Crime.
But the rest of Dick Wolf's procedural empire is moving forward this fall to program most of Wednesday and Thursday. And the network is able to launch some new shows, too.
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On Monday nights at 10 p.m. after The Voice, The Irrational will star Jesse L. Martin as a world-renowned professor of behavioral science and consultant to law enforcement, who meets his match with a brilliant and unpredictable criminal adversary.
On Tuesdays, the rebooted Night Court, a hit mid-season replacement this just wrapped season, will be paired with new multi-generational, single-camera comedy Extended Family.
And on Thursday nights at 10 p.m. after Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU, Shanola Hampton will star as a divorced, unemployed mom looking to start over again as a North Carolina police chief in Found.
NBC FALL 2023-24 SCHEDULE
(New programs in UPPER CASE; all times ET/PT)
MONDAY
8-10 P.M. — The Voice
10-11 P.M. — THE IRRATIONAL
TUESDAY
8-8:30 P.M. — Night Court
8:30-9 P.M. — EXTENDED FAMILY
9-10 P.M. — The Voice
10-11 P.M. — Quantum Leap
WEDNESDAY
8-9 P.M. — Chicago Med
9-10 P.M. — Chicago Fire
10-11 P.M. — Chicago P.D.
THURSDAY
8-9 P.M. — Law & Order
9-10 P.M. — Law & Order: SVU
10-11 P.M. — FOUND
FRIDAY
8-9 P.M. – The Wall
9-11 P.M — Dateline NBC
SATURDAY
7-7:30 P.M. — BIG TEN PREGAME / Notre Dame Pregame (also live on Peacock)
7:30-11 P.M. — BIG TEN SATURDAY NIGHT / Notre Dame Football (also live on Peacock)
SUNDAY
7-8:20 P.M. — Football Night in America (also live on Peacock)
8:20-11 P.M. — NBC Sunday Night Football (also live on Peacock)
Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!