Complete Coverage: Upfronts 2013
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New York - NBC's new late night lineup of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers will premiere on Monday, Feb. 24, 2014 during the network's coverage of the Winter Olympics.
NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt announced the debut date on Monday at the network's upfront presentation at Radio City Music Hall, making a point to thank current Tonight Show host Jay Leno for his role in building the strong franchise.
"The late night landscape has grown increasingly competitive and we wanted to make The Tonight Show transition when it's still No. 1," he said.
Fallon and Leno then appeared in a taped musical video clip (akin to their rendering of "Tonight" from West Side Story last month) this time changing the words to "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables with lines like "If Bob Greenblatt makes good decisions, we might beat Univision."
Other highlights from the presentation include:
- NBC's live broadcast of The Sound of Music starring Carrie Underwood will air Thursday, Dec. 5.
- The fifth cycle of The Voice will premiere on the first day of the fall season, Monday, Sept. 23, with its sixth cycle bowing right after the Winter Olympics.
The next season of Community, which remains unscheduled, will again be 13 episodes. Acknowledging its passionate fan base, Greenblatt said, "At least it's coming back. Community fans, have at me."
Greenblatt also said new drama The Blacklist, which stars James Spader as a former fugitive who surrenders to the FBI to help catch a terrorist, tested better than the last 125 dramas at NBC (though last year NBC execs were touting the high test scores of Crystal the monkey from Animal Practice, which was swiftly canceled).
