Chicago to receive its own night on NBC fall schedule

NBC gives Chicago its own night

 
“We flirted with doing this in the past, and didn’t for various reasons,” said Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, NBC Entertainment. “We looked at the landscape and thought, let’s try this together.”

After several years of sprinkling its Chicago dramas throughout its schedule, NBC will have the Dick Wolf-produced shows join forces on Wednesdays this fall, creating an all-Chicago lineup.

Law & Order: SVU, will move to a new day and later time slot. After moving the Chicago series to Wednesday nights Greenblatt added, “we loved the idea of Law & Order back at 10 o’clock,” which could give a boost the local news ratings of NBC affiliates, Greenblatt said.

For the first time in three years, NBC won’t be airing any Thursday Night Football games this fall. The network was outbid by Fox, which landed the package for the next five years.

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Despite the focus on the new fall shows, the network’s winter, spring and summer seasons “are as important to us as anything,” said Greenblatt. “I’m really thrilled by what we’ve put together” for midseason, particularly the lineup of unscripted shows that will air early next year.

Also coming midseason will be Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which “we jumped on really quickly” after Fox canceled it, said Greenblatt. “We think it fits into our brand of comedy in many ways better than it ever fit into the Fox brand of comedy.”

Greenblatt said he’s not just looking at the Brooklyn pickup as a chance to give the series, which is produced in-house by Universal Television and ran for five seasons on Fox, a proper send-off. “We’d love to see it continue” beyond this season if ratings are strong, he said. “We want to see what our audience will do with it.”

The network announced next season’s schedule a day before Monday’s NBCUniversal combined upfront. With Empire, on Fox, also airing on Wednesdays, Chicago really has much to choose from.

NBC FALL 2018-19 SCHEDULE
(NEW PROGRAMS IN ALL CAPS)

MONDAY
   8-10 p.m. — The Voice
   10-11 p.m. — MANIFEST

TUESDAY
   8-9 p.m. — The Voice
   9-10 p.m. — This Is Us
   10-11 p.m. — NEW AMSTERDAM

WEDNESDAY
   8-9 p.m. — Chicago Med (new time slot)
   9-10 p.m. — Chicago Fire (new time slot)
   10-11 p.m. — Chicago P.D.

THURSDAY
   8-8:30 p.m. — Superstore
   8:30-9 p.m. — The Good Place
   9-9:30 p.m. — Will & Grace
   9:30-10 p.m. — I FEEL BAD
   10-11 p.m. — Law & Order: SVU (new time slot)

FRIDAY
   8-9 p.m. — Blindspot
   9-10 p.m. — Midnight, Texas (new time slot)
   10-11 p.m. — Dateline

SATURDAY
   8-10 p.m. — Dateline Saturday Night Mystery
   10-11 p.m. — Saturday Night Live (classic encores)

SUNDAY
   7-8:20 p.m. — Football Night in America
   8:20-11 p.m. — Sunday Night Football

 
Contact Colin Costello at colin@reelchicago.com or follow him on Twitter @colincostello10.