Is NBC getting out of the sitcom business? The network was once the go-to for comedy series. All-time classics include “Father Knows Best”, “Family Ties”, “The Facts of Life”, “Diff’rent Strokes”, “ALF”, “Get Smart”, “I Dream of Jeannie”, “The Monkees” and “Sanford and Son”.
And just look at what NBC aired in the ‘90s: “Seinfeld”, “Frasier”, “Friends”, “Will & Grace”, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, “3rd Rock from the Sun”, “Mad About You”, “Just Shoot Me”, “Wings”, “NewsRadio”, “Suddenly Susan” and the last few years of “Cheers”, “The Golden Girls”, “The Cosby Show” and “Night Court”.
The 2000s and early to mid 2010s saw hits like “Scrubs”, “30 Rock”, “The Office”, “My Name is Earl”, “Parks and Recreation” and “Community”.
But now one of their most recent start-ups, “Superstore”, is already coming to an end this spring after six seasons. NBC also ended four-season “The Good Place” earlier this year, as well as the three-year revival of “Will & Grace”. The network did save “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” after FOX cancelled it a couple years ago and will air Season 8 sometime in 2021.
But once “Superstore” is over, “BNN” will be one of only two comedies that will be on the network. The other is brand new “Mr. Mayor” starring Ted Danson (a familiar face to NBC), which debuts in January.
NBC does have a couple other comedy series on the way. One is “Young Rock”, based on Dwayne Johnson’s life. The other is the long in development “The Kenan Show”, starring “SNL” vet Kenan Thompson. I’m still not fully convinced that series will actually happen considering it’s been delayed several times.
These comedies do have big names in front of and behind the camera, but the gravitas of the old days just doesn’t seem to be there. A few Pilots (including a TV show version of Kevin Hart’s movie “Night School”) are being made. But my gut’s telling me NBC’s top priority ISN’T comedy right now. Instead, the focus seems to be drama (like the “Chicago” trilogy), unscripted and game shows (“The Voice”, “Weakest Link”, “Making It”, “College Bowl”, “Small Fortune”, “That’s My Jam”) and news (“Today”, “Dateline”, “Nightly News”).
NBC has premiered a bunch of sitcoms over the past decade that didn’t last long, including “1600 Penn”, “Abby’s”, “A to Z”, “Bad Judge”, “The Carmichael Show”, “Great News”, “Animal Practice”, “Crowded”, “Go On”, “I Feel Bad”, “Sean Saves the World”, “Up All Night”, “The Michael J. Fox Show”, “Indebted”, “Marlon”, “Marry Me”, “The New Normal”, “Outsourced”, “Perfect Harmony”, “Sunnyside”, “Trial & Error”, “Undateable” and “Whitney”. Is it a case of “Why bother taking the risk when there’s a great chance it may not work out?”
Each network has its own comedy block or two. But the feathers on NBC’s comedy peacock aren’t as bright as they used to be.