TV News: NBC to Wait Another Week for Chuck Fate
The powers that be at NBC are going to wait another week to give us any news on what shows are officially getting the axe. NBC already announced a portion of its primetime plans today but has left several unanswered questions until later this month. NBC officially picked up new dramas Trauma, Parenthood, Mercy and Day One (a limited run event) and new comedies Community and 100 Questions.
Beyond those 6 new shows, NBC also gave a go-ahead to returning shows Southland, Heroes (shortened 4th Season), Parks and Recreation and another round of Thursday night Saturday Night Live Weekend Update episodes.
But missing from the pickup list so far is Chuck, Law & Order, Medium and My Name Is Earl. Perhaps the biggest show in question is that of the critically acclaimed dramedy from Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak known as Chuck.
The story of the lovable geek turned spy had an up and down season regarding ratings and speculation is NBC may abandon the show because of unsure scheduling, budget and lack of advertisers (except a Subway contract). One of the more popular shows on NBC it has struggled to find its way on Monday nights due to major heavyweight competition for its target market in the its time slot with shows like House and Gossip Girl (another Schwartz created show) as well as a CBS tag team of How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory.
“Insiders said that pickup and renewal conversations at NBC and other nets this year have revolved entirely around budgets and license fees and how much can be trimmed from both sides. The belt-tightening caused by the expectation that upfront ad coin will be down sharply this year has made the grueling process of negotiating series agreements that much more difficult, execs and talent reps bemoaned during the weekend.”
The fate of Chuck was said to be part of a larger conversation between Warners and NBC revolving around picking up Southland for another season as well as a new pilot from veteran TV creator David E. Kelly called Legally Mad. I am not quite sure how to read that but it seems like they want to work it out but it will be tough as the rest of the article from Variety speculates theme night programming with Mondays being a Male oriented action night knowing that Heroes will stay in their same time spot, Tuesday is Reality Night with winners like the Biggest Loser staying where its at, Wednesday being the crime procedural day with Law and Order: SVU partnered with Southland and lastly Thursday being the same 2 hour Comedy Block with shows like Parks and Recreation, The Office and 30 Rock staying where they are at.
It looks like Chuck would stay on Monday nights as it would seem to fit in the action/male oriented theme of the day but that’s where it has been the last 2 seasons and ratings haven’t been able to compete with other network programming. Therefore outlook right now isn’t optimistic.
Thus it looks like the fate of Chuck is still on the fence, critically acclaimed, cult following seems to be in favor but it just may be an issue of scheduling and budget which is what NBC is trying to figure out. I say if fall doesn’t work with the advertisers on any schedule front then put it on as a summer or mid-season series give it 13 episodes for season and call it a day.
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