Nbc’s New Lineup Includes Shields Sitcom
A Brooke Shields sitcom gets the solid gold time slot between “Seinfeld” and “ER,” and Saturday nights will house three new offbeat drama series on a fall lineup announced Monday by NBC.
The No. 1 network also is importing “The Jeff Foxworthy Show” from ABC, switching “Mad About You” from Sundays to Tuesdays, subtracting a “Dateline” and, in a surprise move, leaving “The Single Guy” nestled on Thursdays between “Friends”/”Seinfeld.”
This season’s other Thursday night beneficiaries, “Caroline in the City” and “Boston Common,” will be fending for themselves on new nights next season. All told, seven of NBC’s 11 returning sitcoms are relocating.
NBC is adding seven new series to its already potent prime-time lineup. The only marginally surprising cancellation is Wednesday’s edition of Dateline, which is giving way to a new “must see TV” collection of four sitcoms and the returning “Law & Order.” Other casualties include “JAG,” “The Fresh Prince of BelAir,” “In the House,” “Hope & Gloria” and “Sisters.”
Foxworthy’s show, which ranked 99th in the Nielsens, is replacing the 59th-place “Fresh Prince,” which was anchored on Mondays at 8 p.m. for its entire six-season run. It’s a striking transition from the hip-hop riffs of Will Smith to Foxworthy’s redneck, “common man” brand of humor. The cancellations of “Fresh Prince” and “In the House” leave NBC without any comedies or dramas starring predominantly African-American casts.
Here are the new NBC series:
“Suddenly Susan” (comedy) - Shields, who guested on “Friends” this season, plays a publishing house editor who resumes dating after splitting with a live-in boyfriend. Philip Casnoff (“Sinatra”) plays her “vain” boss, while veteran actresses Nancy Marchand (“Lou Grant”) and Elizabeth Ashley (“Evening Shade”) respectively pitch in as Susan’s grandma and an eccentric romance novelist.
“Rhodes” (comedy) - Comedian Tom Rhodes (“Viva Vietnam”) plays an unsuccessful novelist who segues from New York City to an English teaching job at a small-town academy. Co-stars include “Dweebs” survivors Farrah Forke and Stephen Tobolowsky.
“Men Behaving Badly” (comedy) - Former “Saturday Night Live” regular Rob Schneider and Ron Eldard from “ER” are “quintessential young bachelors” in a series adapted from the supposedly politically incorrect British series of the same name.
“Something So Right” (comedy) - Mel Harris (“thirtysomething”) and Jere Burns (“Dear John”) play Manhattan newlyweds with three kids from previous marriages. Harris’ character is enterprisingly described as an “energetic functioning dysfunctional.”
“Dark Skies” (drama) - A serialized thriller “challenges viewers to consider how the seminal historical American events of the last two generations can be connected to an ongoing extraterrestrial invasion.” In other words, Tony Orlando & Dawn at last make sense. Eric Close (“Sisters”) and Megan Ward (“Party of Five”) are the magical mystery tour guides.
“The Pretender” (drama) - Michael T. Weiss forsakes “Days of Our Lives” to play a “super genius” who becomes a one-man vigilante force while being stalked by vengeance-minded agents of a secret research organization.
“Profiler” (drama) - Samantha “Sam” Waters (Ally Walker from “Moon Over Miami”) is a “profiler” who scrutinizes crime scenes until she comes up with a likely suspect. Her benefactor is an FBI agent played by Robert Davi of the “Die Hard” movies.
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Day-by-day prime-time lineup Here is the complete NBC prime-time lineup for next season: Monday “The Jeff Foxworthy Show” “Mr. Rhodes” “The NBC Monday Night Movie” Tuesday “Mad About You” “Something So Right” “Frasier” “Caroline in the City” “Dateline NBC” Wednesday “Wings” “The John Larroquette Show” “News Radio” “Men Behaving Badly” “Law and Order” Thursday “Friends” “The Single Guy” “Seinfeld” “Suddenly Susan” “E.R.” Friday “Unsolved Mysteries” “Dateline NBC” “Homicide: Life on the Street” Saturday “Dark Skies” “The Pretender” “Profiler” Sunday “Dateline NBC” “Third Rock From the Sun” “Boston Common” “The NBC Sunday Night Movie” New York Times