Bob Greenblatt, NBC
If this year was the warm up, next season will be the true test of NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt's command at the troubled network. Greenblatt and his key lieutenant, NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Nicholson Salke, have ordered a whopping seven new comedies and five dramas.
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Joy Bryant and Dax Shepherd, Parenthood
It was the best of times and it was the worst of times on last week's Parenthood. Jasmine (Joy Bryant) professed her love for Crosby (Dax Shepard), just as his sister, Julia, (Erika Christensen) learned the heart-breaking news that she was not going to be a mother again.
And don't push those tissue boxes away just yet. "I'm really proud of the finale. It was one of those episodes where so many things come together and it's got good humor, it's emotional," showrunner Jason Katims tells TVGuide.com. "It's a nice mix of seeing some things come to a really satisfying ending and on the other hand, opening up...
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Smash, Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty
Thanks to NBC's relentless marketing and PR campaign, much is already known about Smash, a big-risk series about the making of a Marilyn Monroe musical. At the center of the sudsy backstage drama is American Idol's Katharine McPhee, who stars as an ingénue pitted against a more seasoned Broadway chorus girl to play the iconic blonde.
If the premise sounds hopelessly niche for a broadcast network in desperate need of a hit (thespians! show tunes! jazz hands!), both NBC and critics high on the series have been working hard to change your mind. Advanced word on Smash is that it's the anti-Glee (especially if you've tired of that show's pop song-happy chorus of high schoolers), The West Wing but on Broadway (should you miss Aaron Sorkin's defining sense of a workplace), and a game-changer for NBC (if you went bananas for the first episode, which NBC screened in theaters and made available on-demand and online weeks before Monday's official premiere).
Watch Smash right now — then tell us what you think!
Is it all just hyperbole?
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Robert Greenblatt
It's showtime for NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt.
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Smash
As NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt put it, NBC is giving Smash the full-court press.
The network announced Friday that the full first episode will be available as a digital download beginning Jan. 16
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NBC logo
After a "really bad fall," NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt is hopeful about midseason, he said at the Television Critics Association winter previews.
Get more scoop on your favorite shows in our Winter TV preview
On the fourth-place network's deck: Season 2 of ...
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Mariska Hargitay, Joel McHale
First, the good news: Mariska Hargitay will be back for another season of Law & Order: SVU, and Community will "definitely" return to the lineup this spring.
Hargitay delivered the news Friday — via a pre-taped clip with just-announced SVU guest star Harry Connick Jr. — to reporters gathered for NBC's winter TV previews. "I'll be back," Hargitay told Connick. "I can't leave this show. I'm having too much fun."
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Grimm
NBC is showing confidence in Grimm. The network has picked up a full season of the new drama, and will try it out in the more competitive Thursday-at-10/9c timeslot on Dec. 8.
"We are very pleased to be making a full-season commitment for Grimm," NBC Chairman Robert Greenblatt said in a statement. "This series is turning the traditional procedural drama on its head and is attracting a loyal following for us on Friday nights. We love where it's going creatively and we're excited to...
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Bernadette Peters
Broadway stalwart Bernadette Peters and Disney Channel standout Nick Jonas will guest-star on NBC's midseason musical drama Smash, the network announced Thursday.
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Whitney Cummings and Chris D’Elia
NBC's Thursday night lineup was once dubbed Must-See TV — and with shows like The Office, Community and Parks and Recreation leading the comedy block, it's hard to say things have really changed from the days when Friends and Seinfeld once held court. This makes it even more challenging for new comedy Whitney to gain its footing at 9:30/8:30c, a spot previously held by the likes of 30 Rock, which returns midseason, and the short-lived Outsourced.
Whitney: How different is Whitney Cummings from her TV persona, really?
"Of course we're...
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