NBC Sets March Premiere Date for Council of Dads

NBC is counting on you still having tears left to shed when it debuts its latest emotional series, Council of Dads, this spring. NBC announced Saturday at the Television Critics Association winter press tour that the show will premiere after This Is Us on Tuesday, March 10 at 10/9c.

The new drama, which was inspired by Bruce Feiler's book of the same name, follows the aftermath of a loving father's (Tom Everett Scott's Scott) death, which happens in the pilot, as his closest friends act as "back-up dads" to his five children, one of whom is transgender. Vikings alum Clive Standen plays Scott's oldest friend; Michael O'Neill is his AA sponsee; and J. August Richards is Scott's surgeon who also happens to be the best friend of his wife, Robin (Sarah Wayne Callies).

Although the pilot covers about one year -- from Scott's cancer diagnoses to his death -- future episodes will not move quite so quickly. "We chose to tell [the story of Scott's illness] over the course of the year. ... Episodes going forward will play with time, but obviously we don't spend a year over an episode," explained executive producer Tony Phelan when asked what future episodes of the series will look like.

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"[There's] an episode that takes place as the family deals with the first run of holidays without Scott, so we go from Halloween to New Year's," he continued. "But I think you'll find that the show gets into its own groove as it gets into the storytelling."

Council of Dads debuts Tuesday, March 10 at 10/9c on NBC. It will move to 9/8c after This Is Us wraps its fourth season in March.

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