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Fall 2004-2005 NBC TV Network Programming Schedule

 Descriptions and Analysis

New Series in blue.

Click on underlined titles for information.

Here's the link to NBC's own 2004 Schedule website.

Series

The Apprentice:  In this latest twist on the "running the gauntlet" reality show, 12 ambitious young men and women compete for the chance to worship at the business-savvy knees of Donald Trump and his army of corporate minions.  It's Ivy League vs. street smarts as contestants running the gamut of education and class vie for the honored position, and after each is eliminated, they undergo a vicious exit interview with Trump and company.  I'll bet it won't hold a candle to the marvelous Ali G interview with Donald Trump where the mogul was clueless, humorless and exceptionally rude.  NBC is introducing The Apprentice on 1/8/2004, on a Thursday after Friends, then it will move into its Wednesday night 8pm time period the next week.  Though I don't doubt this will probably garner lots of curious viewers, I'm hoping it will make "ambition" even more of a dirty word than I already think it is.  Update 1/30/04:  The Apprentice is highly successful in the ratings, and Trump is writing a book on the experience.  Oh, the humanity!  And of course it's back for another round in the 2004/2005 fall season      

Average Joe: This long-delayed reality show will finally hit the air this November, in a Monday 10pm slot, replacing the moved-to-Friday Third Watch.  There are twelve episodes in two cycles already completed, so this patch may stick around for a while.  Hosted by comedienne Kathy Griffin, who became sort of the poster hag for celebrity reality shows after her win on The Mole, Average Joe is about a beauty queen/NFL cheerleader who, instead of getting to pick from a bevy of handsome fellas for a dating show, discovers that -- horrors! -- they're just average looking.  Will she be as shallow as the rest of American women?  How depressing to even consider sticking around long enough to find out.  This one sounds extra-mean; I guess that's what's so very special about it.  Yuck.  Update 12/17/03:  Well, this thing kicked butt in the ratings, so even Kathy Griffin wasn't enough to turn people off this spectacle.  Update 1/6/04:  Hawaii is the setting for the newest edition of AJ in early January.  

Father of the Pride:  Unfortunately ill-timed, mildly inappropriate, in a weird time period, and with a concept that leaves a creepy aftertaste -- the lives of the white tigers who lived with Las Vegas magicians Siegfried and Roy -- this one has a stench about it from the get-go.  Yeah, it's from some of the guys behind Shrek, and voice talent includes John Goodman, Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Carl Reiner and Orlando Jones, but this must have been in the pipeline well before Roy got chomped and the magic act went out the window.  At one point this must have seemed like a perfect project, but what is NBC thinking by giving it a 9pm time slot on an important fall schedule?  Not good.  This needs to be run off on some weekend.  Received uniformly sans enthusiasm by media and ad mavens during the upfront.  Can't blame 'em!  Premiere Date:  8/31/04.  

Hawaii:  Location, location, location...Hawaii is back this season with two new island-set dramas, this one a rough n' tumble cops n' robbers, good old fashioned police actioner.  It's all about the dreamy scenery, that and a passel of interesting actors including Michael Biehn (Terminator, The Abyss, Tombstone), Sharif Atkins (ER), Eric Balfour (Six Feet Under, The O.C., 24), Ivan Sergei (Crossing Jordan, 10.5), Cary Tagawa (Nash Bridges, Mortal Kombat), and American Samoan actor Peter Navy Tuiasosopo.  The formula is fairly sure-fire, and viewers looking for traditional, albeit glam, adventure -- and eschewing ABC's more wild-eyed Lost -- should find Hawaii just the haven they've been looking for to start out their Wednesday night TV.  Premiere Date: 8/30/04.

Joey:  Despite reasonable fears that this Friends spin-off would be a pile of dung, they lapped it up at the upfront.  Whether it was truly hilarious or just so much giddy relief remains to be seen, but we'll all learn this fall if viewers are similarly inclined to continue the Friends lovefest that ended this past May.  If they do, Matt LeBlanc returns as his Joey character, newly-moved to Los Angeles and embarking on his acting career.  There's already been some tinkering with the cast, with Ashley Scott out as Joey's sexy neighbor, but the fine and fine-looking Drea de Matteo (The Sopranos) is still in tight at his sister, and Paulo Costanzo (40 Days and 40 Nights, Road Trip) as well playing Joey's egghead nephew.  The show has a lot riding on its shoulders -- namely NBC's somewhat dilapidated Thursday night -- though if goofy grins are gold, Joey will be in for the long haul.  Premiere Date:  9/9/04.  

Las Vegas:  The exciting thing about this drama, set guess where, is the presence of James Caan, who's been in quite a few TV movies but this is his first time headlining a series of his own.  He's Big Ed Deline here, boss of a surveillance company, ex-CIA agent, and all tough-guy as he grabs his piece of the unique and dynamic landscape that is Las Vegas.  Can primetime TV handle two Vegas-based shows?   This one won't have quite the dead body count as CSI, but we can expect lots of high stakes gambling, crooked wannabes and beautiful ladies of the night.  Sounds like place that might suit James Caan rather well, doesn't it?  He might be almost a senior citizen, but Caan could lend a nice grizzled touch to Monday night, though he'll be up against the strongest CBS comedies and will have to fend off football in the fall.  If Las Vegas can pull it off, it will offer the only action drama in the time period, but will that be enough?  Although the city of Las Vegas would seem like such a sure thing in terms of an exciting setting, the truth is much iffier, and if this show focuses too much on the gambling aspect of the town it won't work for long.  Let's see what happens.  Caan could make this very watchable. Las Vegas also stars an attractive multi-ethnic cast including Josh Duhamel (All My Children), Vanessa Marcil (General Hospital, Beverly Hills 90210), Nikki Cox (ex-Mrs. Bobcat Goldthwait), James Lesure, Marsha Thomason (Black Knight) and actress/model Molly Sims.  Premiere Date:  9/29/03.  Updated Info 8/20:  Las Vegas will now premiere on 9/22 at 10pm, after a special two-hour Las Vegas-set Fear Factor episode.  It will go back to its 9pm slot on 9/29, and Third Watch will follow.  Review 10/7/03:  Las Vegas seems to be holding its own against CBS' powerhouse Monday comedy block so far, and that's a bit of good luck for this stylish and snazzy drama.  The model for this show is more Hotel than FX's cancelled comedy/drama Lucky, with of course a pedal to the metal nod to Vegas' Dan Tana, and that's not a bad bunch of influences.  There are just enough gambling-specific storylines to justify the setting, but not so much that the whole thing bogs down in the arcanum of running a casino.  The rest of the time there's a lot of sexually-related adventuring, with plenty of gorgeous girls -- even quite a few intelligent ones, too -- around, and then a bunch of other silly stuff involving casino guests; here's where the show even sometimes feels a little like The Love Boat.  It's all part of the fast-paced whirl of light and color that keeps Las Vegas whooshing along, and the cast is more than up to keeping up with the action.  James Caan is great as Ed Deline, and it was a treat to see Cheryl Ladd in the pilot as his ex-wife (not sure if she'll be back, though).  The younger contingent is uniformly attractive and capable, too, and the whole Las Vegas package is a great big neon-flashing come-on for a willing audience.  If this can fend off the competition that's still to come, namely Fox's Skin, chances are pretty good that Las Vegas could beat the odds and end up a success.  Update 10/15/03:  NBC has given Las Vegas its full 22 episode season order, the first pick-up for the network this season.  Update 10/21/03:  NBC will run Las Vegas encores in the Saturday 8 - 9pm slot during November sweeps, with various Law & Order franchise episodes airing from 9 - 11pm.  Update 1/30/04:  Las Vegas has been given an early 22-episode order for the 2004/2005 season. 

LAX:  In a move surely not designed to improve passenger comfort levels, this Los Angeles airport-set action drama goes to work updating the old Airport premise in a world where there's much more to look out for than Helen Hayes as a stowaway grandma.  If it makes any difference, you couldn't find a cuter pair of administrators than stars Heather Locklear (Spin City, Melrose Place, Dynasty, T.J. Hooker) and the criminally-underused Blair Underwood (L.A. Law, Sex and the City), or co-stars Paul Leyden (As The World Turns), David Paetkau (Final Destination 2), Wendy Hoopes (voice talent on Daria), Frank John Hughes (Band of Brothers, Cover Me, The Guardian), and Chad Todhunter (Party of Five).  (Has there been an airport-set drama since '70s San Francisco International Airport?)  There's no reason that forensic pathologists should have on the fun and glory on TV -- let's hear it for the folks who make us walk around in our socks and paw through our underwear.  Looking to create the same drama/comedy/romance/action formula mixture that made Las Vegas a surprise hit last year, and with that show as lead-in, it's doubtful that LAX can stop the muggy success of CSI: Miami on CBS, but it should provide a glitzier alternative should viewers tire of all that pathological humidity.  Premiere Date:  9/6/04.  

Medical Investigations:  With a premise that sounds a bit like ABC's new series House, but officially based on files from the National Institutes of Health, Medical Investigations is a an epidemiological whodunit, with killer viruses and latent plagues under the microscope of these intrepid medical pros.  It's got a great cast -- the flaxen-haired, pale wolf-eyed Neal McDonough (Boomtown, Timeline, Band of Brothers), Kelli Williams (The Practice), Anna Belknap (The Handler), the adorable Christopher Gorham (Jake 2.0, Odyssey 5, Felicity), Troy Winbush (John Q, The Parkers), and Clare Carey (Coach).  Maybe this is the interesting McDonough's chance to really achieve breakout success after his gotta-be frustrating time with the never-quite-got-over-the-ratings-hump-but-critics-loved-it Boomtown.  Hopefully they'll like this one too, and so will the viewers.  I'm real happy to see the charismatic young Gorham back in a series after UPN cut bait on his clever and delightful Jake 2.0 this past season.  Premiere Date: 9/9/04.        

Midseason

The Contender:  This season there are two making-of-a-champ boxing reality series, this one will hit the air second, but seems to have been the first conceived, so we'll see what the delay does to its ultimate reception.  Sylvester Stallone is the celeb out in front on this one, as he guides sixteen wanna-bes through the arduous training process.  Pro boxing champ Sugar Ray Leonard will be around to provide advice and a little historical perspective to the fledgling pugilists.  Will Stallone bring people to the table who wouldn't ordinarily watch boxing?  Though the presence of a movie star doesn't guarantee anything, Stallone is a likable pop icon who hasn't been onscreen much lately, and should add a nice touch to this sports-oriented challenge.  

Law & Order: Trial by Jury:  Dick Wolf's at it again with his latest spin-off.  Law & Order's Jerry Orbach is moving over to this one, and reportedly other L&O veterans might be tapped for duty, too.  As I've said before, it's not that Law & Order or any of its spawn are great, it's that they're just good enough, and that's definitely good enough to earn them top spots on network and cable.  So far, it's the unkillable franchise that won't quit.  This one probably won't be any different.  

Revelations: Doesn't anybody remember the great but short-lived Skeet Ulrich-starring Miracles on ABC a couple of years ago?  Revelations sounds more than a little similar but everybody's falling all over this one with good advance buzz, lucky for it.  Bill Pullman (Independence Day, The Last Seduction) plays a scientist who's trying to explain away unsettling signs and manifestations which mirror Scriptural descriptions of the coming -- and evidently very imminent -- end of the world.  Joining him in his unsettling quest is a devout nun played by Natascha McElhone (Feardot.com, Laurel Canyon, Ronin), along with Michael Massee (Carnivale, 24), and Tobin Bell (24, Alias).  Scientist and sister find themselves in an around-the-world race to stave off ultimate oblivion in this hopefully disturbing series reminiscent of the aforementioned Miracles and the always-effective feature The Seventh Sign.  Pullman is enough of an enigmatic and underexposed performer to bring credibility to his part, and there's nothing like a little apocalyptic apoplexy to (hopefully) bring viewers to the set.