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Fall 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 2005 Schedule website.

Series

The Apprentice: Martha Stewart:  The beleaguered domestic diva gets her chance to clean up in primetime with her own version of Donald Trump's series.  While her legal troubles don't seem to have cast a lasting pall over her other enterprises, a hit on primetime TV is more difficult to achieve than that perfect soufflé.  Trump's success looms as the benchmark that NBC's hoping to repeat, but we all know what they say about lightning striking twice.  Will people take to Martha's cold efficiency as they have (unexplainably, I feel) to Donald's charisma-less arrogance?  Thank goodness not all TV choices are as unpleasant as this one....  Premieres September 21st.  Update 10/6/05:  After a dismal initial performance, second week numbers were up but the show has been moved back to 9pm, which could knock it down again vs. ABC's Lost.

E-Ring:  Ex-Law & Order-er Benjamin Bratt and perennial weird-beard actor Dennis Hopper star together in this Pentagon-set Homeland Security-era drama thriller.  Bratt's aggressive and just-back-from-the-front; Hopper his ornery, rule-breaking partner.  Yeah, we've seen this kind of relationship before -- again, and again, and again -- but not in the Pentagon, right?  Tough time period (against Lost) for this new entry, but the two leads do have charisma so we'll see if the audience responds to today's new world paradigm in television form.  They didn't go for it a few seasons back with Threat Matrix, but let's give NBC a chance at it.  Premieres September 21st.  Update 10/6/05:  Will be switching time periods with Martha Stewart, which will leave it as the only drama (excluding teen-oriented One Tree Hill) in the 8pm time period.  This could be a nice boost for viewers wondering what to watch before Lost comes on.  Update 11/16:  E-Ring has gotten an order for 9 more episodes, short of a full season but a good sign.

Inconceivable:  With fertility-drug-induced septuplets becoming as common as daisies, perhaps it's time for TV to examine the laugh-a-minute, cry-a-minute world of fertility clinics with Inconceivable.  ER's Ming-Na, Angie Harmon (Law & Order, Agent Cody Banks) and  Brit actor Jonathan Cake star as the clinic's principal partners.  Will this very specific and seemingly completely female-oriented premise work on Friday nights at 10pm, where its audience may not even be able to find it?  Perhaps that's the really inconceivable aspect to this series.  Premieres September 23rd.  Update 10/6/05:  Cancelled.  Time period to be filled with repeats until further notice.  

My Name is Earl:   One of hip director Kevin Smith's favorite actors, Jason Lee (Dogma, Mallrats, the awful Dreamcatchers -- but don't hold that against him) gets his chance at sitcom success in this highly-anticipated series about a hapless loser who wins a lottery, discovers the concept of Karma, and determines to change his life around, making amends to those he screwed over in the past.  Lee -- who has an amazing second life as a kewl pro skateboarding impresario -- has a likeable screen persona and handsome-but-not-too-handsome looks that could translate very well to the weekly series grind, and we know he can do comedy.  Fellow Smith-fave Ethan Suplee (Boy Meets World, The Butterfly Effect) plays Earl's loyal brother, Jaime Pressley (Ringmaster, Joe Dirt) Earl's scheming sexy ex-wife, and Nadine Velazquez (The Bold and the Beautiful) is a sensible gal pal along for the fun.  Some of us may recall the way-out-of-proportion backlash against UPN's innocuous and I thought goofily charming lowbrow comedy The Mullets a few seasons ago; it's fascinating to see the same lower-middle-class milieu getting the thumbs up this year.  Tastes change, and NBC's no doubt hoping Earl can become a winner and perhaps a contender in the future for a berth on their seriously floundering Thursday comedy night.  Jason Lee is reason enough to hope this one makes it.  Premieres September 20th.  Update 10/12:  My Name is Earl's early performance success has encouraged NBC to give it a full-season pick-up order.  Good work!

Surface:  From writer/producers Josh and Jonathan Pate (who created the zippy, underrated and therefore short-lived series G vs. E for USA a few years back), Surface is one of the three alien-invasion series premiering this year.  This one's got a genuine monster or two in the form of giant sea creatures, always a nice touch and at least giving the show the opportunity for hopefully over-wrought, old-fashioned scares.  Lake Bell (The Practice, Miss Match, Boston Legal) is the dedicated single-mom marine biologist who's on the trail of the other-worldly leviathan, Jay R. Ferguson (Judging Amy, Glory Days) a Gulf fisherman pulled into the mystery, Rade Sherbedgia (the TV South Pacific, Space Cowboys) a high-ranking government scientist, and Carter Jenkins (Bad News Bears) a young teen who hatches his own monster at home.  NBC is looking at Surface to cement its already-successful Monday drama night, certainly hoping it will catch on the way last season's mid-season Medium did.  Originally called Fathom, but probably changed because nobody knows what that means anymore.  Premieres September 19th.

Three Wishes:  Christian music star Amy Grant is on camera for this ultra-feel-good reality/reno/makeover show that visits a different location each week to bestow life-changing...dare we say miracles?...on the residents.  Cynics need not apply for this one, nor, certainly, will they want to watch, but NBC's obviously hoping to cash in on some of the same do-good spirit that has made its Sunday night Extreme Makeover: Home Edition a hit.  Premieres September 23rd.  Update 10/6/05:  Time period switch with Dateline NBC in the wake of Inconceivable's cancellation.  Update 1/06:  Three Wishes is off the schedule.  

Returning Shows

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.      

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.  Update 7/05:  Back for a second season despite only so-so performance.  

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. 

The Office: 

Midseason

The Biggest Loser:

Book of Daniel:

Four Kings: