NBC is adding eight new shows to its fall schedule, but the big news remains that the linchpin of the Peacock's schedule - "Sein-feld" - will return in the fall.
The network and the show's producers reached a last-minute contract agreement with the show's supporting players.And "Seinfeld" will lead a sitcom charge on the network. NBC almost seems to stand for Nothing But Comedies - it will have 18 of them in its fall lineup. Monday, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays will all feature two-hour, 7-9 p.m. sitcom blocks.
Monday's features returning shows that are headlined by women - an attempt to counter-program the male-appeal Monday Night Football on ABC.
(None of these shows has proven strength, however - all have prospered in time slots following established hits.)
And on Sundays, NBC has decided to battle CBS's "Touched by an Angel" by going in the opposite direction - the crude "Men Behaving Badly" and a new sitcom starring former Playboy centerfold Jenny McCarthy.
NBC is also bringing on board a number of familiar faces, including Kirstie Alley ("Cheers"), Tony Danza ("Who's the Boss?"), Fred Savage ("The Wonder Years") and Costas Mandylor ("Picket Fences")
Six new sitcoms are joining the lineup. They are:
- "Built to Last" (Wednsdays, 7:30 p.m.) stars standup comedian Royale Watkins as an Ivy Leaguer who takes over the family's construction business from his ailing father (Paul Winfield).
- "Jenny" (Sundays, 7:30 p.m.) features McCarthy, the former co-host of MTV's "Singled Out," who inherits a Hollywood Hills home from the B-movie actor father she never knew and rents rooms to aspiring actors and screenwriters.
- "The Tony Danza Show" (Wednesdays, 7 p.m.) features the actor as a divorced New York sportswriter and single father of two daughters.
- "Union Square" (Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.) is an ensemble comedy about a group of aspiring actors, singers and playwrights who hang out at a New York restaurant.
- "Veronica's Closet" (Thursdays, 8:30 p.m.) features Alley as "the country's leading romance expert" whose marriage is falling apart. The cast includes Jamey Sheridan and the (talentless) Dan Cortese.
- "Working" (Wednesdays, 8:30 p.m.) stars Savage in a comedy told from "the unique perspective of one young man's climb up the corporate ladder."
NBC is adding only two new hourlong dramas:
- "Players" (Friday, 7 p.m.) is "humorous crime drama" about a charming convict (rapper Ice-T), a computer genius and a ladies' man (Mandylor) paroled to help the FBI capture other criminals.
- "Sleepwalkers" (Saturdays, 8 p.m.) stars Bruce Greenwood ("Nowhere Man") as the head of a "facility dedicated to the study of dreams and their mysterious link to the waking world."
Among the shows NBC canceled are "Boston Common," "Chicago Sons," "Dark Skies," "The Jeff Foxworthy Show," "Mr. Rhodes," "Something So Right," "The Single Guy" and "Unsolved Mysteries."
WHEW! They're breathing a huge sigh of relief at NBC after the network assured itself of at least one more season of "Seinfeld."
Despite the hype, NBC is not the dominant superpower of networks these days. Oh, ABC, CBS and Fox would love to trade places with the Peacock, but cracks have appeared in the NBC fortress this season.
Which is why it was so important for the network to hang on to "Seinfeld," the No. 2 show on TV.
The network, the production company (Castle Rock) and the supporting actors in the show - Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards - finally came to a salary agreement. The actors, who had been making a paltry $150,000 per episode, had been demanding $1 million per show for the next two seasons.
Nobody's talking dollar figures, but, reportedly, the three actors settled for $600,000 an episode. (A mere $13.2 million per season.)
It's questionable whether NBC can even make a profit on "Sein-feld." But the network had to keep the show to prop up its lineup.
Even the impregnable Thursday-night lineup has slipped. The ratings are down 7 percent among viewers 18-49 - the be-all, end-all of demographics for NBC.
And that's not all. Tuesdays are down 12 percent. Mondays are down 12 percent. Sundays are down 16 percent.
(Only Saturdays - where NBC had nowhere to go but up - have shown improvement, up 10 percent among viewers 18-49.)
The reason? NBC has pretty much failed in its efforts to produce new stand-alone hit shows. The mighty Peacock has introduced only one of those in almost three years.
("3rd Rock from the Sun" debuted in January 1996. Before that, you have to look back to "Friends" and "ER" in 1994.)
So NBC was basically over a barrel. It was either pay up or lose a show that means a lot to the entire schedule.
The network paid up.