NBC Hopes to Launch Big Hits

Network aims for jumpstart

NBC says "The Office" will continue for another season.

Even the popular network television station NBC hasn’t been immune to the economic downturn as discriminating advertisers get stingy about where they spend their money.

NBC trails CBS, Fox and ABC in prime-time ratings, a huge factor for companies looking for where to buy advertising. NBC hopes to avoid needing short term loans by launching six new shows, which it has announced two weeks before the other major networks.

Drama queens

NBC is launching six new shows, four of which are dramas. The network is hoping to capitalize on the popularity of the 1989 film “Parenthood” with a family drama of the same name. The new show is based on the film.

Throwing a couple more shows into an ever-growing niche, NBC is launching two new medical dramas. “Trauma” follows a fictitious San Francisco trauma team. Entertainment Weekly calls it “one of those ultra-NBC, “pulse-pounding,” lives-in-danger-of-exploding shows in the tradition of ER and Third Watch.”

The second medical drama, “Mercy,” appears as though it may be more like a romance than an action flick. According to EW:

(Head nurse Veronica is) married, but a cute doctor arrives at the hospital (in a wincing Grey’s Anatomy moment, he’s actually referred to as “hot doctor guy”). Hot doc proves to be a former lover of Veronica’s: ooh, complications ensue!

The fourth drama, “Day One,” chronicles the aftermath of a global catastrophe.

Aiming for laughs

NBC is also launching two comedies this fall, the first headed by Joel McHale of “The Soup.” The show is called “Community,” and it’s “about a community college full of misfit students and teachers,” according to EW.

“100 Questions” will also aim to tickle viewers’ funny bones with stories of a woman who signs up on an online dating site and is faced with 100 questions.

NBC also plans to run six new episodes of “Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday,” which got great ratings during the election.

Who goes and who stays

NBC will not officially announce its lineup until May 19, when a schedule and concrete list of returning shows will be revealed. However, the network has already said it will bring back “Heroes,” “Southland,” “Parks and Recreation,” “The Office,” “30 Rock,” “The Biggest Loser,” “The Celebrity Apprentice,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” and “Friday Night Lights.”