NBC renews 'Office,' '30 Rock,' 'Loser'

TCA -- NBC's solid-performers "The Office," "30 Rock" and "The Biggest Loser" will be back for another season, while the final verdict on underperformer "Lipstick Jungle" still isn’t in.

NBC also set premiere dates for its untitled Amy Poehler comedy (Thursday, April 9, at 8:30, the current "Kath & Kim" slot) and confirmed John Wells’ new police drama “Southland” will take over for “ER” at Thursdays at 10 p.m. on April 9, while “Kings” will air on Sundays at 8 p.m. starting March 15. New cooking competition series "The Chopping Block" will premiere Wednesday, March 11, at 8 p.m., filling the “Knight Rider” slot.

The scheduling of the Poehler comedy is a bit strange.

Not only does the project not yet have a title, but producers have yet to shoot a pilot. NBC is committing a time period without seeing any footage. In the huddle after the executive session, Bromstad said that even if the pilot is "imperfect" she's still confident that the project will be worth putting on the air given the level of talent involved, such as executive producer Greg Daniels.

Bromstad said the previously announced additional three “ER” episodes were ordered to ensure Wells had enough time to get “Southland” ready before taking over the Thursday slot and that “Kings” showrunner Michael Green was happy with the switch.

“We feel so strongly about both of theses shows. Instead of waiting until fall we wanted to launch both of those shows this spring,” she said when asked about the schedule shift.

Bromstad assured that despite Jay Leno taking over the network’s 10 p.m. that the network would not cut back on scripted development. NBC is looking for six dramas and four comedies this fall ("we'll be making the same amount of pilots and developing scripts") and hopes to have long-awaited action series "The Philanthropist" on the air a early as this spring.

“We have to have the quality and have to have the ratings,” Bromstad said. “We have to strive for that. But we won’t replace shows that are loved by fans and are good quality shows just to put another show on.”

Comments

[MJ]

The Philanthropist is completely dead. No way we'll be seeing that this spring.

[meary]

what does this mean for knight rider and kath and kim?? will they be back in the fall??