NBC’s Fall Plan: Make ‘Em Laugh

NBC will rely heavily on comedy with its prime-time schedule for next season, seeking to expand its “Must-See TV” franchise to additional nights.

Sources say the network, which announces its fall programming today, has assembled a schedule that will feature 16 half-hour sitcoms, including a new two-hour comedy block on Wednesday sandwiched between its existing lineups on Tuesday and Thursday. The season begins in September.

Perhaps the biggest surprise addition to NBC’s schedule is “The Jeff Foxworthy Show,” which premiered last fall on ABC and is now expected to replace “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” at 8 p.m. Mondays. ABC gave the producers permission to shop the low-rated show elsewhere even while scheduling another episode of the program to air this Wednesday.

NBC has also raided ABC for one of two major series commitments the peacock network is expected to announce for 1997, securing a deal for a new series with Tony Danza, who recently starred in the ABC comedy “Hudson Street.” In addition, NBC is completing an agreement with former “Cheers” co-star Kirstie Alley on a comedy show that would be produced by the creative trio behind NBC’s “Friends” under its relationship with Warner Bros. Television.

NBC’s acquisition of “The Jeff Foxworthy Show” is interesting on several levels, since the network picked up another one of its current hits, “3rd Rock From the Sun,” after ABC developed the program but didn’t schedule it last fall.

In addition, both Foxworthy’s show and NBC’s “NewsRadio” are produced by Brillstein-Grey Communications, a partnership that involves Capital Cities/ABC, meaning ABC will own an interest in two programs on a rival network. In the same strange-bedfellows department, CBS has a role in producing NBC’s “Caroline in the City.”

NBC’s announcement in New York leads off the annual May schedule-setting derby. Because NBC has been the top-rated network this season, competitors are closely monitoring where NBC puts shows in an effort to counter-program the network with their respective lineups.

The NBC prime-time schedule for next fall includes seven new series, with four comedies and three dramas. All three one-hour shows are penciled in to air Saturday in an effort to counter CBS’ popular all-drama lineup.

The newcomers include a half-hour sitcom starring Brooke Shields as a newly single woman, “Suddenly Susan,” which is understood to have landed the highly coveted time period between “Seinfeld” and “ER” on Thursday nights. The show represents Shields’ first series, though the actress did do a guest shot on the post-Super Bowl “Friends” episode that NBC aired earlier this season.

The other new comedies are “Something So Right,” starring “thirtysomething’s” Mel Harris and Jere Burns as newlyweds trying to blend their families; “Men Behaving Badly,” a buddy comedy about single friends starring Ron Eldard and Rob Schneider adapted from a British series by the same name; and “Mr. Rhodes,” starring stand-up comic Tom Rhodes as a rock ‘n’ roller who becomes a teacher at a prep school.

The three new dramas, all in a science-fiction/escapist vein, are “Dark Skies,” which has Eric Close and Megan Ward seeking to expose a conspiracy regarding the existence of aliens on Earth; “The Profiler,” starring Ally Walker as a forensic psychologist playing cat-and-mouse with a serial killer; and “The Pretender,” featuring Michael T. Weiss as a man with strange, chameleon-like powers.

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NBC’s decision to program so many comedies comes in part at the expense of the network’s news division, which will be reduced from four to three editions of the news magazine “Dateline NBC.” “JAG,” “Hope & Gloria,” “In the House” and “Malibu Shores” are among the current programs that failed to make the cut for September.

NBC’s success this season has also emboldened the network to move half a dozen of its comedies to new time periods, with reports that “Wings” and “NewsRadio” will shift to Wednesday, while “3rd Rock From the Sun” moves to follow “Dateline” at 8 p.m. Sunday and “Mad About You” shifts from Sunday to Tuesday.

Similarly, the first-season comedies “Caroline in the City” and “Boston Common” have been renewed but won’t return to their prized Thursday time periods; however, “The Single Guy” is expected to be back between “Friends” and “Seinfeld.”

Network officials apparently believe many of their programs featuring young singles or couples in urban settings are interchangeable and can be moved around under the “Must-See TV” marketing umbrella.

NBC will have an added advantage getting the word out to viewers about its fall programming because the network figures to attract a big audience this summer when it airs the Atlanta Olympic Games. NBC can also use high-rated shows like “ER” and “Seinfeld” to promote new and relocated series.

New programs ordered as backup series include “Just Shoot Me,” a comedy starring Laura San Giacomo, and “Chicago Sons,” a sitcom featuring Jason Bateman and D.W. Moffett.

ABC, Fox Broadcasting Co. and CBS will present their lineups to advertisers in that order beginning next Monday. The start-up UPN and WB Networks will unveil their new program rosters later this week.