The undisputed star of NBC’s upfronts presentation last Monday wasn’t a hot new drama or the reboot of a beloved comedy: It was the NBA.
As part of the network’s official unveiling of its 11-year NBA rights deal, NBCUniversal put together a splashy presentation that played up nostalgia for the network’s golden era of NBA broadcasts, which lasted from 1990 to 2002.
Along with the return of the NBA on NBC’s catchy theme song “Roundball Rock,” the network also announced that Michael Jordan would join NBC Sports’ coverage team as a special contributor. An NBCUniversal executive went as far as to call the NBA “our biggest new show in the fall” during a conference call with reporters.
Lost in all of that excitement, however, was a Friday afternoon news dump that NBC would be axing five scripted shows: “Found,” “The Irrational,” “Lopez vs. Lopez,” “Suits LA,” and the revival of “Night Court” were all given a pink slip to make room for hoops.
While some of those shows had plenty of opportunity to find an audience, “Suits LA” was a shocking decision. The original “Suits” — which aired on NBCUniversal-owned cable network USA for nine seasons — became a massive hit on Netflix in 2023, and executives couldn’t greenlight a spinoff fast enough. But after only three months on the air, “Suits LA” has been scrapped.
Regardless of your feelings on those specific shows, the NBA on NBC spells danger for all original programming at Rockefeller Center, both new and old. While Sunday night has been a sports night for NBC since Sunday Night Football began in 2006, Tuesday’s prime-time lineup was where shows like “Frasier,” “This Is Us,” and the original “Law & Order” first flourished. Where will word-of-mouth shows like “Scrubs” build an audience now that three precious hours of prime time will be occupied by an NBA pregame show and a 2½-hour game?
NBC did announce a number of new shows during its upfronts, but a surprisingly high percentage of them are airing exclusively on Peacock. You won’t be able to watch “The Paper,” NBC’s spinoff of “The Office,” on broadcast TV. Same with a trio of shows from “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, as well as a Nantucket-set drama from beach-read queen Elin Hilderbrand starring Jennifer Garner (“The Five-Star Weekend”).
Meanwhile, NBC is currently considering three comedies for just two open slots in its Monday and Friday night lineups. Not too long ago, a sitcom executive-produced by Tina Fey starring Tracy Morgan and Daniel Radcliffe would anchor a Thursday night of “Must See TV.” But Fey’s “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins” still doesn’t have a time slot, and will face competition from two other comedy pilots as NBC finalizes its fall schedule.
As NBC celebrates its 100th birthday this upcoming year, the network is putting all of its eggs into the live events basket, positioning the NFL, the Olympics, and the NBA as its tentpoles. It’s an understandable approach, but a tough pill to swallow from a company that has produced some of the best scripted TV shows of all time.
Over the past decade, viewers (and TV critics!) were overwhelmed by choice during the peak of the streaming wars, when hundreds of shows aired on dozens of different networks and platforms. But with the return of the NBA to NBC, it’s clear peak TV has come and gone. The only question is how far down the mountain we’ve already descended.
This week’s TV: Meghann Fahy and Julianne Moore in ‘Sirens,’ plus Sarah Silverman, Tyler Perry, Pee-wee HermanLand ho! Edwin Land, that is
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