Thursday, March 14, 2013
NBC Moves Smash, Go On, & More Changes; Episodic Review: Parks & Recreation - "Bailout" Airing Tonight on NBC
NBC has announced a lot of changes for spring. First up, Smash will be moving to Saturdays at 9PM beginning April 6 through May 18. Smash's last Tuesday at 10pm airing will be on April 2, so there are three Tuesday airings left before it is delegated to Saturdays for its remaining seven episodes. NBC will be finishing up its Tuesday comedies in April as scheduled, but with The New Normal actually getting a two-episode finale from 9-10pm on April 2. It could be the last two episodes ever for this comedy. Meanwhile, Go On will air its final two episodes of the season on a special night and time on Thursdays, April 4 and 11, 2013 at 9:30pm, leading into new drama Hannibal at 10. NBC has not yet announced what will air at 9:30pm beginning April 18, but since it is only four weeks, NBC will likely air reruns of The Office. Don't forget the one-hour series finale of The Office is Thursday, May 16 at 9pm. Go On has two more Tuesdays at 9 airings left (March 19 and 26) before its two-week Thursday run. One more Thursday note, NBC will burn-off the remaining episodes of 1600 Penn quickly on March 21 and March 28 at a special time of 8:30pm and also its normal time of 9:30pm. Like The New Normal & Smash, this series has little chance of returning next season, but Go On has a 50/50 chance.
Replacing Smash essentially on Tuesdays will be new reality series Ready for Love, which will now air Tuesdays 9-11pm ET/PT beginning Tuesday, April 9 through Tuesday, May 28. The series was originally supposed to get a preview on Tuesday, March 26 and premiere on its normal night Sunday, March 31 from 8-10pm, but neither will now happen. Ready for Love will follow The Voice on Tuesdays, as that series will air in the Tuesdays at 8pm time period from March 26-June 11. The Voice also airs 8-10pm on Mondays from March 25-June 17. Onto Sundays, on March 31 and April 7 only, NBC will encore the previous week's Monday/Tuesday episodes of The Voice from 7-9pm ET/PT and 9-10pm ET/PT respectively into one-hour episodes of Celebrity Apprentice at 10. However, that series will now go back to two-hour episodes from April 14-May 19 from 9-11pm ET/PT following encores of The Voice from 7-9pm ET/PT. And onto Wednesdays, Whitney will now end a week earlier on Wednesday, March 27 with a two-episode season finale from 8-9pm. It was originally supposed to end its season on April 3, but now NBC will air Dateline in the hour beginning April 3 and not the planned move of Betty White's Off Their Rockers, as previously announced.
View a complete list of NBC spring changes in a list form. And stay with us for continued updates.
On the next...Parks & Recreation:
By: Skees
NBC's Thursday night comedy starring Amy Poehler airs Thursday nights at 8:30pm and we have just watched the next episode that airs tonight (March 14). In the episode airing tonight, "Bailout," Leslie (Amy Poehler) tries to help a local video store stay in business after the owner (guest star Jason Schwartzman) is hit by the bad economy. Chris (Rob Lowe) tries to give Tom (Aziz Ansari) some fatherly advice in dealing with a difficult employee (guest star Jenny Slate), while Ann (Rashida Jones) blackmails April (Aubrey Plaza) into being her friend.
In "Bailout," Pawnee's only independent video store is about to go the way of Blockbuster… gone. Leslie is determined to use her power on the city council to save this treasure at any cost, and in a battle against the Pawnee libertarians (who consider her actions to be a "bailout"), successfully manages to get the store declared a Pawnee landmark. Unfortunately, Leslie's hopes and dreams for the landmark are a bit crushed when she finds out that the store would rather use landmark status to become a porn video store (in opposition of her hopes that they'd rent films like Finding Nemo). Meanwhile, Jean-Ralphio's sister (guest star Jenny Slate) has come to take a job at Rent-a-Swag, but she is really making Tom's life absolutely miserable. And that isn't all: Ann is using every means possible to blackmail April into being her friend.
This is another great episode of the NBC Thursday night sitcom, which has slowly become my favorite sitcom on TV. This is the series at its best: Leslie trying to do good for the city (even if it really isn't a huge thing) and facing opposition from Ron Swanson and other libertarians… and as often happens, it doesn't work out so well for Leslie, even if she does like to look at the positive side. One of the best scenes happens to be during the city council meeting… if you follow sitcom star views on politics at all, you'll notice that one of those speaking in opposition of the landmark status says something that is almost identical to a statement made by Craig T. Nelson. The subplot of the episode about Tom dealing with Mona Lisa (Slate) was a little lacking in the sense that there wasn't a whole lot of development, but I really did like the Mona Lisa character and her relationship with Tom, and hope that we get to see more of her in future episode. A-
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Tuesday, November 5
none scheduled
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of November 4)
Tuesday, November 5
- Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg (Two and a Half Men/Jenny) - E! News has an interview with Jenny at 11pm on E!.
- Ted McGinley (Shrinking/Hope & Faith/Married with Children/Happy Days) - Ted returns to preview the new season of Shrinking on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings.
- Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Café Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Valerie is joining Drew and Ross Mathews for an all-new Drew's News on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Renée Elise Goldsberry (Girls5eva) - Renée and Lynn Whitfield talk about their upcoming new film, Albany Road, on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Chris Spencer (Born Again Virgin/Significant Others/The Jamie Foxx Show) - Chris stops by to tell Sherri about his Vice TV series, Black Comedy in America, on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Kendrick Sampson (Insecure) - Kendrick is a guest on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
- Dylan Sprouse (The Suite Life on Deck/The Suite Life of Zack & Cody/Grace Under Fire) - Dylan discusses his film Aftermath on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
- Liz Gillies (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll/Victorious) - NBC's Today has a Citi Concert Series with Liz and Ferry Towners in the 9am hour.
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