SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

NBC announced the premieres of the new comedies Bent (March 21) starring Amanda Peet and Best Friends Forever (April 4), as well as the comedic hidden-camera series Betty White's Off Their Rockers (April 4) to its spring lineup. Community also will return to the Thursday schedule starting March 15. Bent will premiere on Wednesday, March 21 at 9:00 PM followed by a second episode at 9:30 PM. The series will continue with original back-to-back one-hour blocks on Wednesday, March 28 and April 4 on both nights, finishing off its six episode order. It is either that bad that NBC wants to finish it off in just three weeks or NBC is trying to capture Modern Family viewers, since it looks like 2 of the 3 weeks that series is in repeats. But in just 3 weeks, what is the point of trying to make something work? Currently airing at 9 is Rock Center with Brian Williams, but that will move to 10:00 PM from March 7 through April 4, as Law & Order: SVU will be on hiatus. Rock Center and Law & Order: SVU will return to their 9:00 and 10:00 PM timeslots on April 11 though May 23.
Following the season finales of Whitney and Are You There, Chelsea on March 28, Betty White's Off Their Rockers premieres the following week on Wednesday, April 4 at 8:00 PM followed by new comedy Best Friends Forever at 8:30 PM. Betty White's Off Their Rockers has a 12 episode order and had a sneak preview on January 16 so eleven episodes will be available to air and NBC will air ten of them as of now. It will air for 6 straight weeks through May 9 then on May 16 & May 23 a full-hour (8-9PM) will air both weeks, giving it ten episodes since its launch on April 4 (so one will be left to air for now). As for Best Friends Forever, NBC has a six episode order for this series, like Bent, and will air it for six straight weeks through May 9, instead of double-pumping it in three weeks.
On to Thursdays, Community returns on Thursday, March 15 at 8:00 PM as NBC re-sets the night with 30 Rock shifting to 8:30 PM followed still by The Office at 9 and Up All Night at 9:30 PM. Parks and Recreation goes on hiatus after the March 8 episode but comes back on Thursday, April 19 at a new time of 9:30 PM for four weeks to finish its season after Up All Night has ended its 24-episode original season run in the time period. The Parks & Recreation season finale is scheduled for May 10 (as The Office is likely having a two-episode finale on May 17). Community has 12 episodes to air and as of now NBC has booked it through May 24, so that's eleven weeks, but possibly it will be two episodes on one week.
View the complete NBC comedy changes for this spring. And stay with us for further information!


Nick at Nite will celebrate the Oscars with a marathon of sitcom episodes the night before the big night. On Saturday, February 25, Nick at Nite will air episodes of their sitcoms featuring award-winning actors. The line-up will air from 10pm-2am with Friends, George Lopez and That '70s Show episodes. Friends will start off the marathon with episodes guest starring Brad Pitt, Billy Crystal, Reese Witherspoon and Alec Baldwin. In fact, as you all know, Billy Crystal is hosting this year's Oscars for the ninth time! Then it is back-to-back episodes of George Lopez featuring Sandra Bullock, who also is a producer on the show. And finally two episodes of That '70s Show will feature the timeless Betty White. All of these stars have been nominated for an Oscar or have won an Oscar except Billy Crystal and Betty White. Crystal has taken home Emmy's though for his hosting of the Oscars and Betty White has won many Emmy's and Golden Globes, so this night is all about award-winning actors.
View more on this Nick at Nite event this Saturday and don't forget to watch the Oscars on Sunday night on ABC starting at 7pm ET/4pm PT.

Are You There, Chelsea? - Wednesdays 8:30PM ET/PT on NBC
Premieres Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 8:30PM ET/PT

by skees53

Chelsea Handler has had a hilarious and storied life that she has written about in her best-selling book of autobiographical essays Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea, and now, there is a new series on the small screen that is loosely based upon that book. NBC's newest traditional sitcom, Are You There, Chelsea? is Chelsea Handler's sitcom debut, but she isn't debuting as the star. Instead, she takes a backseat as Sloane, her sister, as Laura Prepon takes the starring role of Chelsea Newman.
The sitcom, though, is only loosely based upon the book, and takes the form of a standard sitcom. Set in New Jersey, the series follows Chelsea Newman (Prepon), a young working-class twenty-something, and her friends (and roommates) as they struggle to make it through everyday life. Appearing from time to time are Chelsea's sister, Sloane (Handler) and her father, Melvin (Lenny Clarke).

Cast Details:

* Laura Prepon as Chelsea Newman
* Jake McDorman as Rick
* Lauren Lapkus as Dee Dee
* Lenny Clarke as Melvin
* Ali Wong as Olivia
* Mark Povinelli as Todd
* Chelsea Handler as Sloane

Laura Prepon (Chelsea) plays the starring role of Chelsea Newman in the series. Prepon has appeared in many series including King of the Hill, American Dad!, How I Met Your Mother, Medium, and Castle, but what she is probably best known for is her role as Donna Pinciotti in the long-running sitcom That '70s Show.

Jake McDorman (Rick) plays the role of the bartender who works with Chelsea. McDorman has appeared in starring roles on Quintuplets and Greek.

Lauren Lapkus (Dee Dee) plays the role of Chelsea's more bubbly (and less intelligent) roommate. Lapkus is relatively new to the Hollywood scene, though she has appeared in a small role in the series The Middle.

Lenny Clarke (Melvin) plays the role of Chelsea's somewhat overbearing father. Clarke has previously appeared in series such as Rescue Me, The Job, Brothers, and The John Larroquette Show. Additionally, Clarke starred in his own eponymous sitcom Lenny in the early 90s.

Ali Wong (Olivia) plays the role of Chelsea's Filipino-American roommate. Wong is another relative newcomer to the small screen, with a previous role in the short-lived series Breaking In.

Mark Povinelli (Todd) is the "dwarf" in the series, but his actual disability is that he is color-blind. The 3'9" actor is known primarily as a stunt man, but he has also appeared in series such as Pushing Daisies and Modern Family.

Chelsea Handler (Sloane) plays the role of Chelsea's sister on the series. Of course, the series is based upon Handler's life, but rather than playing herself, she plays the role of her sister as a frequent "special guest star." Handler is primarily known for her stand-up comedy and her books that she has written, but she also hosts the E! series Chelsea Lately. She has had appearances on many sitcoms including Bernie Mac and My Wife and Kids.


Pilot Plot:

For this review, we received a copy of the first two episodes of the series.

"Pilot" (airs January 11)
In the "Pilot" episode, we are introduced to Chelsea Newman, but the introduction isn't a pleasant start. Chelsea has just been arrested for her first DUI, and is waiting for her sister to come to bail her out of jail. Once out, she has lost her driver's license and needs to find a place to live that is close to work, and there just so happens to be one that is just a little over 100 footsteps (she counts them) away. Chelsea moves in to the apartment with two of her friends, and we get a first glimpse into her sex life. Meanwhile, Sloane, whose husband is deployed in Iraq and is depending upon her sister to be there for the birth of her child, worries that Chelsea may be too busy getting drunk and partying to be there.

"Sloane's Ex" (airs January 18)
While at the bar, one of Sloane's ex-boyfriends shows up and just happens to run in to Chelsea. But Matt, the boyfriend, is available, and is free for Chelsea to grab. Naturally, the love between two sisters can (and does) suffer when Chelsea ends up in bed with Matt.


Analysis:

Yes, we have another one of those romance sitcoms, although there is a slight touch of the classic roommate sitcom here as well. But from what I saw in the first two episodes, there seems to be a bit too much of an emphasis on the romantic part. In both of the episodes, we saw Chelsea end up in bed with a romantic interest. That isn't to say that sex scenes should be off-limits for a sitcom (and don't worry, they aren't graphic, they are very PG-13 at worst), but unless it is a show about a Nevada brothel, is it really necessary to include that in both of the first two episodes? The series really needs to work on a bit more substance.

Another issue that I noticed with the pilot (and only the pilot) is that it seemed to bring in various aspects of the entire book that the series is based upon in one episode. Obviously, it is too late to change that now, but the book could have potentially provided many great ideas for scripts and story-lines for the series. But instead, it was all dumped out in one big burst in the pilot, leaving dead-ends for the stories. While I haven't read the book, I am familiar with the stories that are in the book, and many of them would have made great plots that have now been wrecked by just the pilot episode.

I do think, though, that the series COULD be strong if it places more emphasis on the roommate aspect of the series. However, I'm not sure that the roommates that we have here are the best characters to even have. There isn't a whole lot of substance to the roommates, and all I really got out of the first two episodes is that one is Filipino-American and the other is dimwitted. I think that can be changed, though, and perhaps they could even change one (or both) of the roommates. The series has already told so much of the "autobiographical" stuff in the pilot that making changes wouldn't be too serious anyway. The work life at the bar could be interesting too, except my problem with that is that the bar characters were even less exciting.

Conclusion:

While I've seen much better series (and I mean many much better series), I don't feel this series was a bad idea to bring to the air. However, I don't feel that many fans will be pleased with the execution of the series. The pilot really moved through too many plots too fast, and I really hope that the whole series won't be this way. It is hard to tell how successful this series will ultimately be. While Chelsea Handler does have some star power, will people be interested in tuning in to a sitcom that could stand some improvement? Hopefully, the producers will see the need for improvement and actually make some very soon, before this series gets the pink slip. It is very rare that I see a sitcom that really could have some potential that seems to have it destroyed the way this one does.

Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):

Watchability: 2/5
Funniness: 2/5
Overall: 2/5

Discuss the show after you watch it on Wednesday, January 11 on our message board.

Related Links:

NBC.com Official Site

TV.com

epguides.com

Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia

Are You There, Chelsea? Photo Gallery

Preview:

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Today ABC is up at the TCA Winter 2012 press tour at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, California and we will recap what has happened there today. After breakfast, we had the all-important ABC Entertainment Executive Session with ABC Entertainment President, Paul Lee. After that session, ABC turned it over to show panels with highly anticipated comedy Don't Trust The B---- In Apartment 23 up first. On hand were stars Krysten Ritter, Dreama Walker, Liza Lapira, Michael Blaiklock, Eric Andre, James Van Der Beek, and producers Nahnatchka Khan, David Hemingson, and Jeff Morton. That was followed by another high quality pilot in The River, which premieres Feb. 7. On hand are stars Bruce Greenwood, Joe Anderson, Leslie Hope, Eloise Mumford, Paul Blackthorne, Daniel Zacapa, Shaun Parkes, Paulina Gaitan, and producers Michael Green, Oren Peli, Zack Estrin. And the high quality pilots continue with a session for GCB, which premieres March 4. On hand are stars Leslie Bibb, Kristin Chenoweth, Annie Potts, Jennifer Aspen, Miriam Shor, Marisol Nichols, Brad Beyer, David James Elliott, and producer Robert Harling. Then it is lunch time.
After lunch, ABC will have a session for Wednesday Comedy Showrunners. Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline (The Middle), Emily Kapnek (Suburgatory), Steve Levitan (Modern Family), & David Caspe and Jonathan Groff (Happy Endings). Following that, back to more show panels. First up is Scandal, from Shonda Rhimes. On hand for that are stars Kerry Washington, Henry Ian Cusick, Columbus Short, Darby Stanchfield, Katie Lowes, Guillermo Diaz, Jeff Perry, Tony Goldwyn, and producers Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, and Judy Smith. The final new series panel is for Missing, which premieres March 15. On hand will be stars Ashley Judd & Cliff Curtis, and producers Gregory Poirier, Gina Matthews, and Grant Scharbo. And ending the ABC portion of the tour of course is Desperate Housewives, its final TCA tour. Stars Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross, Eva Longoria, James Denton, Vanessa Williams, Ricardo Antonio Chavira, & Doug Savant, along with producers Marc Cherry & Bob Daily reminisce and talk about the final batch of episodes.

ABC will premiere new comedy Don't Trust the B---- In Apartment 23 on Wednesday, April 11 at 9:30pm following Modern Family. The series has a 13 episode order, but it is unclear if all 13 would air. The season finale of Happy Endings will be on April 4. Happy Endings launched last April in a similar manner. ABC has not announced a return date yet for Cougar Town, but they will in a few weeks and will give it a nice launching pad in March. Stay tuned for that!
In other scheduling news, ABC has scheduled new Shonda Rhimes drama Scandal on Thursday, April 5 at 10pm. The series will air 7 episodes this season and will follow Grey's Anatomy on Thursday nights. As a result of this change, ABC will move Private Practice to Tuesdays at 10pm for its final four episodes of the season from April 24 to May 15. It is unclear what will air Tuesdays at 10pm from March 27 to April 17, as Body of Proof is tentatively ending its season on March 20. Perhaps some Cougar Town special airings? The only other series not yet scheduled is reality series Secret Millionaire, which could be used for summer now.
There wasn't much else to report, except that Grey's Anatomy and Dancing with the Stars are going to be around for many more seasons. Stay with us in the coming weeks for that Cougar Town premiere date!

Look ahead: Up tomorrow it will be CBS and on Thursday The CW will end the broadcast portion. On Friday (Jan. 13) thru Sunday (Jan. 15) will be the cable portion. Stay with us for key updates from these events.

It's that time again, the winter portion of the TCA press tour. The TCA Winter 2012 press tour begins today with NBC at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, California. There will be breakfast with Betty White, an executive session, followed by panels for upcoming new series Are You There Chelsea, Smash, Fashion Star, Bent, Awake and The Firm.

Ellen DeGeneres, Morgan Freeman, Tina Fey, Ray Romano, Seth Meyers, Carl Reiner, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Vicki Lawrence, John O'Hurley and Tracy Morgan have joined the star-studded line-up paying tribute to one of the world's most beloved entertainers in Betty White's 90th Birthday: A Tribute to America's Golden Girl on Monday, January 16 from 8-9:30 p.m. ET. These stars join previous stars who were already booked, as we mentioned.

Couple of other notes, NBC Entertainment president Bob Greenblatt mentioned at the executive session that the pilot for Smash will be available online before it premiere on Feb. 6. It is being offered to digital download platforms including Apple iTunes, Amazon Video on Demand, Xbox/Zune, Playstation, Samsung MediaHub and Vudu beginning January 16 through February 6. And beginning January 23 through February 6, online streaming via NBC.com and Hulu and from Jan. 15-30 on selected American Airlines flights.
NBC also mentioned that The Voice will air for 15 weeks, so it will likely have its finale on May 14 after premiering Feb. 5 after the Super Bowl. NBC still has not given premiere dates for some mid-season series. They are Bent, Awake, and BFF. The latter didn't have a panel even at TCA today. NBC still also doesn't have a return date for Community and they admitted that they didn't handle its hiatus well on their mid-season press release. It still has 12 more episodes to air and NBC doesn't think it will be a lead-off series again. That's about it for anything notable from NBC at this season's TCA.

Look ahead: NBC Universal will continue tomorrow with their cable networks. Sunday will have Fox. Monday has ABC/Disney Cable/Daytime/News, while Tuesday it is ABC primetime. Wednesday it will be CBS and on Thursday The CW will end the broadcast portion. Next Friday (Jan. 13) thru next Sunday (Jan. 15) will be the cable portion. Stay with us for key updates from these events.


It's Friday, so it is time for "Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows" for the coming week. This is where we list what sitcom stars are appearing on talk shows for the coming week, the stars are both current and past sitcom stars, so this is for all sitcom fans of all eras!
For the week of January 9-13, 2012, we have many current sitcom stars and past sitcom stars on TV talk shows! All times listed are Eastern. So get your DVR's (or whatever you use) ready! Ready? Here is all what you need to know for the coming week!

Monday, January 9, 2012

• David Cross (Arrested Development) - Watch David on Conan at 11pm on TBS.
• Janet Jackson (Good Times/Diff'rent Strokes) - Janet visits The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at 11:35pm on NBC.
• Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory/8 Simple Rules) - The lovely Kaley stops by The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
• Brandy Norwood (The Game/Moesha) - Brandy joins the cast of BET's The Game this season, and stops by to tell Wendy all about it on The Wendy Williams Show at 12am on BET or on your local stations. Plus, Brandy's co-stars Pooch, Hosea and Coby dish on the new season!
  

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

• Queen Latifah (Living Single) - Catch Queen Latifah on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at 11:35pm on NBC.
• Tina Fey (30 Rock) - Tina appears with Jana Krakowsi on NBC's Today between 7-9am and later drops by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:37am on NBC.
• Chelsea Handler (Are You There, Chelsea?) - Chelsea appears on Conan at 11pm on TBS.
• The Cast of Rob - The cast of the new CBS comedy Rob previews the show on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT. Cheech Marin gives a cooking demo.
• Laura Prepon (Are You There, Chelsea?/That '70s Show) - Laura visits NBC's Today between 7-9am and will later be on LIVE! with Kelly, so check your listings.
• Wendy Raquel Robinson (The Game/The Steve Harvey Show) and Tia Mowry (The Game/Sister,Sister) - Wendy and Tia give us a sneak peek at the new season of BET's hit series, The Game, on The Wendy Williams Show at 12am on BET or on your local stations.
  

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

• Woody Harrelson (Cheers) - Watch Woody on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 12am on ABC.
• Rosie O'Donnell (Gimme a Break!) - Rosie is a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:37am on NBC.
• Jack McBrayer (30 Rock) - Jack visits Conan at 11pm on TBS.
• Wendie Malick (Hot in Cleveland/Just Shoot Me/Dream On) - Wendie appears on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
• Jane Krakowski (30 Rock) - Jane stops by LIVE! with Kelly, so check your listings.
• Laura Prepon (Are You There, Chelsea?/That '70s Show) - Laura will be on NBC's Today between 10-11am.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

• Betty White (Hot in Cleveland/The Golden Girls/The Mary Tyler Moore Show) - Catch the legendary Ms. White on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at 11:35pm on NBC.
• Miranda Cosgrove (iCarly) - Miranda drops by LIVE! with Kelly, so check your listings.
• Keke Palmer (True Jackson, VP) - Keke appears on The Wendy Williams Show at 12am on BET or on your local stations.
• Queen Latifah (Living Single) - Queen Latifah continues to
  make the rounds on NBC's Today between 7-9am.
• Lana Parrilla (Spin City) - The Once Upon a Time star visits ABC's Good Morning America between 7-9am.

Friday, January 13, 2012

• Louie Anderson (Life with Louie/The Louie Show) - Watch Louie on Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:37am on CBS.
• Queen Latifah (Living Single) - Queen Latifah visits LIVE! with Kelly, so check your listings and later she will be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:37am on NBC.
• Miranda Cosgrove (iCarly) - Miranda appears on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:37am on NBC.
• Judith Light (Who's the Boss?) - Judith chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
• Lana Parrilla (Spin City) - The Once Upon a Time star is a guest on LIVE! with Kelly, so check your listings and later joins the Chew Crew on The Chew on ABC at 1pm ET/12pm PT/CT.

Leave us comments on our message board or Tweet/Facebook us to let us know what you think of this Friday feature! We do listen!

Just last week we told you that Happy Days and Little House on the Prairie are joining the INSP January 2012 schedule, but now we have the full January line-up! We know that Happy Days will be airing weekdays at 6:00pm & 6:30pm ET starting Jan. 2, bit you'll be glad to hear that The Brady Bunch will now air weekdays at 5:00pm & 5:30pm ET as a lead-in! The schedule will start on Monday, Jan. 2 and the line-up will kick-off at 1pm ET with The Waltons every weekday. Then at 2pm ET, it's Wind At My Back. Then at 3pm ET, The Big Valley remains, but its 4pm ET slot will now be the new addition Little House on the Prairie. As mentioned, the sitcoms will air in the 4pm & 6pm ET hours, so Dr. Quinn will be moved to 7pm ET, as Wind At My Back moves to 2pm ET. In primetime, The Waltons remains at 8pm ET, but the second hour will now be Little House on the Prairie at 9pm ET. Then another hour will follow at 10pm ET, leading into Dr. Quinn at 11pm ET, which will remain. And finally for weeknights, The Big Valley remains at 12 midnight and will also gain the 1am ET hour replacing Our House, which will be removed from the schedule for now.
Moving on to weekends, we mentioned Little House joins the line-up with a New Year's Day marathon on Sunday, Jan. 1, but the following weekend will have some changes. On Saturdays, Little House will be airing at 7pm ET, while Bonanza and The Big Valley remain from 12-2am ET. And finally on Sundays, The Waltons and Little House will air Sundays from 1-3pm ET replacing back-to-back Dr. Quinn. Every other timeslot we have not mentioned is an inspirational, gospel, or other type of series.

NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno offered its all-military audience on last Wednesday's show (November 23) an opportunity to win a guest role on the upcoming new network comedy Are You There, Chelsea? and current comedy Whitney. Each branch of the military were given an audition and the best performance won a cameo role in an upcoming episode of Are You There, Chelsea? and also a guest role on the Whitney Cummings sitcom Whitney. Whitney Cummings, along with Tonight Show correspondent Ross Matthews, served as the judges for the competition. Cummings replaced Chelsea Handler who was originally supposed to be one of the judges, so with Cummings appearing, they added Whitney to the prize.
After the competition, the winner was Marcus McGinnis from the Air Force. Marcus will have a speaking guest role on Whitney on an episode this season and will have a cameo on Are You There, Chelsea. Both sitcoms will air back-to-back on Wednesday nights starting Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012 from 8-9pm ET on NBC.

Midseason is on the horizon and today we have the winter portion (Jan-Mar) for CBS and NBC to give you. CBS has announced midseason 2012 premiere dates for the new comedy ¡Rob! and the return of reality series Undercover Boss. Both series will start airing in January, 2012. ¡Rob!, a new comedy starring Rob Schneider as a lifelong bachelor who just married into a tight-knit Mexican-American family, premieres Thursday, Jan. 12 at 8:30PM, ET/PT following The Big Bang Theory on Thursday nights. ¡Rob! also stars Cheech Marin, Claudia Bassols, Diana Maria Riva, Eugenio Derbez and Lupe Ontiveros. The new comedy has an episode order for eight episodes. Veteran comedy Rules of Engagement will return to its Thursday at 8:30 PM, ET/PT time period later this season, but its episode order has been cut from 18 to 13 (it is actually 15 because the sitcom had two leftover episodes from last season). The sitcom will air its fifth episode of the season this Thursday and perhaps another one will air in December before it goes on a hiatus for eight weeks starting Jan. 12. If all goes well, you will see it return sometime in March at the earliest.

Meanwhile, Undercover Boss returns with its third season premiere on Sunday, Jan. 15 at a new earlier time of 8:00 PM, ET/PT. Each week, Undercover Boss follows a different executive as they leave the comfort of their corner office for an undercover mission to examine the inner workings of their companies. It is unclear how many weeks the series will run in this timeslot, as The Amazing Race will return in this timeslot at mid-season with a premiere that will be announced at a later date. Other than that, CBS has not announced any other changes. Still to be scheduled is new cop series The 2-2, which is likely for March or later in the spring. CBS also has not announced what will air Wednesdays at 8:00 PM, ET/PT in January before Survivor returns sometime in February, but it will likely be encores. And finally CBS has ordered three additional episodes of struggling Friday drama series A Gifted Man. The series will now air 16 episodes this season. My inclining is that it will be on the bubble for a second season until the day of upfront. Anyway, view and discuss the early changes to CBS midseason 2012.




We have another early midseason schedule for you, covering January-March 2012 for NBC! NBC announced its new mid-season 2012 schedule which features the premieres of four new series in Smash (Monday, February 6), The Firm (two-hour premiere Sunday, January 8, time slot premiere Thursday, January 12), Fashion Star (Tuesday, March 13) and Are You There, Chelsea? (Wednesday, January 11). The new lineup also includes the return of The Voice, 30 Rock, The Celebrity Apprentice and Who Do You Think You Are? Newcomer Prime Suspect and third year comedy Community will go on hiatus, but will return later in the season. In addition, there are day and time period changes for Whitney, Up All Night, Rock Center with Brian Williams and Harry's Law.

Let's detail it night-by-night. On Mondays, last spring's hit vocal competition series The Voice returns even louder with an hour-long season debut following Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday, February 5 at approx. 10pm ET/7pm PT and then resumes in its regular day and time on Monday, February 6 from 8-10 p.m. ET. Following The Voice is the much-anticipated musical drama Smash which premieres Monday, February 6 at 10 p.m. ET for 15 weeks. On Tuesdays, Fashion Star - the new reality competition series hosted and executive-produced by Elle Macpherson - will premiere with a two-hour episode on Tuesday, March 13 from 9-11 p.m. ET and resume on Tuesday, March 20 airing Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET. The Biggest Loser will open a new edition on Tuesday, January 3 from 8-10 p.m. ET followed by Parenthood at 10 p.m. ET, but it concludes its season on Tuesday, February 28 with its season finale. On Wednesdays, the freshman comedy Whitney" moves into a new day (Wednesday) and time (8:00 p.m.) beginning Wednesday, January 11 followed by the series debut of the new comedy Are You There, Chelsea? at 8:30 p.m. ET also on Wednesday, January 11. NBC will move Rock Center with Brian Williams to Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET, starting Wednesday, February 8 as it has its last Monday telecast on Jan. 30. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit remains at 10 p.m. (ET).

For Thursdays, the new drama The Firm moves into the Thursday lineup at 10 p.m. ET beginning Thursday, January 12 following its special two-hour premiere the previous Sunday (January 8) from 9-11 p.m. ET. The first-season comedy Up All Night will also move to Thursday nights at 9:30 p.m. (ET) on Thursday, January 12 which is also the night that multiple Emmy Award-winning 30 Rock returns for its season debut at an earlier time of 8 p.m. ET, with an expected episode order of a full season. Parks and Recreation and The Office remain in the same time periods at 8:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. ET. Moving on to Fridays, the returning series Who Do You Think You Are? makes its season debut on Friday, February 3 at 8 p.m. ET, as Chuck will have its two-hour series finale on Friday, January 27 from 8-10 p.m. ET. Newcomer Grimm and Dateline NBC remain in the respective time periods from 9 to 11 p.m. Saturdays will feature encores of Harry's Law, The Firm and Law & Order: SVU. And finally on Sundays, The Celebrity Apprentice returns on Sunday, February 12 from 9-11 p.m. ET. Dateline NBC begins on Sundays from 7-9 p.m. ET, on January 8, but then Harry's Law moves to the 8 p.m. (ET) time period on March 4, so Dateline NBC will be cut just to the 7 p.m. (ET) hour starting on March 4.

That's a whole lotta changes, but more is still to come. Still missing from the mid-season schedule for NBC are new drama Awake, new comedies Bent & BFFs, and practical joke series Betty White's Off the Rockers. As mentioned, Community will return later in the spring to complete its 22 episode order (10 are scheduled to have aired by the end of 2011, so 12 will be ready to go later this season). We urge you to view and discuss the NBC midseason 2012 schedule for Jan-Mar.

Sitcom Recap:
New sitcoms - Are You There, Chelsea? (TBD episodes, NBC Wednesdays at 8:30pm starting Jan. 11) and ¡Rob! (8 episodes, CBS Thursdays at 8:30pm starting Jan. 12)
Returning - 30 Rock (TBD episodes, NBC Thursdays at 8:00pm starting Jan. 12)
Moving - Whitney (NBC Wednesdays at 8:30pm starting Jan. 11) and Up All Night (NBC Thursdays at 9:30pm starting Jan. 12)
Hiatus - Rules of Engagement (CBS) and Community (NBC) - both expected back in Spring