NBC Opens the Network Portion of The Winter Tour

AT LEAST FOUR NEW SERIES ON TAP FOR THE SUMMER

Following a Celebrity Apprentice breakfast with returning participants Trace Adkins, Stephen Baldwin, Gary Busey, Penn Jillette, Marilu Henner, Omarosa and Lisa Rinna, NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt opened the executive session with an abundance of well-deserved rating highlights (which are a result, of course, of the first fall edition of The Voice). Present with Greenblatt were Jennifer Salke (President, NBC Entertainment) and Paul Telegdy (President, Alternative and Late Night Programming), and the new midseason series panels on NBC during the day were sitcom 1600 Penn and dramas Deception and Do No Harm. Current series sessions were dramas Revolution, Grimm and Smash; and reality competition The Biggest Loser, with returning trainer Gillian Michaels present.

In news at NBC, the new fall 2013 Michael J. Fox sitcom is going into production; upcoming drama Crossbones, the fictional adaptation of the life of notorious pirate Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard) is in pre-production; and the network has ordered a new light dramedy for the summer called Camp, which is set in fictional Little Hawk Family Camp. Thirteen episodes of Camp have been ordered. NBC, in addition, has a new untitled competition series from Bear Grylls and two new unscripted series that it will be officially announcing in the near future for this summer.

“We’ve made our share of mistakes and we certainly haven’t done everything right,” said Robert Greenblatt. “And as we all know, you and our audience aren’t going to embrace everything that we put out there. But we’re all working really hard on every front to produce strong, attention getting, high-quality shows and market them as aggressively as possible. And, of course, we want people to watch them on our network where we air them or DVR them and watch them back within three days or other platforms so that we monetize them.”

Without Sunday Night Football (which ended the season) and The Voice (which will return in March), NBC, no doubt, will lose steam. And upcoming Monday drama Deception will not have the lead-in support of The Voice like Revolution did. But the vibe is positive at the Peacock net for the first time in more than 10 years…and very deservedly so.