NBC Announces Schedule for 2011-2012

I wanted to get this schedule up as soon as I heard about it. The post has now been updated with a detailed analysis of NBC's schedule. You can find both after the jump.

Monday:

8PM-10PM: The Sing-Off

10PM: The Playboy Club*

Midseason:

8PM-10PM: The Voice

10PM: Smash

Thoughts: This is probably the gutsiest of the moves on NBC schedule. To say Mondays haven't been going well for NBC would be a huge understatement, so to make a splash on Mondays, they put their two biggest potential hit reality shows on that night. I don't know how this will work in the fall with the Sing-Off, but this should work wonders in the spring with The Voice. As for 10PM, it was a given that Smash would have a lead-in from the Voice. That should be a great pairing that will bring in great ratings for the network. As for the Playboy Club, that is a show that might not click, especially leading out of the Sing-Off. 

Tuesday:

8PM-10PM: The Biggest Loser 

10PM: Parenthood

Thoughts: I'm surprised that NBC is deciding to keep it status quo for Tuesdays this season. I would have thought that they'd use Biggest Loser to launch a new show for this fall. I guess they're following the formula if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Tuesdays did well for them so it's a good idea to keep the lineup the same. 

Wednesday:

8PM: Up All Night*

8:30: Free Agents*

9PM: Harry's Law

10PM: Law and Order: SVU

Thoughts: Launching an 1-hour comedy block with 2 new comedies is a very risky move. These are two comedies with star power, but this is a move that will either payoff greatly or fail miserably. I hope for NBC's sake that this works, but it may not work. Then putting one of their oldest-skewing shows after two comedies which should be pretty young-skewing. That's a very interesting move, but it probably came from not having anywhere else on the schedule to put it. At least they have SVU staying put at 10PM, which should do status-quo-ratings and be unaffected by the show leading into it. 

Thursday:

8PM: Community

8:30PM: Parks and Recreation

9PM: The Office

9:30PM: Whitney*

10PM: Prime Suspect*

Thoughts: Probably the biggest move involving their comedy block is moving 30 Rock to midseason (for pregnancy reasons), but otherwise there's nothing too surprising in this lineup. Community leads off the night in the same timeslot that it's been in since it premiered. Parks and Rec loses its post-Office timeslot, but that's not surprising because they need to use that slot to launch a new hit comedy while they still have the Office. I'm a little surprised that they picked the multicamera comedy Whitney for this slot though. I guess they see a lot of potential for this. And they try to own the 10PM slot with a drama that could be a huge hit if the adaption is done correctly. Prime Suspect should get a good sampling from the comedies and if it's really good, there's potential for a long run in that timeslot.

Friday

8PM: Chuck

9PM: Grimm*

10PM: Dateline

Thoughts: Chuck gets to live out its fifth and final season on Friday nights. This move is completely unsurprising for me because it hasn't been doing well on Mondays. It was bound to be moved and Fridays seem to be the best place for it. Just be glad that we're getting 13 more episodes so the producers can give the show the proper conclusion. You have to give Robert Greenblatt props for that. But I'm surprised they left Grimm to die on Fridays. Something tells me that this show won't click on this night and will die a quick death. And they finish off the night with Dateline. 

Sunday:

Fall:

Sunday Night Football

Midseason:

7PM: Dateline NBC

8PM-10PM: The Celebrity Apprentice

10PM: The Firm*

Thoughts: NBC must really hope there's football in the fall because they didn't announce a contingency plan (although on the call with reporters they said they were working on a plan). And they must be hoping that Donald Trump doesn't run for president. But I'm glad to see they're using the Apprentice to launch a new show. 

Midseason: 30 Rock, Awake*, Bent*, Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea*, Smash*, The Firm*, The Voice, The Celebrity Apprentice

*New Show

They seem to be saving a lot of their assets for midseason. Interesting move on their part. These shows could do very well because they have the Super Bowl in February as a launching pad. 

What do you guys think of the schedule? What's the best and worst moves?