NBC Announces Slew of Schedule Shifts; THE NEW NORMAL Facing Cancellation?

By: Mar. 13, 2013
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Following the breaking news that NBC had booted its Broadway-themed series SMASH to Saturday nights, the network has announced a slew of switch-ups to its primetime schedule. Read on for for the full listing of updates, but keep in mind: things don't look good for Ryan Murphy's freshman comedy THE NEW NORMAL

READY FOR LOVE
Eva Longoria's reality relationship show, READY FOR LOVE, will take SMASH's timeslot on Tuesdays at 9 p.m., beginning April 9.

The show launches into a romantic journey that will combine in-studio competition and Reality Show elements. Each week, the women who fail to make a connection with the men will be sent home. In an intense finale, the quest for love culminates when the three men each choose their final woman and the couples must then decide if they'll get engaged, married, or simply live happily ever after. No matter what happens -- they will all discover if they are really "Ready for Love."

THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE
Beginning April 14, the first all-star edition of THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE will grow to a two-hour broadcast, rather than its standard one-hour. The season finale is tentatively set for a mid-May airdate. In addition, the network's reality singing competition The Voice will swing into Sundays for encore replays on March 31 and April 7 from 7-10 p.m. THE APPRENTICE will follow.

This season, fourteen of your favorite business-savvy celebrity contestants return for a second chance to raise money and awareness for their charity of choice. The last person standing will be chosen as the Celebrity Apprentice and have the honor of delivering a $250,000 bonus check to their designated charity.

GO ON
Matthew Perry's Go On will also wrap up its first season on Thursdays at 9:30, on April 4 and 11. As of now, the show has not been officially picked up for a second season, but the chances are fairly good. Though its ratings have dropped, it was one of NBC's highest-rated new premieres in the fall.

"Go On" is a touching new comedy created by Emmy Award-winning writer/executive producer Scott Silveri ("Perfect Couples," "Friends"). Three-time Emmy winner Todd Holland ("Malcolm in the Middle"), Karey Nixon ("Free Agents," "Miss/Guided") and Jon Pollack ("Up All Night," "30 Rock") also serve as executive producers. The pilot was directed by Holland.

THE NEW NORMAL
The New Normal
may be prepping for a series finale, The Hollywood Reporter has announced. It's one-hour season finale is set for April 2 at 9 p.m., with The Voice serving as its lead-in. Producers confirmed that the episode has been written as a potential series finale. As of now, there's no official word, though its general reliance on stereotypes to further its depiction of Modern Family has caused its ratings to dwindle.

These days, families come in all forms - single dads, double moms, sperm donors, egg donors, one-night-stand donors... It's 2012 and anything goes. Bryan (Andrew Rannells, "Girls," "The Book of Mormon") and David (Justin Bartha, "The Hangover") are a Los Angeles couple and they have it all. Well, almost. With successful careers and a committed, loving partnership, there is one thing that this couple is missing: a baby. And just when they think the stars will never align, enter Goldie (Georgia King, "One Day"), an extraordinary young woman with a checkered past. A midwestern waitress and single mother looking to escape her dead-end life and small-minded grandmother (Emmy and Tony Award-winner Ellen Barkin), Goldie decides to change everything and move to L.A. with her precocious eight year-old daughter. Desperate and broke - but also fertile - Goldie quickly becomes the guys' surrogate and quite possibly the girl of their dreams. Surrogate mother, surrogate family.

WHITNEY
The second season of Whitney Cummings' half-hour comedy will officially wrap on Wednesday, March 27 at 8 p.m.

The series is produced by Universal Television and Bluegrass Television. The executive producers are Scott Stuber ("The Breakup"), Quan Phung, Wil Calhoun ("Friends") and Barry Katz ("Last Comic Standing") are executive producers along with Cummings who is the executive producer/writer and Andy Ackerman ("Seinfeld") who is executive producer/director.



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