NBC Picks Up THE EVENT, LAW & ORDER LA and OUTSOURCED

NBC has given full-season pickups to three of its new Fall 2010-11 series, "The Event," "Law & Order: Los Angeles" and "Outsourced." The announcement was made by Angela Bromstad, President, Primetime Entertainment, NBC and Universal Media Studios.

"We are pleased with the quality of 'The Event,' 'Law & Order: Los Angeles' and 'Outsourced,' and feel they are an important part of helping to re-build our schedule and our studio pipeline," said Bromstad. "We believe in these new series and the creative auspices behind them."

Through October 11, "The Event" has averaged a 3.0 rating, 7 share in adults 18-49 and 9.1 million viewers overall in "most current" averages from Nielsen Media Research. "The Event" has generated a 30 percent improvement in the time period versus year-ago "most current" results for NBC in 18-49 rating (with a 3.0 rating vs. a 2.3) and a 47 percent increase in total viewers (9.1 million vs. 6.2 million). On a percentage basis, "The Event" was the most time-shifted new series in adults 18-49 during premiere week from among the ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox primetime lineups, with 35 percent of "The Event's" "live plus seven day" rating being accounted for by time-shifting. Additionally, "The Event" was licensed to nearly 200 territories internationally even before its U.S. premiere, and is launching in numerous regions abroad to impressive ratings.

As of October 13, "Law & Order: Los Angeles" has averaged a 2.5 rating, 7 share in adults 18-49 and 8.7 million viewers overall in "live plus same day" averages from Nielsen. "Law & Order: L.A." has delivered a 39 percent improvement in the time period versus year-ago "live plus same day" results for NBC in 18-49 rating (with a 2.5 rating vs. a 1.8) and a 45 percent increase in total viewers (8.7 million vs. 6.0 million).

Through October 14, "Outsourced" has averaged a 3.0 rating, 8 share in adults 18-49 and 6.3 million viewers overall in "most current" averages from Nielsen. In the valuable adult 18-34 demographic, "Outsourced" is averaging a 3.3 rating, making it the #1 new series on ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox this fall. "Outsourced" is also heavily time-shifted, adding 19 percent to its "live plus same day" 18-49 rating when Nielsen issued "live plus seven day" results for premiere week (to a 4.29 rating from a 3.59), making it the top gainer among first-year half-hour comedies on the ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox primetime lineups.

"The Event" (Mondays, 9-10 p.m. ET) is an emotional, high-octane drama that follows Sean Walker (Jason Ritter, "The Class"), an everyman who investigates the mysterious disappearance of his would-be fianc?e, Leila (Sarah Roemer, "Disturbia"), and unwittingly begins to expose the biggest cover-up in U.S. history. Sean's quest sends ripples through the lives of an eclectic band of strangers, including newly elected U.S. President Elias Martinez (Golden Globe nominee Blair Underwood, "In Treatment"); Sophia Maguire (Emmy Award nominee Laura Innes, "ER"), who is the leader of a mysterious group of detainees; and Leila's shadowy father (Scott Patterson, "Gilmore Girls"). Ian Anthony Dale ("Daybreak"), Clifton Collins Jr. ("Star Trek"), Taylor Cole ("The Violent Kind"), Lisa Vidal ("The Division"), Bill Smitrovich ("The Practice") and Emmy winner ?eljko Ivanek ("Damages") also star.

"The Event" is a production of Universal Media Studios and Steve Stark Productions. Evan Katz ("24") serves as executive producer/show-runner; Steve Stark ("Medium," "Facing Kate") serves as executive producer; Jeffrey Reiner (NBC's "Friday Night Lights," "Trauma") is director/executive producer, and Nick Wauters ("The 4400," "Eureka") is creator/co-executive producer.

"Law & Order: Los Angeles" (Wednesdays, 10-11 p.m. ET) fuses the classic ripped- from-the-headlines storytelling with the distinctive backdrop of L.A. The drama follows Detectives Rex Winters (Skeet Ulrich, "Jericho") and Tomas "TJ" Jaruszalski (Corey Stoll, "Midnight in Paris") who are members of the L.A.P.D.'s elite Robbery Homicide Division. Their boss, Lt. Arleen Gonzales, (Rachel Ticotin), is driven and meticulous. Deputy District Attorney Ricardo Morales (Alfred Molina, "The Da Vinci Code," "Spiderman 2") is a sarcastic realist. Oscar nominee Terrence Howard ("Hustle & Flow") portrays methodical Deputy District Attorney Jonah Dekker and shares the position with Morales in alternate episodes. At Morales' side is the idealistic Deputy District Attorney Evelyn Price (Regina Hall, "Death at a Funeral"). Megan Boone ("Cold Case") plays Deputy District Attorney Lauren Stanton who works at Dekker's side.

The series is a Wolf Films production in association with Universal Media Studios. Wolf is creator and executive producer, Rene Balcer ("Law & Order," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent"), Blake Masters ("Brotherhood," "Rubicon"), Christopher Misiano ("West Wing," "ER") and Peter Jankowski ("Law & Order," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent") are executive producers.

"Outsourced" (Thursdays, 9:30-10 p.m. ET) is NBC's popular new workplace comedy series centered on a catalog-based company, Mid America Novelties, which sees its call center suddenly outsourced to India. When Manager Todd Dempsy (Ben Rappaport, off-Broadway's "The Gingerbread House") moves there, culture shock ensues when Todd inherits a sales team that includes: Gupta (Parvesh Cheena, "Help Me Help You"), a socially awkward employee; Manmeet (Sacha Dhawan, BBC's "Five Days II"), a young romantic; Asha (Rebecca Hazlewood, BBC's "Doctors"), a smart, striking woman; Rajiv (Rizwan Manji, "Privileged"), the assistant manager; and Madhuri (Anisha Nagarajan, Broadway's "Bombay Dreams"), suffers from shyness. The series also stars Diedrich Bader ("The Drew Carey Show") and Pippa Black ("Neighbours").

From Universal Media Studios, "Outsourced" is executive-produced by show-runner Robert Borden ("The Drew Carey Show" "George Lopez") and director Ken Kwapis ("He's Just Not That Into You," "The Office"), who developed the project through his company, In Cahoots. Victor Nelli, Jr. ("Ugly Betty"), Tom Gorai ("Outsourced" theatrical release) and David Skinner ("Outsourced" theatrical release) also serve as executive producers, and Alex Beattie serves as co-executive producer.

 

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