Upfronts 2014: NBC

It's upfront week for the broadcast networks, as they tout next year's lineup in the hopes of selling all that precious ad time as soon as possible for as much money as possible. NBC, the doormat who managed to be the number 1 network at some point this season, got to go first.

What's Cancelled? In case you were off the Internet last week, the most notable cancellation for NBC is Community. And if you were off the Internet because electricity no longer works, you've been saved as NBC also axed Revolution.

Everything else that got whacked was either a mid-season replacement, a planned short run (Dracula), or had been cancelled a while ago.

Starting this Fall - here's your night-by-night schedule.

Monday - The Voice leads into The Blacklist. You should get used to seeing a lot of The Voice, as it will run twice during the season. The Blacklist will also get the post-Super Bowl slot.

Tuesday - The Voice results show, then a one-hour sitcom block, with Chicago Fire capping the night. The sitcom block has a new show, Marry Me, leading into the return of About a Boy, which seemed to disappear after its heavy promotion during the Olympics but apparently did enough to earn a second season.

Marry Me is about a couple who, botching their first attempt at an engagement (he planned to do it after a vacation, she slams him after they get back because she thought he'd pop the question on vacation), decide not to do it until everything is just right. Can't say I'm particularly interested, but it apparently involves a variety of people from Happy Endings, which enough people seemed to like that this may work.

Wednesday - A trio of dramas, as The Mysteries of Laura leads into Law & Order: SVU and Chicago PD. Laura is about a NYPD detective (Debra Messing) who is great at work but can't keep things together at home. Oh, and at some point her soon-to-be (maybe) husband winds up being her boss at some point. Ugh.

Thursday - The Biggest Loser  and Parenthood bookend two new sitcoms that make me wonder if the cancellation of Community was premature. Bad Judge starts Kate Walsh as the titular bad judge, though the bad refers to her wild personal life (and occasional idiosyncracies behind the bench). Then some 8 year old kid shows up and may just be what causes her to settle down. So really, About Another Boy.

A to Z follows the wacky dating hijinx of a guy (Andrew) and a woman (Zelda) who meet thanks to an online dating error. He's a romantic! She's the practical one! Wacky! I would watch this only if Andrew, played by Mad Men's Ben Feldman, played the character as a modern day Ginzo.

Friday - Dateline, Grimm and Constantine, the latter based on the Hellblazer series by DC Comics. Get used to seeing comic book properties among new series, by the way.

Saturday - reruns

Sunday - football.

And then at mid-season

The big move is The Blacklist going from Monday at 10 to Thursday at 9, putting a stake right though the Thursday comedy block's heart. Taking its place on Monday is State of Affairs, which sees Katherine Heigl play a CIA analyst who puts together the president's daily intelligence briefing. She was also once engaged to the president's son. The president is played by Alfre Woodard, and I can only hope this thing gets retooled for her.

Replacing Parenthood at midseason is Allegiance, a broadcast network version of The Americans, but set in the present. Timely, I suppose, and the presence of Hope Davis is heartening. Maybe the best thing to happen here would be for this show to spur interest in the FX show.

There are several unscheduled shows, including returners like Parks and Rec and Hannibal (and the Heroes reboot, as much as no one seems to be looking forward to it). Among the new shows not yet scheduled:

Aquarius - David Duchovny stars as a 1960s cop investigating disappearances linked to a small-time cult led by a guy named Charles Manson.

Emerald City - a gritty reboot of Gone With the Wind, straight from the Once Upon a Time playbook.

Mission Control- a sitcom set in the 1960s about a female engineer trying to work within the boy's club that is NASA.

Mr. Robinson - musician turned substitute teacher uses music to inspire his students. It's the School of Rock adaptation we've never been waiting for! Craig Robinson stars, in case you were wondering how they came up with the name.

The Odyssey - the lives of three strangers collide with unexpected results. It's the Traffic adaptation we've never been waiting for! I'm not even going to try to explain it here, the synopsis made my head hurt.

One Big Happy - friends decide to start a family, but just as the woman discovers she's pregnant the guy announces he's married his recently-acquired girlfriend - who the female friend does not like. Another spin on Modern Family, though having Ellen Degeneres as an executive producer can't hurt.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - a woman recently freed from living in a cult for 15 years (played by Ellie Kemper) decides to stay in New York after a Today appearance and rents a room from a Broadway wannabe. I'd be less interested in this if it wasn't from Tina Fey. I'm actually a little surprised it didn't get on the fall schedule, but you can also see where this and Parks and Rec could make a nice hour once something gets cancelled.

 Outlook

Not the worst that NBC has ever thrown at us. Still, I get the feeling that they're going to ride football and The Voice as hard as possible and just hope for the best with everything else.