One show that is most definitely not sweating the news that NBC may be abandoning the 10 pm hour next fall is New Amsterdam. The Ryan Eggold-fronted medical drama — which has occupied the Tuesday-at-10 pm slot since its 2018 launch — will conclude following its upcoming (shortened) fifth season.
But beyond that? All bets are pretty much off.
As first reported by the Wall Street Journal last week, NBC may stop programming the 10-11 pm hour, potentially giving those seven hours (including after the football season ends) to local TV stations. The idea — which could take effect as early as Fall 2023 — is reportedly being considered as a way to cut costs amid evaporating linear ratings.
An NBC rep declined our request for comment, but a network spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal, “We are always looking at strategies to ensure that our broadcast business remains as strong as possible. As a company, our advantage lies in our ability to provide audiences with the content they love across broadcast, cable and streaming.”
NBC famously — or infamously? — toyed with a similar experiment back in Sept. 2009 when it replaced its 10 pm programming on Monday-Friday with The Jay Leno Show. The ill-fated move lasted just five months and 95 episodes.
Should NBC move forward with the plan, the network would need to cut seven hours from its primetime schedule (or, really, five, if you exclude the rerun wasteland that is Saturday night and the Sunday Night Football-dominated Sunday night).
Scroll down for our very speculative take on which scripted (read: expensive) series would be most vulnerable amid such an unprecedented primetime downsizing.
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THE BLACKLIST
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC Let’s face it: It’s a not-so-minor miracle that the James Spader-led thriller — which ranks as NBC’s lowest-rated scripted series — is returning this season. In fact, we were predicting that the series’ forthcoming 10th season would be its last even before the Wall Street Journal story broke. If NBC does indeed bail on 10 pm, it will for sure be the straw that finally snapped The Blacklist‘s seemingly unbreakable back.
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LAW AND ORDER
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC As the weakest link of NBC’s three-hour Law & Order-themed Thursday block, the mothership — which struggled mightily in the ratings during its inaugural revival season, and is navigating a bit of a cast shake-up — would likely be the first to be dun-dun‘d should the network shutter the 10 pm hour (barring a turnaround this coming season, of course).
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CHICAGO MED
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC As NBC’s No. 3 scripted series overall, the youngest member of NBC’s #OneChicago trilogy is, relatively speaking, a ratings hit. As a result, there is absolutely a scenario wherein Med — which has not been renewed beyond its upcoming eighth season — simply gets separated from Wednesday siblings Chicago Fire and Chicago PD (NBC’s No. 1 and No. 2 scripted shows, respectively), forcing the hospital procedural to go it alone on another night. But should NBC opt against the divide-and-conquer approach, Med‘s prognosis would turn grim.
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QUANTUM LEAP
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC The last thing NBC’s reboot of the Scott Bakula classic needed was more pressure to perform, but, well, here we are. NBC’s possible 10 pm exodus would likely give Quantum Leap 2.0 — which has already undergone its first showrunner change amid problematic pilot buzz — a higher bar to clear to justify a Season 2 renewal.
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YOUNG ROCK, GRAND CREW, AMERICAN AUTO, LOPEZ VS. LOPEZ, NIGHT COURT
Image Credit: Courtesy of Melissa Rauch/Instagram; NBC If NBC was looking for an excuse to euthanize its ailing comedy brand, a 10 pm retreat — and the subsequent reduction in primetime hours it would trigger — would provide ample justification. As it is, the network is heading into the 2022-23 season with just five sitcoms — the modestly performing Young Rock, American Auto and Grand Crew, as well as rookie entry Lopez vs. Lopez and Melissa Rauch’s promising Night Court revival.
