Yes, NBC did present panels for three new fall shows: The comedy The Good Place with Kristin Bell and Ted Danson, the science-fiction adventure Time Will Tell and the family drama This Is Us, the latter benefitting from a hugely popular trailer -- viewed 91 million times across social media according to NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt (pictured at top and at bottom left). The network also included a panel for its successful sophomore thriller Blindspot, which launched last fall. But much of the talk during Greenblatt’s opening remarks concerned recent midseason and spring successes for NBC including Superstore, Shades of Blue, The Carmichael Show and Little Big Shots; the December 2015 movie Coat of Many Colors (which will have a sequel); the live holiday season musical Hairspray, and another planned December special celebrating Tony Bennett’s 90th birthday. (For the first time since it began producing live December musicals, NBC yesterday brought the cast of one to the Summer TCA. With Kristin Chenoweth, Harvey Fierstein, Jennifer Hudson, Derek Hough and Ariana Grande on stage, the Hairspray panel, pictured below, was a highlight of the day.)
Greenblatt also had a lot to say about summer hits America’s Got Talent (currently enjoying its highest ratings in five years) and American Ninja Warrior as well as Chicago Justice, the fourth entry in Dick Wolf’s high-profile, ever-expanding Windy City franchise, which will launch at midseason rather than in the fall. (Wolf, who appeared yesterday to promote the returning Chicago Med, continues to collectively define his Chicago shows as one large multi-faceted series and all of his actors as one large cast. It’s an interesting idea and a new way of approaching series drama on broadcast television.)
“Our fall schedule is crowded with shows that were working for us; a lot of returning shows,” NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke (pictured below right), who appeared with Greenblatt, told the TCA. “There were moments where [Chicago Justice] was on the fall schedule. It ended up in the place we think is the best spot for it. We’re not looking at midseason as any kind of booby prize on the schedule board. It’s a place of great opportunity.”