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 weekNBC may stop programming the 10-11 pm hourpotentially giving those seven hours (including following the football season ends) to local TV stations. The idea — which might 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.
