NBC has made decisions on two of its three bubble comedies and one of its four pilots.
The network chose to cancel the second series Great crew and third year show Young Rock, leaving his comic colleague American car on the bubble. As part of NBC’s comedy moves on Friday, the network handed out a series order to the mockumentary series St Denis Medical. There’s no word yet on the fate of the three remaining NBC pilots, the comedy non-evil twin with Amber Ruffin and dramas murder by the book And Wolf.
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St Denis Medical, in the vein of ABC’s Darling Emmy Breakout Abbott Elementary School, is described as a mockumentary about an underfunded and understaffed Oregon hospital where dedicated doctors and nurses do their best to treat patients while maintaining their own sanity. Wendi McClendon-Covey stars in the Universal TV series, marking her first role after completing a 10-season run as the ABC star The Goldbergs earlier this season. The series hails from creator and writer Justin Spitzer, who is also behind NBC’s latest bubble show, American car. Spitzer co-created St. Denis Medical alongside Eric Ledgin, with Simon Heuer attached as executive producer. Ruben Fleischer directed and produced the pilot. David Alan Grier, Allison Tolman, Josh Lawson, Mekki Leeper and Kahyun Kim round out the cast.
great crew, meanwhile starred Nicole Byer and Echo Kellum and was created by Phil Augusta Jackson who produced alongside his former Brooklyn nine-nine Dan Goor cohort. The Universal Television series, where Goor is based with an overall deal, ran for two seasons.
Young Rock was based on the life of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who produced the series alongside creator Nahnatchka Khan. Johnson appeared as himself in the Universal TV-produced series, which starred Adrian Groulx, Bradley Constant and Uli Latukefu as younger versions of the global superstar.
St. Denis Medical marks the second comedy series NBC has picked up for the 2023-24 broadcast season. The network has already gone serial on Extended family, with Jon Cryer, the Lionsgate-produced series having already wrapped production. This series, next to the dramas Find And The Irrational, were picked up off-cycle and developed through the 2022 pilot season before being pushed back to next season as NBC banked original scripted series in the event of a work stoppage by Hollywood unions.
The ongoing writers’ strike, now approaching its sixth week, has forced a number of TV series and film productions to halt filming. The longer the work stoppage continues – with performers also threatening to strike Hollywood studios and streamers – the more immediate impact it will have on broadcast networks which remain tied to a rigid schedule for advertisers.
The cancellations come as networks beyond NBC took a wait-and-see approach to bubble shows in the wake of the strike. Many studios are now being forced to make decisions on whether to cast options and continue to delay decisions on bubble pricing or cancel originals outright.
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