Fall TV Preview: NBC

As the new fall TV season approaches, we'll be breaking down the biggest offerings from each network. Here's a look at highlights from NBC's fall 2011 lineup.
 

The NBC Fall TV Line-Up

Remake of a beloved British cop drama
"Prime Suspect"
One of Britain's best crime dramas, which starred the great Helen Mirren, moves across The Pond and into the 21st Century with Maria Bello taking over for the great Dame, and Peter Berg behind the camera. Bello stars as Det. Jane Timoney, a tough and brilliant cop who's just transferred to a new department where the team in place shuns her because they believe she slept her way into their precinct. Co-stars Aidan Quinn and Peter Gerety ("The Wire"). (Premieres Thursday, September 22)



Family sitcom featuring parents who are overwhelmed without being total morons
"Up All Night"
Will Arnett and Christina Applegate star as a happily married, hard partying couple who unexpectedly have a kid in their late 30s (been there), and find themselves desperately trying to maintain their old lifestyle while getting accustomed to a new one. Maya Rudolph co-stars as Applegate's wildly self-absorbed, best friend/boss. (Premieres Wednesday, September 14)



Workplace sitcom that opens with inappropriate co-worker snogging
"Free Agents"
Throwing decades of sitcom convention out the window, the first shot of the first episode finds stars Hank Azaria and Kathryn Hahn in bed, after some ill-advised coitus. Not only are they co-workers, but he's recently divorced with two kids and prone to spontaneous crying; she's still grieving over the death of her fiancée a year ago. Tony Head ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") co-stars as their crass sex-obsessed boss. (Premieres Wednesday, September 14)

The next time machine back to the 60s
"The Playboy Club"
A look back at America as it straddled the border between the '50s and '60s and viewed through the lens of Hugh Hefner's Chicago nightclub. It stars Amber Heard as Bunny Maureen, who on her first day accidentally kills a local mobster, and the only one who can help her is Nick Dalton, played by Eddie Cibrian, a slick lawyer who's a little too comfortable handling a corpse. (Premieres Monday, September 19)

The mid-season replacement we're looking out for
"Awake"
Jason Isaaks stars as a cop who was behind the wheel for a car accident involving his wife and teenage son, plunging him into a bizarre limbo—one day he awakens to find his son has survived and his wife is dead, the next his wife is dead and it's his son who's survived.  Broadway great Cherry Jones and BD Wong play therapists each trying to convince their patient that the other life is a fantasy.


The complete fall line-up, with new shows in bold:

MONDAY
8:00pm - The Sing-Off
10:00pm - The Playboy Club

TUESDAY
8:00pm - The Biggest Loser
10:00pm – Parenthood

WEDNESDAY
8:00pm - Up All Night
8:30pm - Free Agents
9:00pm - Harry's Law
10:00pm - Law & Order: SVU

THURSDAY
8:00pm - Community
8:30pm - Parks & Recreation
9:00pm - The Office
9:30pm - Whitney
10:00pm - Prime Suspect

FRIDAY
8:00pm - Chuck
9:00pm - Grimm
10:00pm - Dateline NBC

SUNDAY
7:00pm - Football Night in America
8:15pm - NBC Sunday Night Football

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