NBC Announces Schedule: New Wednesday Comedy Block, 'Smash' Saved for Midseason

“We’ve got a lot of work to do and we had to make some significant changes,” new entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt tells THR one day before the network’s upfront presentation.
NBC will bow six of its 12 new series this fall as new entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt attempts to rebuild the ratings-challenged network. If it’s a lot of new programming to throw at the audience, the pressure is on for the network to at least begin to climb out of its slump.
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“We’ve got a lot of work to do and we had to make some significant changes,” Greenblatt told The Hollywood Reporter.
The network will establish a new night of comedy on Wednesdays with the Christina Applegate single-camera comedy Up All Night in the 8 p.m. lead-off slot followed by the Hank Azaria rom-com Free Agents.
Greenblatt characterized the need for comedy outside of NBC’s traditional Thursday night lineup as “vital.” The network’s new comedies will compete against ABC's weaker sitcom fare and not Emmy-winner Modern Family, which anchors at 9 p.m.
"When you're looking at Wednesday you want to stay away from 9 o'clock, obviously," he said.
And while ABC’s 8 p.m. comedy The Middle has seen its ratings improve (it’s up 9 percent in the 18-49 demo this season), 8:30 p.m. comedy Better with You has been canceled.

“We’re taking two of our best pilots with arguably our strongest leads and trying to establish a foothold there,” said Greenblatt. “We have no illusions about how difficult that’s going to be and how much we’re going to have to commit to it and have patience with it. But we knew that if we didn’t try it would never happen.”