2007 Upfronts: NBC announces Fall Schedule

I didn't get up early enough to do my schedule prediction, so we'll skip NBC for that. Here's the new schedule for next year with comments:

MONDAY
8-9 p.m.: "Deal or No Deal"
9-10 p.m.: "Heroes"
10-11 p.m.: "JOURNEYMAN"

TUESDAY
8-9 p.m.: "The Biggest Loser"
9-10 p.m.: "CHUCK"
10-11 p.m.: "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"

WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m.: "Deal or No Deal"
9-10 p.m.: "BIONIC WOMAN"
10-11 p.m.: "LIFE"

THURSDAY
8-8:30 p.m.: "My Name Is Earl"
8:30-9 p.m.: "30 Rock"
9-9:30 p.m.: "The Office"
9:30-10 p.m.: "Scrubs"
10-11 p.m.: "ER"

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m.: "1 vs 100"/"THE SINGING BEE"
9-10 p.m.: "Las Vegas"
10-11 p.m.: "Friday Night Lights"

SATURDAY
8-9 p.m.: "Dateline NBC"
9-11 p.m.: Drama Series Encores

SUNDAY (Fall 2007)
7-8 p.m.: "Football Night in America"
8-11 p.m.: "NBC Sunday Night Football"

SUNDAY (January 2008)
7-8 p.m.: "Dateline NBC"
8-9 p.m.: "Law & Order"
9-10 p.m.: "Medium"
10-11 p.m.: "LIPSTICK JUNGLE"

"Journeyman" which is described as a 'time travel thriller'. If so, it's a great fit out of Heroes. Two things which stick out: "Friday Night Lights" will air on Friday now and there are no new comedies on the fall schedule (NBC did pick up "The IT Crowd" for midseason). "The Apprentice" is nowhere to be found, though NBC wouldn't say if it was cancelled. "Medium" gets a January slot opposite "Desperate Housewives", another tough spot, but out of "Law & Order" should be pretty safe. "Lipstick Jungle" will go head to head with "Brothers and Sisters", provided ABC keeps that show in the same time period. Finally, NBC swapped "30 Rock" and "The Office" time periods, I'm sure because "The Office" has a stronger following for a 9 PM show.

Midseason orders include "The IT Crowd" and a 6-episode arc for "Heroes" called "Heroes: Origins", which will fill in while "Heroes" takes a breather, technically that will bring the episode order for "Heroes" to 30. What this does for people's possible specs, I have no clue.

More thoughts on the schedule after all of the upfronts are announced and we can see how the competition shakes out. NBC also wasn't afraid to shift programs after upfronts were over last year, so this is by no means final.