NBC will upstage the fall season by presenting six new series not once but twice each before the usual mid-September kickoff.
Opening night will be Aug. 20, with the premieres of ”Hull High,” a high school musical comedy; ”Parenthood,” an hour preview of its sitcom spinoff of the Steve Martin movie; and ”Lifestories,” a medical anthology told from the patient`s point of view.
The other new prime-time shows getting the early push are ”Working It Out,” a romantic comedy starring Jane Curtin; ”Ferris Bueller,” a sitcom spinoff of the movie ”Ferris Bueller`s Day Off”; and ”The Fanelli Boys,” a comedy about a Brooklyn widow and her four sons.
”With nine new series, we have a tremendous amount of awareness-building to do,” NBC Entertainment President Warren Littlefield said in a news release.
Competition is prompting NBC`s ”double pump” preview schedule, which the network first tried with ”L.A. Law” when that show made its debut in 1986. ABC repeated the strategy with ”Life Goes On,” its family drama that premiered last season.
Fox Broadcasting`s ”Babes,” a sitcom about three hefty sisters, was scheduled to premiere Aug. 23, but it has been pulled for production reasons and probably will start in mid-September.
Fox will give early premieres to two Sunday night sitcoms on Sept. 2. A program about an interracial marriage, tentatively titled ”True Colors,”
will make its debut from 7:30 to 8 p.m., after ”In Living Color.” And
”Parker Lewis Can`t Lose,” a high school sitcom that is Fox`s answer to
”Ferris Bueller,” will premiere at 8:30 p.m., after ”Married . . . With Children.”
The next Sunday, Sept. 9, the shows will move to their regular time slots: ”True Colors” at 6 p.m. and ”Parker Lewis” at 6:30.
On Sept. 7, Fox will start showing an expanded ”America`s Most Wanted,” from 7 to 8 p.m., and the new series ”D.E.A.,” a drama about Drug Enforcement Administration agents, from 8 to 9 p.m.
Fox`s ”American Chronicles,” a half-hour documentary series, will premiere from 8:30 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 8. It is from ”Twin Peaks” creators David Lynch and Mark Frost.
The other networks have not announced their preview plans. But ABC`s
”Monday Night Football” will begin its season Sept. 10, with a regular season game between the San Francisco 49ers and the New Orleans Saints. ”Twin Peaks” will open its season Sept. 30 with a two-hour show.
NBC`s prime-time preview schedule:
Monday, Aug. 20: ”Hull High,” 7 to 8 p.m.; ”Parenthood,” 8 to 9 p.m.; ”Lifestories,” 9 to 10 p.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 22: ”Working It Out,” 8 to 8:30 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 23: ”Ferris Bueller,” premieres from 7:30 to 8 p.m., after a special ”outtakes” episode of ”The Cosby Show.”
Thursday, Sept. 6: Repeat of ”Parenthood,” 9 to 10 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 8: First of a two-part repeat episode of ”The Golden Girls,” 7 to 7:30 p.m.; repeat of ”Working It Out,” 7:30 to 8 p.m., its regular time slot; second part of ”The Golden Girls,” 8 to 8:30; premiere of ”The Fanelli Boys,” 8:30 to 9 p.m.; ”Miss America Pageant,” 10 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 10: Premiere of ”Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” a sitcom starring rap singer Wil Smith as an inner-city youth who goes to live with his wealthy relatives, 7 to 7:30 p.m.; repeat of ”Ferris Bueller,” 7:30 to 8 p.m., its regular time slot.
Wednesday, Sept. 12: Another new episode of ”The Fanelli Boys,” 8 to 8:30 p.m., its regular time slot; repeat of ”Lifestories,” 9 to 10 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 13: Premiere of ”Law & Order,” a new police and law drama series, 9 to 10 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 15: Repeat of ”Hull High,” 7 to 8 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 20: Premiere of ”American Dreamer,” a sitcom starring Robert Urich as a journalist/widowed father, from 8:30 to 9 p.m., after
”Cheers.”
Thursday, Sept. 27: Original episodes of ”The Cosby Show,” ”A Different World” and ”Cheers,” followed by a 28th anniversary special of
”The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson, beginning at 8:30 p.m.; repeat of
”Law & Order,” at 10:30 p.m.
NBC also announced that it will present a mini-series of Jackie Collins`
novels ”Lucky” and ”Chances” on Oct. 7, 8 and 9, opposite the baseball league championship series on CBS. The network will present film versions of Danielle Steel`s ”Fine Things” (Oct. 16) and ”Kaleidoscope” (Oct. 17)
opposite the World Series on CBS.
