“Friends” and “Frasier” will bid farewell in May.
But first, Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) gets married on Feb. 12. From March 4 to April 8, the network will air six favorite past “Friends” episodes, based on viewer polls on AOL.com. And on May 6, the finale will include a one-hour retrospective and an hourlong last episode. That’s the same format “Frasier” will follow the next Thursday, on May 13.
In March, following on the heels of “Average Joe Hawaii,” NBC will launch “Average Joe: Adam Returns,” a series in which a group of women will compete for the affections of Adam Mesh, who was jilted by Malena in the original “Average Joe” series.
NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker said the network had been “inundated” with e-mails and letters from viewers who had wanted Adam to win. He hedged on whether any of Adam’s suitors would be as unglamorous as the guys have been.
As for the loss of ratings stalwarts “Friends” and “Frasier,” Zucker said NBC has 15 comedies and eight dramas in development for next fall, including the “Friends” spinoff “Joey,” a new Jerry Bruckheimer drama and yet another permutation of “Law & Order.”
Plus, the network’s fall season will kick off earlier than ever, when NBC’s coverage of the Olympics wraps up Aug. 29. “We would be silly to wait three weeks after the Olympics, lose that promotional base and then begin the new season,” Zucker said. “We’re at a time in television where very few of the old rules apply.”
Not even the Republican National Convention, which starts the week after the games (and which NBC News will cover), will get in the way.
Zucker said he expects to begin airing entertainment shows on those nights by 9 p.m. He said that the strategy is opportunistic and doesn’t mean this is what NBC policy will be henceforth. But he also said it is in keeping with the inevitable move toward a “52-week season.”
Zucker also introduced tennis great John McEnroe, who has been signed to host an ensemble talk show that will follow Dennis Miller’s soon-to-debut CNBC series. McEnroe, whose last TV try was the torturous game show “The Chamber,” said it was “something that he had hoped for for a long time.”
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Victoria Rodriguez (vrodriguez@tribune.com)
