NBC plans a normal fall schedule, pairing Law & Order: SVU with Elliot Stabler spinoff

The Hollywood Reporter

NBC is joining CBS in planning to have a "business as usual" fall schedule amid the coronavirus pandemic, though the network didn't say if its fall will kick off during the traditional late September premiere week. NBC announced it will shake up its Thursday lineup, reducing the two-hour comedy block to one-hour, pairing Superstore and Brooklyn Nine-Nine at 8 p.m., followed by Law & Order: SVU and Elliot Stabler spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime. The Christopher Meloni spinoff will be the only new show on NBC's fall schedule. Kenan Thompson's The Kenan Show and Ted Danson's Mr. Mayor will be saved for midseason, along with Dwayne Johnson comedy Young Rock and the returns of Good Girls and Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. "Thanks to the ingenuity of our creative teams and our partner studios, NBC has assembled a remarkably stable schedule at a time when stability is called for,” NBC Entertainment chairman Paul Telegdy said in a statement. “With the reopening of the Universal lot for select productions this week, we are confident that our schedule will premiere intact later this fall. We design shows for longevity and this schedule remains a powerful propulsive force for shows to start here and carry on entertaining across generations.” NBC also announced it will fund an additional writer for every scripted series writers' room in an attempt to promote diversity. "Since many of our writers’ rooms have not yet opened, we are taking this opportunity to offer all of this season’s showrunners the chance to enrich their team with an additional diverse writer at any level," said Telegdy. "It is not the solution by any means, but it is something we can do right now to take a positive step."