NBC Sticks to the Script for Six New Prime-Time Series

NEW YORK, May 4

"Chuck" obsessives will have to chow down on Subway foot-longs for at least another week, but fans of the flick "Parenthood" can stop donating disposable diapers to Octomom, or whatever grass-roots campaign it is they've hatched to persuade NBC suits to adapt it into a prime-time series starring Peter Krause, Maura Tierney and Craig T. Nelson. It's a done deal.

"Parenthood," from Ron Howard's Imagine Entertainment, is one of six new scripted series the network unveiled to advertisers Monday at NBC's 30 Rock HQ.

The list of lucky new series includes two medical dramas -- you're going to hear about a lot of new doc dramas in the next few weeks as all the broadcasters look for the next "ER." "Trauma" is about a first-response team of paramedics in San Francisco, where helicopters plunge from the sky and cars turn into flying fireballs. The other, "Mercy," is about a nurse, just back from a tour of duty in Iraq, who is married to a nice guy and in love with a hot doctor at her hospital.

Two comedies made the cut: "100 Questions" is about a bunch of 20-something BFFs -- think "Friends," if Rachel were using an online dating site because she's so gorgeous she's having trouble finding guys.

The other comedy, "Community," is about a study group that perfectly reflects the student body at a community college -- community colleges, NBC notes, being a gathering ground for losers, newly divorced housewives and old people trying to keep their minds active as they circle the drain of eternity. The old-person role has gone to Chevy Chase, while Joel McHale of "The Soup" is our hero/loser -- a lawyer stripped of his law degree because he lied about graduating from college.

Rounding out the list of new NBC shows: drama series "Day One," about a global event in which millions of mysterious thingummies from outer space rocket into Earth and pretty much nuke everything -- except, that is, an apartment building in Van Nuys, Calif. Residents of this building are now trying to rebuild society -- so how lucky is it they're all young and hot? "Day One" is a midseason order.

NBC also announced it would return Amy Poehler's not-"The Office"-spinoff "Parks and Recreation" and John Wells's new cop drama, "Southland," both of which debuted recently.

Among returning NBC series, "Heroes" made the cut, and NBC has ordered at least six more episodes of those "Saturday Night Live" "Weekend Update" half-hours it ran in prime time last fall -- but then that was during a presidential election when interest is always high in "SNL"; this year, of course, it's not.

NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios co-chair Ben Silverman anticipated just that issue Monday afternoon, when he and his NBC Universal colleagues gave a repeat performance of their morning presentation to advertisers, to The Reporters Who Cover Television.

"Can you imagine Joe Biden and swine flu this week?" Silverman said of the prime-time faux news show's possibilities.