NBC Quickly Renews Three New Fall Series

By BILL CARTER

NBC moved quickly Tuesday to acknowledge some early-season success by renewing three new series for a full season of episodes: the drama “Revolution,” which has been scoring well on Mondays, and two Tuesday night comedies, “Go On” and “The New Normal.”

The orders are especially early, well before the fall season competition generally settles in; but NBC has had so little success in prime time lately that it needs to show some confidence in its new entries.

The announcement also serves to bolster the entertainment division regime headed by the top program executives, Bob Greenblatt and Jennifer Salke, who were responsible for selecting the network's fall slate of shows.

Of the three renewals, “Revolution,” about a future world without electricity, has demonstrated the strongest early credentials, having won its 10 p.m. time period in both weeks of the season so far. It also posted the best results in network television in terms of improvement based on delayed viewing; last week it showed a 53 per cent increase in its rating among the 18-49-year-old viewers that account for the bulk of NBC ad sales.

The comedies also showed significant growth. “Go On,” a new starring vehicle for Matthew Perry about a depressed sportscaster, has ranked as the No. 1 new comedy of the fall so far in that rating group. “The New Normal,” about a gay couple and a surrogate mother, showed surprising appeal in the delayed viewing figures from premiere week, with an impressive 40 percent increase in ratings.

Many series have started out fast and faded of course, which makes the NBC decision on Tuesday a risky one, and vulnerable to second guessing later.

But NBC's showing thus far has exceeded most expectations, and the network took the first opportunity to celebrate that.