Tina Fey and Mike Schur AP Images
No premiere dates were provided for the half-hours from the minds of 'Parks and Recreation' and '30 Rock.'
NBC kicked off the final day of TCA with a slew of announcements, including two new series pickups from the creators of 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation.
From Parks and Brooklyn Nine-Nine creator Mike Schur, A Good Place (working title) will center on a woman wrestling what it means to be good. The half-hour, NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt said, is a high-concept series that centers on a woman wrestling with what it means to be good. The executive praised Schur — who is also juggling Netflix's Aziz Ansari comedy series as well as Fox's Brooklyn — and called him "one of the most gifted comedy writers" and noted that NBC loved the pitch so much the network bought it straight-to-series in the room. He said the series, like Parks and Rec did with Amy Poehler, will feature another "strong and very complicated lead female character."
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Meanwhile, Tina Fey and Robert Carlock's untitled comedy is another female-driven half-hour inspired by the life of 30 Rock collaborator Tracey Wigfield. The comedy is written by Wigfield and is a slightly autobiographical take about an up-and-coming millennial woman who takes a job at a news network where her mother happens to get a job after going back into the workplace. For her part, Wigfield won an Emmy with Fey for writing 30 Rock's series finale. The new series comes as Fey and Carlock have found success with NBC-turned-Netflix series The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The Ellie Kemper comedy was picked up straight to series at NBC before moving to the streaming service, where it became a critical and awards-season darling.
Both comedies hail from Universal Television, where Schur, Fey and Carlock are all under overall deals.
The deals come after NBC has admittedly struggled with comedies in recent seasons. The network's current scripted comedy roster includes the all-live edition of Undateable — its longest-running half-hour — rookies Mr. Robinson and The Carmichael Show (both airing this summer); midseason freshman Coach, Crowded, Hot & Bothered, Superstore and Truth Be Told, the latter of which is its lone first-year fall debut.
Straight-to-series pickups have become increasingly common as broadcasters, cablers and streaming services compete for original scripted fare in a crowded landscape with more than 400 series on the air.
Television Critics Association
