NBC wrapped up the 17-day Television Critics Association press tour Thursday, bringing with it crowd-pleasing talent such as Neil Patrick Harris and Dolly Parton, the cast and executive producer of the new series “Heroes Reborn,” and a several tons of announcements.
NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt kicked off the NBC sessions with a Q&A that was heavy not only on one-liners, but also hot topics such as the network’s breakup with Donald Trump and failings with comedy.
TheWrap looks at the best that NBC had to offer.
1. The Bob Greenblatt Show
Greenblatt didn’t deliver an exhaustive manifesto on the present and future of television a la FX Network President John Landgraf’s prediction of a TV-content bubble. What he did do was give the loosest and most one-liner-packed performance of the tour. Asked whether “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”s’ Emmy nominations made him regret giving the show to Netflix, Greenblatt responded, “We’re whores for Emmy nominations.” Told that the NBC “killed” the original “Heroes” through bad scheduling, he joked of revival “Heroes Reborn”: “I’m going to kill this now.” But he saved his best material for former “Celebrity Apprentice” host Donald Trump. When one reporter proposed a drinking game in which everyone at the Beverly Hilton drink whenever a question about Trump was asked, Greenblatt responded, “We could do that in life.”
The NBC executive session was also notable for including more breaking news than any other session of the tour. Among the announcements: Jimmy Fallon extending his deal to host “The Tonight Show” for six years, “American Ninja Warrior” being renewed, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” moving to the network, a deal with Keshet, Rihanna joining “The Voice,” Common joining “The Wiz,” and a bunch of new comedy projects.
3. And Here’s Some More News!
News also comes up organically at TCA, or at least as organic as anything gets announced in the TV industry. Among the news straight from the stars’ mouths, we learned that Dolly Parton’s next NBC TV movie will be based on her hit song “Jolene.”
From Dick Wolf’s Chicago-based TV drama trifecta, we now know that the next mega-crossover — which also includes his “Law & Order: SVU” — will air in February. Later in the day, “Best Time Ever” host Neil Patrick Harris revealed that Ricky Martin and Reese Witherspoon will be among the guest actors on the new series’ freshman run.
4. “Best Time Ever” Executive Producers Charm Exhausted Critics
Neil Patrick Harris may be the most charming man in Hollywood. The most charming woman may be his “Best Time Ever” executive producing partner, and she isn’t even from this country. That said, the accent didn’t hurt the effort.
TV critics — exhausted at the end of a very long Summer Press Tour — were entertained by both NPH and Siobhan Greene, who helped create the British version of the upcoming NBC show.
While Harris promised “a bunch of cool shit,” Greene guaranteed that by the end of the eight-episode season, we’ll all “be gagging for more.” Over the remainder of their Beverly Hilton stage time, there were approximately 148,837 other really enthusiastic comments between the two.
“Heroes” didn’t “save the cheerleader” — the show’s original mission statement — but the world seems to be doing just fine. Creator Tim Kring confirmed that Hayden Panettiere’s character, Claire, died a year before the events on the current installment of the series, “Heroes Reborn.”
While Claire is dead, her father, Noah Bennet (Jack Coleman), is a series regular, and is the only character from the original series who will appear in every episode. Other returning characters, including Masi Oka’s time-traveling Hiro and Sendhil Ramamurthy’s Monhinder, will appear in a couple of episodes each.
The 13-episode miniseries kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 23, on NBC. Kring did leave an opening for potentially more “Heroes” after this story concludes.
The Scene at TCA: Funny, Frank and Flippant Quotes From Summer 2015 TV Press Tour (Photos)
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“In the tradition of working with Carlton Cuse, I don’t know anything that’s going on.” -- "Colony" star Josh Holloway
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“It’s hard to talk about that without sounding sexist ourselves.” -- "Reign" showrunner Laurie McCarthy on balancing work and home lives during female showrunners panel
“This is simply too much television.” -- FX CEO John Landgraf warning of a television bubble about to burst
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“OK, here she is now. How did she get to where she’s at right now?” -- Lee Daniels teasing an "Empire" prequel following a young Cookie Lyon
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“Bye Felicia.” -- "Empire" creator Lee Daniels shutting down woman suing the show claiming Cookie Lyon was based on her
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“They were terrific, but I’m really happier — I’m going to dare to say that — to be here." -- "Rosewood's" Lorraine Toussaint on her last show, "Forever"
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“It has been an incredible year for minorities, and I’m blessed to be in the forefront of that.” -- "Minority Report" star Meagan Good on TV diversity
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“The Olsen twins cried a lot, so it was hard to get a take, that’s pretty accurate,” he said. “So I said, ‘get rid of ‘em.’” -- John Stamos revealing he almost got Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen fired from "Full House"
“Unlike that girl, who apologized and resigned, we wanted to bring our queen bee character to some sort of awareness about her behavior.” -- "Scream Queens" creator Ryan Murphy revealing that Emma Roberts' character was inspired by viral sorority email
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“Every single actor in every single scene at some point is given one direction, which is: ‘OK, now do the scene as if you’re the killer,'” -- "Scream Queens" star Jamie Lee Curtis on the plan to reveal the killer
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“It’s a little bit of an odd result.” -- Fox CEO Gary Newman on "Empire's" Emmy Snubs
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“I was really excited about getting involved in TV again, and it was great to get a call from Don.” -- Former "Gossip Girl" star Chace Crawford on returning to TV with "Blood & Oil"
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“It’s a lovely thing that you’re saying, but I’m not answering that.” -- Shonda Rhimes refusing to answer a question about her legacy in television
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“You could send him over to Meredith and I could cut his vocal cords out.” -- "Grey's Anatomy" star Ellen Pompeo on how Shondaland would deal with Donald Trump
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“We’re crashing cars and we’re doing the whole thing — it’s gonna be awesome,” "The Goldbergs" creator Adam Goldberg on the series' "Risky Business" episode
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“That’s kind of how I grew up on ‘Community,’ where it’s all about the ensemble.” -- "Dr. Ken" star and EP Ken Jeong on the show's ensemble
“Any actress in the world would want to play Alex Parrish ... She’s the female Jason Bourne.” -- "Quantico" star Priyanka Chopra on her first TV role
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“She’s a star. She’s an iconic ABC star. We think the entire world will be talking about [her].” -- ABC President Paul Lee on "Quantico" star Priyanka Chopra
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“It can be tough to work with your ex … Especially when your ex is a pig.” – Kermit the Frog after announcing his split from Miss Piggy
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“We won’t be getting into arguments over politics and current events, but we might be getting into debates about the politics of hair.” -- "FABLife" host Tyra Banks on how the show differs from "The View"
“You can’t be the dirty Oprah.” -- "FABLife" host Tyra Banks on the difficulties of her last daytime talk show
“I love the idea because I don’t see enough of that on the air any place … and I think it’s a rich idea.” -- Norman Lear on his plans for a reboot of "One Day at a Time" featuring three generations of Latina women
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“I think what’s going on is outrageous. It’s absolutely terrible and wrong and ill conceived.” -- "Doctor Who" showrunner Steven Moffat on BBC's potential for pulled government funding
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“‘The Muppet Show’ to me, and ‘Sesame Street’ … they’re in the same world as ‘SNL.'” -- "Nature Cat" star Bobby Moynihan
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“As a Chinese-American kid growing up here, there was not many role models I could look up to on the big screen.” -- "Into the Badlands" star Daniel Wu
“There’s going to be plenty of encounters of the Walker type." -- Showrunner Dave Erickson on "Fear the Walking Dead"
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"Everything that I portrayed during filming has happened to me as far as dancing, or everyday life. It’s completely authentic. There’s no frills to it.” -- "Flesh and Bone" star Sarah Hay on the series' depiction of ballet
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“It’s not a cop show, a doctor show, or a lawyer show. Those shows make me want to hang myself as a viewer.” -- "Ash vs. Evil Dead" star Bruce Campbell on Starz series
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“One of the pleasures of my career is to connect people of whom I am a fan, and I’d been a fan of Patrick’s for a number of years and of Jonathan’s [Ames] work.” -- "Blunt Talk" creator Seth MacFarlane on star Patrick Stewart
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“I can’t really tell you [much], but I think when you see what she’s up to in the show, you’ll appreciate what a clever idea [it is].” -- "Doctor Who" showrunner Steven Moffat on Maisie Williams' role
“A cross between Machete and Marcia Brady.” -- Danny Trejo describing his "From Dusk Till Dawn" character
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“We’re not about violence and we’re not about gore. And if any torture is involved, we don’t show that. What we do show, is the consequence of the crime.” -- Sara Kozak, Senior Vice President, Production of Investigation Discovery
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“I think the beauty of the bravery of Nat Geo is actually that they’re letting us de-sanitize the story of Thanksgiving and that whole part of our history." -- Actor Raul Trujillo on his TV movie "Saints & Strangers"
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“Let me put it this way. If a person has 9,000 tweets and five of them are not to your taste. What I heard is, ‘This person has 8,995 tweets that weren’t offensive.'” -- New 'Daily Show' Host Trevor Noah on his Twitter controversy
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"“MTV brought us up and said ‘Hey, it’s lunchtime.’ We had no idea what to do! They gave us a lunch break and everyone was freaking out, like ‘We can’t sit down. We can’t take lunch.'" -- YouTube star Todrick Hall on his new MTV show "Todrick"
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“My own community ostracizes me and thinks of Nelly Fags and Butch Lesbians are sort of the pariahs of the community.” -- Lea DeLaria comparing her life story to that of her "Orange Is the New Black" character
“A million dollars an episode is kinda ridiculous ... Let’s be honest, that’s a lot of money.” -- "Grace and Frankie" showrunner Marta Kauffman on "Friends" cast's $1 million per episode
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“I don’t think anyone else needs to hear me bitch about E!” -- Chelsea Handler, host of an upcoming four-film Netflix documentary series
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“Playing a trans character on a show being shepherded by Lana Wachowski, I knew I would be protected and represented in a way that trans people have never been represented before on TV,” -- "Sense8" star Jamie Clayton
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"We don’t need dragons, we’ve got cocaine!" -- "Narcos" star Pedro Pascal on similarities between new show and "Game of Thrones"