NBC News - 30 Rock, Parenthood, Awake, Smash

Well, it's not exactly news since it was published on August 1 but I didn't see any thread about it, so if yu want to know how many episodes will new series Smash & Awake and returning series 30 Rock & Parenthood have, just read below :

- Smash season 1 : 15 episodes.
- 30 Rock season 6 : 22 episodes.
- Parenthood season 3 : 16 episodes.
- Awake season 1 : 13 episodes.


— Smash (premiering on Monday, February 6, 2012 at 10/9c) has 15 episodes simply because the second season of The Voice has 15 shows as well. It is very likely there will be no breaks until the season finale of both these musical shows on May 15. That's two more episodes than the usual 13-episode order.


— And here's another good news : a full season of 30 Rock, despite season 6 having been postponed until January ! Given that Tina Fey was pregnant (she gave birth 5 weeks ago), one could have imagined that the sixth season would have only 16 episodes (like the third season of Parks & Rec, which started last January for a 16-episode run instead of a 22-24 episode season since Amy Poehler had lost her sense of priorites and had gotten knocked up). But 30 Rock will have 22 episodes, so we can expect a new episode each week from January to May (no breaks, no reruns) and even a couple of one-hour episodes.



— Parenthood (premiered last Tuesday at 10/9c) will apparently have a shortened third season with a finale in February, if I'm not mistaken. According to Bob Greenblatt : "There's 16 'Parenthood's. There could be a scenario where Parenthood runs all 16 episodes almost sequentially, which is a benefit to Parenthood. We saw as we ramped up through the finale in May, it grew, grew, grew. Then when Parenthood is done, we'll probably have 10 or 12 weeks of the season left where we could put a show like Awake". He doesn't seem to say this will happen for sure, but he does say there will be a void in the Tuesday 10pm timeslot for 10-12 weeks, so my guess is Parenthood might not have more than 16 episodes. On the upside, this 2011-2012 run will have fewer breaks (e.g : 12 episodes between September 13 and December 6 + 4 episodes from January 10 to January 31).


— Awake having a 13-episode first season is not news, but the fact that it might air on Tuesdays at 10pm is news. Indeed, Greenblatt said Parenthood might wrap up its third season earlier than most shows, so there's a possibility Awake could have a new edition of The Biggest Loser (from 8 to 10pm) as a lead-in instead of ending up on Fridays (as a replacement of Chuck) like most sci-fi shows, where it would be up against Supernatural or Fringe ("we'll probably have 10 or 12 weeks of the season left where we could put a show like Awake").

I have to say The Biggest Loser/Awake doesn't seem to be the most compatible combo, but the show could have a genuine shot of being a success in this timeslot. Awake could begin for instance on Tuesday, February 7, after being heavily promoted during the Superbowl (Sunday, February 5 on NBC). It would fit with my prediction for the schedule of Parenthood if it is true season 3 has only 16 episodes.

Source : Hitfix (you can see Greenblatt is saying very positive things about Community's and Parks & Rec's future, about having a proper ending to Chuck, about having less breaks/reruns, etc, he seems to be a great guy).