NBC Renews ‘Grimm,’ Citing Need to Renew Something, Anything, God, Please

It’s been announced that “Grimm” has become the first dramatic series in NBC entire 2011-2012 slate of new series to be picked up for a second season. “Awake” and “Smash” are still in contention, with “Awake” in the toss-up category and “Smash,” likely to be renewed. “Grimm’s” renewal follows the cancellation of “Prime Suspect,” which was good, “The Playboy Club,” which was not, and “The Firm,” which had ratings below that of Univision programming.

With the exception of “The Voice,” it’s been an all around crap year for NBC. Even on the comedy side, there’s only been one very minor hit, “Up All Night,” which is really only a hit by NBC standards (“Community,” by virtue of last Thursday’s ratings, suddenly looks like a dominant player on the NBC schedule, which we predicted during its hiatus). “Grimm” is not exactly a ratings power-house; in fact, it falls about 10 percent below the average of NBC’s overall scripted fare, but it gets a pass because it airs on a Friday.

I watched a few early episodes, and while I have heard it has improved since the beginning, “Grimm” still suffers from the same problem that plagues so many of this year’s new dramatic offerings: They’re just police procedurals in sheep’s clothing. You can incorporate fairy tale creatures, time travel, or alternate realities, but if there’s a crime to be solved, and an investigation to be pursued in every single episode, I don’t care what you call it, it’s still a goddamn procedural. You can put lipstick on a pig, but if the pig solves crimes, it’s still a procedural.