NBC Renews that Show that It Always Renews

Upfronts start next week, which means that there will be a flurry of renewal and cancellation news, as well as news on all the new shows that will be picked up by the networks. There will probably be a period during the next week and a half in which the news will be coming at us so quickly, we won’t be able to keep up. That moment is not now. This is the quiet before the storm. In that quiet, we get blah news like this: NBC has renewed “Law and Order: SVU” for a fourteenth season. Does it matter that ratings really aren’t that great (6 million viewers, a 1.9 in the demo)? Not really. It’s NBC. There will always be a Dick Wolf show as long as Dick Wolf is around, otherwise NBC won’t be able to keep Dick Wolf happy enough to crap out a new yearly procedural like “Chicago Fire,” another show that NBC just picked up.

What is “Chicago Fire”? It’s exactly as it sounds: A show about firefighters in Chicago. It stars Taylor Kinney, Monica Raymund, David Eigenberg, Charlie Barnett, Lauren German, Teri Reeves and Merle Dandridge. I’ve heard of exactly one of those guys: Eigenberg, who played Steve on “Sex and the City.” This show will last 6 episodes, tops.

It’s also worth noting that the fake Speculative Schedule for NBC’s Fall Season has also leaked. It probably means nothing, BUT, if it is accurate (and so far, no new reports has conflicted with it), “Parks and Rec” and “30 Rock” may move to Wednesdays. But then, the schedule also has “Hannibal” on Friday, which seems like a waste for a high-profile show with Bryan Fuller, but then again, NBC is trying to own that night by building on the success of “Grimm.” The spec schedule also has “Harry’s Law” on it, but not “Parenthood,” and that makes me very, very upset. But again, it’s a spec. It supposedly means nothing. We’ll keep you posted.