You've already noticed or will notice that I'm a bit merciless on the poor Peacock. Part is legit, part is that I'm personally offended that the state of the grandfather network of modern television is so awful.
Brandon Tartikoff's NBC is what I grew up on. It's why I wanted to get involved in television. It's why I wanted to be a television writer. Brandon would not be pleased. It pains me to see the network this way.
On the positive side, for the first time in sometime, their new entries actually look promising (with the exception of The Marriage Ref; that could just be my anti-reality bias). It's good that they brought Southland back, although I was bothered that they decided to now only focus on two characters. Evidently NBC doesn't think viewers can handle a complex show. Maybe the folks at NBC should give former programming chief Kevin Reilly a call at FX to see just how much viewers respond to complex, well-written shows.
The Jay Leno Show at 10pm isn't optimal, but it does make financial sense for the network. (I explore this elsewhere in the Preview.) Their positioning is correct: no one else has "Comedy at 10" and they will use this unique block to promote the rest of their lineup -- especially in the first two weeks where sampling should be relatively high.
Hopefully, they've turned a corner and can restore some of the former glory. Without NBC, broadcast television might have taken a very different path.
It's not saying much, but they are positioned better than they have been in the past few years.
