NBC Renews 'America's Got Talent', 'Last Comic Standing', and 'American Ninja Warrior'
Audiences apparently like what NBC is doing with its summer lineup, so it's no surprise that NBC is bringing back its full lineup of unscripted summer shows.
America's Got Talent, Last Comic Standing, and American Ninja Warrior have all been renewed. In addition, new episodes of Hollywood Game Night are already in production, although the show has yet to be officially renewed.
The three big renewals represent the cornerstone of NBC's summer lineup, as they're relatively inexpensive to produce, and help carry the network through the low-rated summer months, where viewership is generally down across all networks.
"The renewal of these three series is evidence that we continue to hit our stride in delivering quality entertainment to a broad viewership,” said Paul Telegdy, president of alternative and late night at NBC Entertainment. “All of the hardworking talented people on these shows — both behind and in front of the camera — should feel very proud of their achievements.”
While NBC has finalized a significant fraction of its summer lineup for next year, other networks have yet to make a call. For example, we still don't know if ABC views Rising Star as enough of a success to justify a second season. Although, to be fair, we're still fairly early in the process. And they were unreasonably targeted by America's Got Talent, which counterprogrammed by airing a special episode during the singing talent show's premiere episode. It's uncertain if Rising Star will survive the summer, but at the very least, we won't be without at least one summer talent competition for the foreseeable future.
Credit: NBC