Network upfronts: NBC

This week the network's are holding their upfronts where they present their fall schedules. We will be covering them each day offering our opinions on new shows, time slots and canceled shows.

First up is NBC who really has nowhere to go but up next season. They didn't get off to a very good start when they unceremoniously canceled "Law & Order." And they're still hurting from the whole Conan debacle.

Everything is returning to NBC's schedule except "Law & Order," "Heroes," "Mercy" and "Trauma."

Tim note: No clue why you cancel a show that's been on the air for 20 years and then have two hours of "The Biggest Loser." All "Law & Order" needed was one more season to break the record. NBC could have ordered an eight episode "season" and been done with it.

After having watched the trailers for some of NBC's new shows, it doesn't seem like NBC is trying very hard to get out of the basement.

Among the new show they're pushing are "Love Bites," which was so terrible I couldn't get through the trailer, "Outsourced," which I give two episodes and Tim gives one and "Outlaw," which stars Jimmy Smits as a Supreme Court Justice who resigns to help out the little guy. The trailer was formulaic, complete with sappy musical ending and the show is not worthy of Smits talent.

Tim note: Out of all the Thursday night sitcoms to push back to midseason to make space for "Outsourced," NBC pushes "Parks and Recreation." After all the hype that the Adam Scott and Rob Lowe casting brought and you just throw that away? Wow. Also, in an interview with Deadline.com, the heads of NBC said about "Outlaw:" 'It’s a quite a compelling but also straight-forward 'Law & Order' show.' You know what else was a compelling, but also straight-forward "Law & Order" show? "LAW & ORDER!"

There were a few promising shows mixed in with the awful ones. "Undercovers," the J.J. Abrams spy drama/romantic comedy was interesting. Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw have chemistry and it has a comedic tone. It will be interesting to see how it does in the Wednesday at 8 p.m. timeslot.

Tim note: Doesn't look like my type of show, but I normally don't watch TV Wednesdays at 8 p.m. so I might give it a shot. The real question is how long will Abrams be involved in the show? He stopped really working on "Lost" after the first season and the same with "Fringe."

"The Cape" is about a police officer who is framed for murder and forced into hiding, who then decides to become his son's favorite comic book character "The Cape" to fight crime and clear his name. This and "Undercovers" are the only shows on NBC's schedule that I can say for sure I'll watch.

Tim note: Other shows to make note of include "Chase" (looks like a copy of "In Plain Sight), "The Event" (looks confusing and too "Lost"-y) and "Harry's Law" (David E. Kelley and quirky law drama... been there done that).

You would think a network that is so far behind the competition and has such a bad reputation would be willing to take a few risks with its schedule. This is the time when NBC should be going in a different direction than the other networks to set itself apart. If nothing else they have some of the best shows on TV on USA and Syfy, so why not give those shows a shot.

One thing is certain, NBC is in freefall mode and no one seems to want to fix it.