As the Olympics come to a close this weekend and NBC wraps up coverage, the network plans to promote two of its primetime shows: Superstore and The Voice.
An Olympic-themed episode of comedy Superstore will air on Friday, then a half-hour version of The Voice’s blind auditions will air on Sunday—after the closing ceremony.
NBC received a lot of backlash in 2012 for broadcasting Animal Practice in the middle London’s closing ceremony, and has learned from the mistake.
“That pissed everybody off,” Jeff Bader, NBC Entertainment president of program planning, strategy and research, told Adweek. “We’re not doing that again.”
In 2012, NBC also debuted Go On starring Matthew Perry after one of its evening coverage of the games one night. Both shows were canceled after the first season.
Also different this year is NBC’s decision to hold its fall premieres until the official start of the season in September rather than roll out its shows early, on the heels of the event.
“The Olympics is a little bit of a borrowed audience,” Bader said. It’s huge, but there would be a four-week lag. We decided we weren’t going to launch a show out of the Olympics and just let it run, for a variety of reasons.”
He also cited viewer fatigue as the Games close. This all goes hand-in-hand with NBC’s decision to save the premiere of new comedy The Good Place for Monday, September 19 after The Voice, to capture its normal viewing audience before the show moves to its regular Thursday at 8:30 p.m. timeslot. Plus, debuting the show on the Thursday following the end of the Olympics would have meant competing with Thursday night football.
In terms of the shows that are debuting right after the games, Bader said Superstore was “a show that’s percolating,” with an 18-49-year-old premiere audience nipping at The Voice’s premiere ratings. Experience following the Super Bowl also points to larger bumps in ratings when airing a sophomore show rather than a new show after a big event, Bader said.
It was also a fun tie-in for the network to create an Olympic-themed episode that technically takes place prior to the season-one finale.
After Superstore debuts during the games, the season two premiere will air on September 22.
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