Reilly high on quartet of new dramas for fall

NEW YORK -- Last year at this time, NBC's Kevin Reilly was talking about how the 2005-06 season would be a rebuilding year for the network. He said basically the same thing Monday, but he said it with a little more conviction.

"Coming off another tough season, I'm not sure what I'd do if I had to sit here and do a shuck and jive with you this morning," says Reilly, the president of NBC Entertainment. "Fortunately that's not the case."

The reason for his excitement, he says, is that NBC "hit the gold mine" in its drama development. The fall schedule NBC rolled out Monday at the upfronts is heavy on dramas, with only four sitcoms -- returnees "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office" and newcomers "Twenty Good Years" and "30 Rock" -- earning spots for fall.

NBC will have new shows at 9 p.m. ET four nights of the week, with "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin's new show, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," headlining that group. It will air at 9 on Thursdays, taking on CBS' powerhouse "CSI" and bumping "Earl" and "The Office" to the 8 o'clock hour.

Although Reilly acknowledges he thought about building a two-hour comedy block on Thursdays, he says the night "is really about a quality of show, not a particular type of show. We had comedies we liked, but with a challenged genre and the fact that we would have had to add two new comedies into the mix, it felt vulnerable.

"But more importantly, we saw 'Studio 60.' ... Aaron Sorkin and [fellow executive producer] Tommy Schlamme have put together a piece of work here that really makes you proud to be in television."

The other new 9 p.m. shows are the superhero drama "Heroes," which will air Mondays; serialized thriller "Kidnapped," which is scheduled for Tuesdays; and the comedies "Twenty Good Years" and "30 Rock," which will run Wednesday. NBC also added the drama "Friday Night Lights," which will run at 8 p.m. Tuesdays.

Unless the other networks do some fairly serious revamping of their schedules, all the new NBC shows will be airing opposite established hits. Given NBC's struggles the past couple seasons, there weren't a lot of "safe havens" for the newcomers on the fall schedule, Reilly says. He also plans a serious marketing push behind the new series.

"We've got one or maybe two [new] shows a night, and we've got a platform with the NFL" -- which is returning to NBC on Sunday nights in the fall -- "which is going to be very, very helpful. I don't think we're biting off more than we can chew.

"I don't think we have to do that much navigating through the schedule. We just have to create some awareness, and again I think that's where the quality and originality of these shows are going to count. They're not generic."