NBC has picked up the new comedies Up All Night and Whitney for the remainder of the 2011-12 season, while the cancellation axe fell upon “The Playboy Club”. Robert Greenblatt, Chairman of NBC Entertainment made the pick-up announcement today stating, “We made comedy an important goal for us this season and I’m very pleased to be making full-season commitments to both ‘Whitney’ and ‘Up All Night’. We’re thrilled with the creative direction of both shows as well as the potential for them to continue to build loyal audiences over the coming months. We’re proud of all of the producers, writers, actors, and directors who have worked so hard to bring these shows to life.”
“Up All Night,” created by Emmy Award nominee Emily Spivey (NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” and “Saturday Night Live”) and executive-produced by multi-Emmy winner Lorne Michaels (NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock”), is an irreverent look at modern parenthood. Christina Applegate stars as Reagan Brinkley: loving wife, successful career woman, life of the party and, most recently, mom. Determined not to compromise her career or cool reputation to the clichés of motherhood, Reagan adjusts to life with a baby and returns to work with the support of her stay-at-home husband, Chris (played by Will Arnett).
NBC’s new multi-camera comedy “Whitney” is a hilarious look at modern-day love, which centers around Whitney (Whitney Cummings, “Chelsea Lately”) and Alex (Chris D’Elia, “Glory Daze”), a happily unmarried couple. Together for three years, the duo is in no rush to get hitched, which seems to get a mixed response from their friends. At the end of the day, Whitney and Alex try to have a relationship on their own terms – in a world that expects a more traditional approach.
ADDENDUM: My apologies. Rather than stating it as a fact that “The Playboy Club” has been canceled, the phrasing should have been that “the cancellation axe appears ready to fall on The Playboy Club”. As of today, there has not been any definite decision.