Besides the five Dick Wolf series, The Hunting Party and Brilliant Minds are the only other current NBC series to make it to next season amid a bloodbath at the broadcast network, which canceled a slate of scripted series in anticipation of the NBA's arrival on the schedule next fall.
This is a changing of the guard in NBC’s scripted lineup, as all four returning non-Wolf scripted series premiered last season: The Hunting Party, Brilliant Minds, and the comedies St. Denis Medical and Happy’s Place. The only series that premiered this year that has been canceled so far is Suits LA.
The last NBC scripted series that premiered last season and has yet to find out its fate is Grosse Pointe Garden Society. This series could potentially move to Peacock, but a return to the network is virtually impossible given its soft linear performance thus far.
Consistency is likely what tipped the scales in favor of The Hunting Party and Brilliant Minds. NBC executives are said to emphasize stability and growth, and The Hunting Party and Brilliant Minds have both remained stable and maintained their ratings for most of their first seasons, unlike the declines of the canceled series.
Additionally, the medical series Brilliant Minds has a hopeful, aspirational tone, in the tradition of NBC series like This Is Us and Parenthood, which the network's executives believe viewers will be drawn to in uncertain times.
During an NBC press conference this past weekend, Jeff Bader, President, Program Planning Strategy, NBCUniversal Entertainment, spoke about the decision to renew Brilliant Minds and The Hunting Party at the expense of NBC's other canceled dramas, The Irrational, Found and Suits LA.
“We actually looked at all these shows. We looked at what their performance was week-to-week, episode to episode, on both linear and digital, to just try and glean which ones we thought had the best ratings story,” he said. “And then on the creative side, the creative teams did the same thing, which ones have the best potential to capture a new audience, and these were the two shows that made their way to the top.”
Neither The Hunting Party nor Brilliant Minds were tested, as they aired alternately on Mondays at 10pm and each had a partial first season order. They will now be given the opportunity to make full seasons, which would be 18-22 episodes.
“One of the things that you’re seeing us really lean into is these sophomore shows,” Bader said. “Brilliant Minds only had 13 episodes in its first season, The Hunting Party only had 10 episodes. We need to give them full seasons and really lean into them and get them established.”
The renewals come after both Brilliant Minds and The Hunting Party completed their first seasons in January and April respectively.
