NBC gets busy, too

Fast on the heels of CBS, NBC officially announced what’s happening with its scripted series for the rest of the 2007-08 season. NBC didn’t offer any guesstimates as to how many new episodes would be produced.

Here’s what’s returning and when:

“My Name Is Earl:” Thursday, April 3 (with an hour-long episode)
“30 Rock:” Thursday, April 10
“The Office:” Thursday, April 10
“Scrubs:” Thursday, April 10 (that sigh of relief you just heard emanated from Riverside Drive in Valley Village, home of the former hospital where they shoot “Scrubs,” as the cast/crew/writers now can plan for their series finale episode)
“ER:” Thursday, April 10 (wording in the press release – “new episodes following the complete run of ‘Lipstick Jungle’” – suggest that show’s already toast)
“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit:” Tuesday, April 15
“Law & Order:” Wednesday, April 23

Meanwhile, midseason series “Medium” will continue with original episodes; NBC didn’t mention that the show would produce any more, however.

Also: NBC announced it would bring back “Heroes,” “Chuck” and “Life” in the fall, promising, “All three series will have major re-launch campaigns next year.”

Not mentioned: “Friday Night Lights,” “Las Vegas,” “Bionic Woman” and “Journeyman.” Do the math. Only “Las Vegas” has a fighting chance of returning. The others are being fitted for toe tags.