NBC’s 2008-09 fall, winter and summer schedules: Sunday and Monday

Yesterday, NBC announced its 2008-09 schedule, nearly six weeks ahead of the traditional mid-May events that usher out the old season (instead of an “upfront,” as these things are usually called, NBC called theirs an “infront,” because they’re way in front of everybody else – get it?).

So here’s the schedules for Sunday and Monday. We’ll do the rest of the week over the course of the day (except for Saturday, which’ll just be repeats and “Datelines”). We won’t be breaking any land-speed records on this because my real job beckons.

(New shows are labeled with an *; timeslot changes with a ^.)

Sunday

Fall 2008
7- 8:20 p.m. “Football Night in America”
8:20-11 p.m. “Sunday Night Football”

Winter 2009
7-8 p.m. Specials/“Dateline NBC”
8-9 p.m. Specials/“Merlin” *
9-10 p.m. Specials/“Medium” ^
10-11 p.m. Specials/“Kings” *

Summer 2009
7-8 p.m. “Dateline NBC”
8-9 p.m. “Monk”
9-10 p.m. “Nashville Star”
10-11 p.m. “Kings” * repeats

On “Merlin:” An updated, action-adventure version of the story of Camelot, set in King Arthur’s (Bradley James) and the magician Merlin’s (Colin Morgan) days of impetuous youth. NBC hopefully suggests, “The innovative, action-packed drama has cross-generational appeal and paints a picture of Merlin and Arthur's early life that audiences have never witnessed before.” It’s a British co-production and, as such, will have a limited run of 13 episodes.

On “Kings:” Some sort of mash-up of the David-vs.-Goliath story and, say, “Gladiator.” Here, David (Christopher Egan) is a soldier in another king’s (“Deadwood’s” Ian McShane, minus all those “motherf@%&ers” and “c@%&s@%&ers”) army. David quickly proves his worth and is therefore subject to temptations and political backbiting. NBC declares this “the ultimate story of David vs. Goliath, and there's no telling who will win.” Well, if it’s remotely faithful to the source material, yes – yes, there is telling who will win. “I Am Legend” director Francis Lawrence will direct the pilot. It will be introduced as a TV movie in the fall, with sponsorship from an insurance company that feels its tagline endorsing “responsibility” is a nice fit with the show’s themes.

“Monk” is the USA Network hit, of course, and “Nashville Star” is a USA reality competition, a country “American Idol.”

As for those specials: NBC has two miniseries in the works, a rarity for the broadcast networks these days, who’ve essentially gone out of the one-shot movie business. One is “The Last Templar,” starring Mira Sorvino in what sort of sounds like a four-hour “National Treasure” retread that begins with “four horsemen dressed as 12th century knights storm the gala opening of an exhibition of Vatican treasures and steal an arcane medieval decoder.”

The other is “XIII,” a conspiracy thriller starring Val Kilmer and Stephen Dorff that begins when “the first female U.S. President is shot dead by a sniper during her Veteran's Day speech.” (Must … not … read … too … much … into … this …) It then becomes something of a “Bourne Identity” retread, as a man is discovered three months later with no memory of his identity and only a tattoo – yes, the “XIII” of the title – and Bourne-like abilities to snap necks and the like to distinguish him.

Monday

Fall 2008
8-9 p.m. “Chuck”
9-10 p.m. “Heroes”
10-11 p.m. “My Own Worst Enemy” *

NBC is again attempting what it tried this past season, molding Mondays as an action-, slightly paranormally-themed evening, only the network’s feel-good mission statement means no programs like this year’s glum “Journeyman.”

“My Own Worst Enemy” is billed as a kind of “Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde”-style story, starring Christian Slater as a middle-class Everyguy who has a secret life as a spy. NBC insists the show “explores the duality of a man who is literally pitted against himself. And it raises the question: Who can you trust when you can't trust yourself?” If you can’t trust yourself, why would you believe you could trust anyone?

Winter 2009
8- 9 p.m. “Chuck”
9-10 p.m. “Heroes”
10-11 p.m. “The Philanthropist” *

From Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson (“Homicide: Life on the Street”) comes “The Philanthropist,” about a “vigilante philanthropist” and “renegade billionaire:” “Instead of spending $25,000 a plate at a fundraiser, he's dodging bullets in third-world countries to hand-deliver vaccine.”

Summer 2009
8-9 p.m. “American Gladiators”
9-10 p.m. “America’s Toughest Jobs” *
10-11 p.m. “Dateline NBC” ^

Even though it looked like NBC was going to go stark raving reality all over its schedule, it actually showed restraint, waiting until summer to deliver a reality onslaught – it even kept “American Gladiators” off its schedule during the regular season.

“America’s Toughest Jobs” takes the Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” and transforms it into a reality competition from creator Thom Beers (“Deadliest Catch,” “Ice Road Truckers”). And yes, some of the challenges will involve fishing under extremely difficult circumstances and driving on icy roads.

Next: Tuesday and Wednesday