As NBC celebrates the birth of several new series at today's upfront events in New York City, a few Peacock henchman are simultaneously tossing one of their most expensive shows into the East River. And unlike Heroes and Law & Order, which lived relatively long, full lives, this project -- heralded at last year's upfronts as addictive apocalyptic event television (with explosions!) -- Day One never made it to air.
You may remember that Day One started out as a post-apocalyptic pilot from Jesse Alexander, executive producer of Lost, Alias and Heroes, and was expected to replace Heroes after the 2010 Olympics this spring. The Peacock announced a midseason premiere and a thirteen-episode season before slashing the season to four installments, scheduled to air as a miniseries, and then slashing it even further until it was just a two-hour TV movie. At that time, NBC's primetime entertainment president Angela Bromstad explained that there was "concern about sustaining the show's mythology."
Apparently the mythology was so faulty that the network scrapped the expensive project entirely, as Bromstad confirmed at today's upfronts. Let's not forget, too, that NBC was so starved for programming this season after the Leno debacle that they briefly un-canceled Trauma and aired programming like Who Do You Think You Are? and Minute to Win It; how dire must Day One have been that it couldn't even penetrate that schedule? But before it sinks to the bottom of the river -- and the recess of our brains reserved for cataloging NBC failures -- let's take a moment to remember NBC's Day One via its original trailer: