Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

NBC provides broadcast, NBC Universal cable entities and online audiences with an upgraded backstage pass to view the network's new and returning series for Fall as series star Joel McHale ("The Soup") from NBC's new comedy "Community" hosts "The NBC Primetime Preview." The lively 30-minute cavalcade will feature exclusive, behind-the-scenes views to be delivered across a wide gamut of NBC Universal media platforms beginning August 8 through September 27. The program will run an estimated 306 times over broadcast and cable platforms. The fresh entertainment show also will feature appearances by former late-night king Jay Leno, who launches his new comedy series "The Jay Leno Show" on Monday, September 14 (10-11 p.m. ET). The spotlight of the preview also focuses on new dramas "Trauma" and "Mercy," new comedy "Community," "The Biggest Loser," NBC's Thursday-night comedies, the Emmy Award-winning ...

Editor's Note: Every day on the Director's Cut this week, we are giving you a sneak peak at the new fall shows coming to WKYC and NBC. --- From the executive producers of the box-office hit "Parenthood" Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, and writer/executive producer Jason Katims of "Friday Night Lights" this contemporary re-imagining of the blockbuster film depicts the colorful and imperfect Braverman family: four grown siblings sharing the headaches, heartaches and joy of being parents. The star-studded cast includes Peter Krause, Maura Tierney, Craig T. Nelson, Dax Shepard, Bonnie Bedelia, Monica Potter, Erika Christensen and Sarah Ramos. When Sarah Braverman, a financially strapped single mother, returns home to her parents and siblings in Berkeley, California after packing up her Fresno apartment and uprooting her two inconvenienced kids, Amber and Drew, she is greeted by her opinionated father Zeek and mother Camille who are privately dealing wi...

Editor's Note: Every day on the Director's Cut this week, we are giving you a sneak peak at the new fall shows coming to WKYC and NBC. --- "Mercy," a new medical drama with a unique point of view, portrays the lives of the staff at Mercy Hospital as seen through the eyes of those who know it best: its nurses. Nurse Veronica Callahan returns to Mercy from a military tour in Iraq and she knows more about medicine than all of the residents combined. Together with fellow nurses Sonia Jimenez and Chloe Payne, Callahan navigates through the daily traumas and social landmines of life and love both inside the hospital and out in the real world. The cast also includes: James Tupper as Dr. Chris Sands, a new doctor at the hospital who complicates Veronica's life; Diego Klattenhoff as Mike Callahan, Veronica's husband; and Guillermo Diaz as Nurse Angel Lopez.

Editor's Note: Every day on the Director's Cut this week, we are giving you a sneak peak at the new fall shows coming to WKYC and NBC. --- Peter Berg, executive producer of "Friday Night Lights" delivers "Trauma," the first high-octane medical drama series to live exclusively in the field where the real action is. Like an adrenaline shot to the heart, "Trauma" is an intense, action-packed look at one of the most dangerous medical professions in the world: first responder paramedics. When emergencies occur, the trauma team from San Francisco General is first on the scene, traveling by land, by sea or by air to reach their victims in time. From the heights of the city's Transamerica Pyramid to the depths of the San Francisco Bay, these heroes must face the most extreme conditions to save lives and give meaning to their own existence in the process.

Editor's Note: Every day on the Director's Cut this week, we are giving you a sneak peak at the new fall shows coming to WKYC and NBC. --- From Emmy Award-winning directors Joe and Anthony Russo comes "Community," a smart comedy series about higher education and lower expectations. The student body at Greendale Community College is made up of high-school losers, newly divorced housewives, and old people who want to keep their minds active. Within these not-so-hallowed halls, "Community" focuses on a band of misfits, at the center of which is a fast-talkin' lawyer whose degree has been revoked, who form a study group and end up learning a lot more about themselves than they do about their course work. In addition to McHale, the series also stars: Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie and comedy legend Chevy Chase.

Editor's Note: Every day on the Director's Cut this week, we are giving you a sneak peak at the new fall shows coming to WKYC and NBC. --- Emmy winner James Burrows directs "100 Questions," a new comedy series that provides hilarious answers to 100 questions about love. Charlotte Payne is looking for love and has rejected multiple marriage proposals, but she has yet to meet Mr. Right. When she joins a popular online dating site, she gets a little help from her dating counselor Ravi, who requires her to take a 100-question compatibility test. The questions aren't easy for Charlotte to answer, and each one requires her to recount a poignant and humorous time in her life with friends. The test becomes a journey of self-discovery for Charlotte who begins to realize what she truly wants in a relationship.