Though we’ve been reporting on a bunch of very exciting pick-ups over the past 24 hours (including Community and Parks and Recreation), NBC has given the axe to a few of its freshman series.  The most high profile cancellation is the Jason Isaacs-fronted drama Awake.  The show, from Lone Star creator Kyle Killen and Homeland’s Howard Gordon, got off to a great star with a stellar pilot, but quickly spiraled into boring procedural territory.  I found the premise—a man is living two realities, one in which his son survived a car crash and one in which his wife survived—to be incredibly promising, but for some reason producers decided to rely heavily on the procedural aspect of the show and inject an eyeball-rolling mythology.

Audiences weren’t buying it, and the ratings steadily declined over the ensuing weeks. Killen is undeniably talented, so hopefully he gets another shot next pilot season.  Hit the jump for news on other NBC cancellations.

Though the network already gave full season orders to Up All Night and Whitney, NBC is only showing a little bit of faith in their freshman series Prime Suspect and sophomore Harry’s Law. Two reports from The Live Feed reveal that each series has been given an order for six more scripts. This is different than having more episodes ordered, since the scripts still have to be approved before heading in front of the camera. But it does mean that the series aren’t close to being taken down by the network just yet, unlike Free Agents and The Playboy Club which have already been axed. Prime Suspect has a solid future, but it’s not extremely different from other police dramas out there. As for Harry’s Law, well Kathy Bates just brings a load of charisma to any project she gets her hands on, so I can see why it’s lasted this long. Stay tuned as more shows have their fate decided as the season goes on.

Most of the other networks have already chimed in with their premiere dates for new and returning series for the 2011-2012 season, but today NBC has finally sent over their premiere schedule for the fall. Returning series include Parenthood, Chuck, Harry’s Law, The Office, Parks & Recreation and Community while new series include but are not limited to The Playboy Club starring Amber Heard, the fairytale driven Grimm, the new comedy series Whitney starring the hilarious stand-up comedienne Whitney Cummings and the remake of Prime Suspect with Maria Bello. Find out when your old favorites and new series hit the air with the full schedule after the jump, but if you want to check out the new series, check clips from dramas here and comedies here straight from the network’s upfronts presentation.

NBC has officially announced their schedule for 2011-2012.  The network ordered six new dramas (The Playboy Club, Prime Suspect, Grimm, The Firm, Smash, Awake) and six new sitcoms (Up All Night, Free Agents, Whitney, Best Friends Forever, Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea, Bent).

The network is programming Fridays fairly aggressively.  Chuck will air its fifth and final 13-episode season on Fridays, paired with the new fairy tale drama Grimm and Friday staple Dateline NBC.  NBC will hold 30 Rock for midseason to accommodate star/creator Tina Fey’s pregnancy.  The Thursday night sitcom block will be cut back to two hours with Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office, and Whitney leading into the Maria Bello-led Prime Suspect remake.

Click through to the links to watch preview clips for the new dramas and the new comedies.  Hit the jump to check out the new schedule.

NBC joined Fox in the early pickup/renewal game last night with series orders for Whitney, Up All Night, Smash, and Prime Suspect.  So far, the news continues accentuate the positive — only renewals and more pilot pickups, no cancellations.  The most confident reports indicate NBC will renew Parenthood for a full third season order.

More circumstantial reports update on the fates of Chuck and Harry’s Law. This makes the fourth May in a row where Chuck has lived on the bubble, and somehow a fifth season is very much in the works.  The deal isn’t official, but all signs suggest Chuck will continue to brighten the airwaves through 2012 with a 13-episode order.  Meanwhile, NBC is expected to renew Harry’s Law for a second season.  This will give creator David E. Kelly something to do next year, since NBC has reportedly passed on his Wonder Woman pilot.

Details on series orders for The Playboy Club, Awake, and Grimm.

Last month we got word on the midseason premieres for NBC’s new series like the superhero action series The Cape, the romantic comedy series Perfect Couples and the legal drama Harry’s Law. Now NBC has released a whopping 25-minute preview at all of their midseason offerings including a glimpse at some of the final episodes featuring Steve Carell on The Office and the anticipated third season of Parks & Recreation starring Amy Poehler. Honestly there’s no reason for me to talk about it because this lengthy preview video speaks for itself. Frankly, I’m just glad that some midseason series are giving people a much needed break from The Event, so maybe people can stop watching it altogether. Check out NBC’s midseason preview after the jump!

Plenty of series have already come and gone since the beginning of the fall TV season, but as some are still hanging by a thread on their respective networks (looking at you Running Wilde), others are just getting ready for their big mid-season debut. Today NBC announced the premiere dates for their three new mid-season series as well as a slew of other changes in their programming line-up. After the jump you’ll find the premiere dates for The Cape, Harry’s Law and Perfect Couples as well as new schedule information with time slot changes for current running programs upon their return in the mid-season.

With the release of NBC’s 2010-11 schedule comes a whole bunch of preview clips to promote the network’s new shows.  On the drama side, we have short clips from new fall shows The Event, Chase, Undercovers,  School Pride and Outlaw as well as midseason offerings The Cape and Harry’s Law .  (For clips from NBC’s new comedies, click here.)  Check out the clips for yourself, as well as full synopses for each show, after the jump.

There’s been plenty of speculation, but now it’s official: Heroes is cancelled.  The Live Feed reports that the ratings simply sunk too low to justify the budget, though fans may hold out hope that NBC is considering a “special or movie” to wrap up loose storylines.  Likewise, NBC has no use for the low-rated freshman medical dramas Mercy and Trauma, so neither will get a second season.

On the flip side, NBC officially renewed Chuck for a fourth season(!) and picked up four new series: the superhero-centric The Cape, retitled legal dramas Outlaw (formerly titled Garza) and Harry’s Law (formerly titled Kindreds), and twenty-something singles comedy Friends With Benefits.  Check out a press release with all the details after the jump.