NBC has gotten out in front of the competition by announcing its schedule for the coming year -- not the fall season alone, but the 2008-2009 season through next summer. Obviously changes will be necessary along the way, but this was the first step in the Peacock's vaunted 52-week strategy.

The highlights:

Back for a second season (as expected) are Life and Chuck, as well as the unexpected Lipstick Jungle. In the game show category, American Gladiators made the cut, but Amne$ia did not. Two veteran shows that were on the bubble last season, Law & Order and Medium, will also be back.

ER will come back for what is officially being termed a final season (its fifteenth), with Noah Wyle returning to the series as Dr. Carter. The show will pause at midseason for a new year of Celebrity Apprentice. As has been rumored, Friday Night Lights is continuing for a 13-episode season, but under a partnership with DirecTV, which gets first dibs on new FNL episodes starting in the fall. NBC will then air the episodes beginning in the winter -- an arrangement not unlike what we've seen this season with Law & Order: Criminal Intent, a shared USA/NBC show.

Scrubs is leaving Thursday nights, but will likely be moving to ABC for a final year. In its place on Thursday, NBC will offer extra episodes of The Office for the early weeks of the season before a special series of politically-themed Saturday Night Live half hours takes over during October. The rest of the Thursday comedy lineup returns intact.

A spinoff based on The Office will get a premiere following the Super Bowl in February 2009. This is unusual in two respects: first, poorly-rated shows like The Office rarely inspire spinoffs; and second, while Super Bowl night used to be a popular way of introducing a new series (NBC was the first network to try this with The A-Team), in recent years that slot has typically been given over to existing shows. No details were offered about the spinoff -- not even which character or characters would be involved.

New series for the fall include:

Knight Rider: The adventures of a man and his talking hi-tech car, most recently seen in a two-hour pilot in February. This will kick off the Wednesday night lineup and will be followed by Deal or No Deal and Lipstick Jungle -- not NBC's strongest night. Is Knight Rider the next Battlestar Galactica or the next Bionic Woman?

My Own Worst Enemy: NBC's latest attempt to find a 10 p.m. partner for Heroes on Mondays will star Christian Slater as a "normal" guy who learns he has an alter ego who is a spy.

Kath & Kim: A remake of a popular Australian sitcom, with Molly Shannon and Selma Blair as mom and daughter -- a Gilmore Girls knockoff? It will air following a family edition of The Biggest Loser on Tuesdays at 9:30, not the greatest position from which to launch a sitcom.

Crusoe: Based on the Daniel Defoe character. No word on whether it co-stars a volleyball or not. This will air Fridays at 8, followed by Deal or No Deal and Life, which won't have a very long one if it stays on Fridays at 10.

New series scheduled for a winter 2009 debut, other than the Office spinoff, include Kings, which will take the story of King David -- lurid enough in its original version -- and make a primetime soap out of it. Ian McShane, fresh off playing one of the most profane characters in television history in Deadwood, stars as King Silas. This one sounds like it has real guilty pleasure potential. Staying in the set-in-the-past vein, Merlin will deal with the magician of King Arthur fantasy fame. Merlin and Kings will bookend Medium on Sundays. The Philanthropist (here's betting that name gets changed), which steps in for My Own Worst Enemy in the winter, is about a billionaire who uses his wealth to solve problems.

The summer of 2009 is a ways off, but NBC even has a few details about new shows slated for the early months of the Clinton/McCain/Obama administration: a reality show called America's Toughest Jobs (no truth to the rumor that it's about network executives); The Chopping Block, a restaurant reality show that sounds a lot like the BBC's Last Restaurant Standing; Shark Taggers, part of the burgeoning adventure reality trend; and a token drama called The Listener, about a young mindreader.

More on this news if things change -- and since we're talking about network television, it's a safe bet they will.

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