NBC laid out the pieces of its fall lineup two weeks before any of the rest of the broadcast networks, but the puzzle won't be completed until the final schedule is announced on May 19.

Conspicuously absent on the current roster are Chuck, My Name is Earl, Life, Law & Order and Medium -- although the latter two are expected to get picked up. The network is quick to point out that some shows not announced for pick-up -- read Chuck -- might still have a pulse.

And Jennifer Aniston might get back with Brad Pitt.

It's unlikely Earl will return, and the lights have dimmed for Chuck, which never showed the surge in viewers that it needed to get called back for another date despite the urging of critics and Web fans.

So why, fans of Chuck might ask, would NBC pick up the similarly ratings challenged Friday Night Lights for not just one but two more seasons?

Because of deals in place with DirecTV and the fact that FNL is one lean, cheap machine to produce and gives the network bragging rights to a critically acclaimed series.

That's the same cost-saving rationale for plugging in five nights of talk show host Jay Leno, which eliminates five 10 p.m. hour slots through the week that could have been filled with shows like Chuck. The experiment will surely save NBC a boatload of money in production costs, but it could also harpoon a network with major viewership troubles.

Oh, and for the four people out there watching, Kath & Kim and Kings are among the banished.

Snagging the scarce primetime real estate are four new dramas, Mercy, Trauma, Parenthood and a midseason so-called "event" series Day One, which is slated to launch after the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Filling out the rest of the roster are two comedies, Community and 100 Questions.

All three of the regularly scripted dramas come with producers who have been working on Friday Night Lights, so obviously the network feels there is talent to be mined from that series that just hasn't been able to capture a big audience. We'll hope for a better audience response for these freshmen shows.

Other returning NBC shows include a shortened season of Heroes, pick-ups of new spring shows Southland and Parks and Recreation. Also coming back are The Office, 30 Rock, The Biggest Loser, Celebrity Apprentice, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and six new episodes of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday, which will most likely take over Earl's old spot. Update has been given a six-episode order, so if it bombs there's room to sub in something hanging on the bench.

Also vying for spots are the new alternative series The Marriage Ref, Breakthrough with Tony Robbins and Who Do You Think You Are?

New Dramas:

Parenthood: Based on the movie from Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, the series revolves around ER alum Maura Tierney as a financially strapped mom moving back home to Berkeley, CA. with her two kids, played by Mae Whitman (In Treatment) and Miles Heizer (ER). Her family includes an opinionated dad (Craig T. Nelson), strong-willed mom (Bonnie Bedelia) and grown sibings played by Peter Krause, Dax Shepard, Monica Potter and Erika Christensen. Jason Katims of Friday Night Lights is the writer/producer.

Trauma: Trying to fill the ER void, NBC calls this a "high-octane medical drama" and is produced by Peter Berg and other FNL folks. The show features a lot of newcomers the network hopes will explode like that guy George Clooney.

Mercy: The twist in this med drama is you see it through the eyes of the nurses rather than the doctors. Iraq war vet nurse (Taylor Schilling) teams up with fellow nurses, including one played by Michelle Trachtenberg. Men in Trees hunk James Tupper co-stars as the new doctor at the hospital who is sure to muck about in their love lives. FNL's Liz Heldens is one of the writers/executive producers.

Day One: This limited run sci-fi series could get an extended life if viewers latch on to the story of life on earth following a global catastrophe. A band of survivors band together in a Van Nuys apartment building -- isn't that punishment enough?

New Comedies:

100 Questions: OK, here's our question: Haven't we seen all this before? Sophie Winkleman plays a woman looking for love, but who has a track record for rejecting most of her suitors. So she answers a list of dating questions for an online service, prompting her to recount her carefree past with her pals (How I Met Your Mother??) and examine how she torpedoed her love life. Perhaps this won't go in the dumper as fast as say, The Ex-List, which had a similar premise.

Community: Enough of those high school misfit stories. We've now graduated to community college. The Soup host Joel McHale stars as a lawyer who got his license revoked and now heads a motley study group. Chevy Chase co-stars.

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