NBC Sets January Return Dates Scripted Series, Slates ‘Taken’ Season 2

NBC’s scripted series will start coming back from their holiday broadcast hiatuses at the very start of the new year, with Monday drama The Brave leading the pack with a January 1 midseason premiere.

NBC today unveiled a scripted lineup that will stay intact in January, with Taken joining the Friday schedule at 9 PM as newsmagazine Dateline goes down from two hours (9-11 PM) to one (10-11 PM).

NBC’s January lineup includes freshman drama The Brave and sophomore comedy Great News, which are yet to hear on back orders, and sophomore comedy The Good Place, which produces 13-episode seasons. The Brave in particular will only have a handful of episodes of its original 13-episode order left by January.

NBC is yet to announce the (likely) alternative series that will bridge the two cycles of The Voice on Monday and Tuesday. Top contenders include The Awesome Show, from executive producer Chris Hardwick; Ellen’s Game of Games, starring Ellen DeGeneres and featuring super-sized versions of some of the most popular games from her daytime talk show; Genius Junior, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, which celebrates the smartest kids in America; and The Handmade Project, from executive producers Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman, a lighthearted competition celebrating creativity and craftiness.

Here is NBC’s January lineup with premiere dates:

MONDAY, JANUARY 1
10-11 PM – THE BRAVE

TUESDAY, JANUARY 2
9-10 PM – THIS IS US
10-11 PM – CHICAGO MED

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3
8-9 PM – THE BLACKLIST
9-10 PM – LAW & ORDER: SVU
10-11 PM – CHICAGO P.D.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 4
8-8:30 PM – SUPERSTORE
8:30-9 PM – THE GOOD PLACE
9-9:30 PM – WILL & GRACE
9:30-10 PM – GREAT NEWS
10-11 PM – CHICAGO FIRE

FRIDAY, JANUARY 12
8-9 PM – BLINDSPOT
9-10 PM – TAKEN (season premiere)
10-11 PM – DATELINE NBC

Taken, a prequel to the hit Luc Besson movie franchise, is undergoing a creative overhaul for Season 2 with a new showrunner, Greg Plageman, and a new supporting cast joining returning stars Clive Standen (Bryan Mills) and Jennifer Beals (Christina Hart). With a stronger procedural element, in Season 2, Bryan, Christina and a team of covert operatives embark on rescue missions around the world – a job that employs Bryan’s very particular, and very dangerous, set of skills.

Adam Goldberg and Jessica Camacho co-star. Besson, Plageman, Matthew Gross and Thomas Anargyros executive produce for EuropaCorp TV and Universal Television.