NBC Announces Jimmy Fallon as Golden Globe Host, Adds Olympic Previews of ‘Superstore’ and ‘The Voice’

Opening the NBC day at TCA in Los Angeles Tuesday morning, NBC chairman Robert Greenblatt expressed confidence of the strength of the network especially since, as he explained, their three competitors (ABC, CBS, Fox) are down double digits in viewers. The Peacock will premiere two new dramas (Timeless, This Is Us) and one comedy (The Good Place) this fall.

Announcements included a special celebrating singer Tony Bennett’s 90th birthday, taping in September and airing just before the holidays on December 20.

Also, Emmy- and Grammy-award winning host of The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon, was named host of the 74th annual Golden Globes, airing January 8, 2017 on NBC. “I know he will bring his unique energy and wit to the show. The Hollywood Foreign Press is thrilled and we’re thrilled as well that he wanted to do it this year,” Greenblatt said.

NBC will utilize the upcoming Rio Olympics by giving early previews of two returning series including sophomore sticom Superstore. “We love Superstore,” Greenblatt said. “That’s why we did a special Olympics-themed episode, which is going to air in prime time after the Olympics on August 19. We also felt that it should move to Thursday nights where so many great NBC comedies have been in the past.”

Previewing after the closing ceremony on August 21 is a half hour special from the upcoming 11th cycle of The Voice. The episode will be a blind audition special with viewers being able to get their first look at new judges Alicia Keys and Miley Cyrus mixing it up alongside Blake Shelton and Adam Levine.

“As we look forward to cycle 11,” Greenblatt said, “nothing is more vital than having a truly compelling fall season and maintaining its status at the top of the music industry. To that end, we have two new phenomenal coaches coming, Alicia Keys, a true music icon, and Miley Cyrus, the young upstart who’s not only an extraordinary artist herself but she speaks to a whole new millennial audience.”

After mentioning the ratings strength of America’s Got Talent this summer, Greenblatt announced that all judges (Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, Mel B and Simon Cowell) have all been signed to return next season. “I have to give some of that credit, of course, to the amazing talent on the show this season but also to our judge Simon Cowell, who works so well with Heidi, Howie and Mel B.”

Regarding the network’s ever-growing franchise of Chicago-based Dick Wolf dramas—Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Chicago Med and the upcoming Chicago Justice—Greenblatt didn’t reveal any plans for a fifth show but did say, “Every time I think Dick Wolf has kind of finished what he started, he comes up with a new idea..more often than not, he proves me to be wrong so, I don’t know.” He added that he “will never, ever count Dick Wolf out.”

RELATED: NBC Announces Fall Schedule

That said, the next crime franchise may not come out of the Windy City but the Big Apple. “Maybe something totally different in the world of FBI,” said NBC president Jennifer Salke told reporters in the post-panel scrum. “We don’t have writers, but we’ve had general conversations about that being an area Dick is very interested in and we would be very supportive of that story.”

Finally, asked about the correlation between Donald Trump’s past hosting The Apprentice franchise and becoming a Presidential candidate, Greenblatt didn’t see a direct link. “I think it’s certainly interesting and we do talk about it,” he said. “Bedtime for Bonzo helped Reagan become a national figure, [Doonesbury comic creator] Garry Trudeau was predicting that Donald Trump would run for President before Celebrity Apprentice…I don’t think that there’s really that much of a correlation from one to the other [but] it’s really not surprising that he would embark on this kind of journey but it is interesting that he was on the show for so long and now he’s on the national stage the way he is.”