NBC is ending its linear run of Peacock’s “The Paper” ahead of schedule. Instead, starting Jan. 5, NBC will air episodes of its freshman comedy “Stumble” on Mondays at 8:30 p.m. ET — where TV-friendly versions of “The Paper” have been airing since Nov. 10.
New episodes of “Stumble” will continue to air on Fridays at 8:30 p.m., behind “Happy’s Place.” But NBC executives hope to give “Stumble” additional exposure by placing reruns, starting with the series’ pilot episode, on Mondays behind “St. Denis Medical.”
This means that “The Paper” will not have a full 10-episode run on Monday, but NBC plans to air the remaining three episodes on Saturday, January 3. This show, of course, has been available on Peacock since September 4 – where viewers can already see the entirety of Season 1. And an option for Season 2 of “The Paper” has already been picked up, meaning the series will return with more episodes in 2026 on the streamer.
NBC executives hope to add more momentum to “Stumble,” which will air in the extra Monday slot through Feb. 2 (with the exception of an NBA game on Jan. 19). That 8:30 p.m. Monday slot will eventually be taken over by the new comedy “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins,” premiering with a one-hour episode on February 23 at 8 p.m. ET, before moving to 8:30 p.m. the following week on March 2.
“The Paper,” which is Peacock’s No. 2 comedy so far (behind only “Ted”), added nearly 6 million viewers to its multiplatform reach during its run on NBC, according to the network. When it initially decided to air a second run of “The Paper” on NBC, people in the know said an internal study showed there was only about a 4 percent audience duplication between NBC and Peacock audiences. Peacock’s viewers are also about a decade younger than NBC’s, and the network hoped that would expose “The Paper” to a very different demographic.
As for “Stumble,” the show was created by Jeff Astrof and Liz Astrof and takes place in the competitive world of junior college cheerleading squads. The series stars Jenn Lyon, as well as Taran Killam, Ryan Pinkston, Jarrett Austin Brown, Anissa Borrego, Arianna Davis, Taylor Dunbar and Georgie Murphy, while Kristin Chenoweth is featured as a recurring guest star. Other season 1 guest stars include Jeff Hiller, Ashlie Atkinson and Dascha Polanco.
The Astrofs serve as executive producers, alongside Dana Honor and Monica Aldama (of Netflix’s “Cheer”). Jeff Blitz is director/EP. Universal TV is the studio behind the single-camera comedy, which was picked up for 13 episodes during season 1.
Variety Television critic Aramide Tinubu praised the show, calling it “a hysterical mockumentary about the high-stakes arena of college cheerleading. For viewers who loved the ‘Cheer’ docuseries and Aldama’s no-nonsense approach to coaching, this light-hearted spin on that world features a cast of wildly colorful characters and a woman determined to win, no matter the cost.”
