The comedic thriller ‘The Resort’ starring Cristin Milioti and William Jackson Harper will air this week on NBCUniversal as the media company looks to the broadcast network to increase awareness to the series that bowed July 28 on Peacock.
The pilot for the series from creator/showrunner Andy Siara (Palm Springs, Lodge 49) and exec producer Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot, Homecoming) has been scheduled to air Wednesday, Aug. 24 at 9 p.m. after a live results telecast of America’s Got Talent. The latter series ranks as NBC’s most-watched show of the summer for an impressive 16th straight year.
In success, the hope is that the big and broad AGT audience will stay tuned for the re-airing of The Resort pilot and then head to Peacock to binge the rest of the season ahead of the show’s Sept. 1 finale. The broadcast hour will also include a substantial teaser of the second episode of The Resort in a further bid to bring viewers to the streaming platform.
“Peacock audiences are hooked on the week-to-week mystery of The Resort, and bringing the premiere episode to NBC is the perfect way to introduce it to new fans,” said Lisa Katz, president of scripted content at NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “NBC viewers already know and love William Jackson Harper from The Good Place, and joined by the incredible Cristin Milioti, the two lead a phenomenal cast that is giving people their next binge-worthy series.”
The Resort takes over the slot that was previously occupied by NBC’s Password revival. The reality competition series has a few more remaining episodes in its current season that are scheduled to air on Tuesdays. Repeats of Chicago Fire will air in the Wednesday at 9 p.m. slot Aug. 31 and Sept. 7 with the season finale of AGT set for Sept. 14.
The Resort, which is produced by NBCUniversal’s Universal Content Productions and stems from Esmail’s overall deal with the studio, launched with its first three episodes July 28 and has been since been dropping new episodes weekly on Thursdays. The show has a strong 85 percent score among critics on Rotten Tomatoes (though that rating sits at a less impressive 56 percent among viewers). THR TV critic Angie Han described The Resort as “[a] journey that starts strong but gets lost in its own jungle” in her review.
The decision to sample The Resort on NBC comes after NBCU parent Comcast reported that Peacock subscribers stalled in the second quarter with a flat 13 million paying to use the platform that’s home to Saturday Night Live and scripted originals including Girls5eva.
