NBC Pulls ‘The Paper’ Linear Run, Gives ‘Stumble’ a Monday Showcase

NBC is ending its linear run of Pea***’s “The Paper” earlier than expected. Instead, starting on Jan. 5, NBC will air episodes of its freshman comedy “Stumble” in the Monday at 8:30 p.m. ET time slot — where broadcast-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 execs hope to give “Stumble” some extra exposure by placing repeats, starting with the show’s pilot episode, on Mondays behind “St. Denis Medical.”

That means “The Paper” won’t quite get a full 10-episode run on Mondays, but NBC plans to air the remaining three episodes on Saturday, Jan. 3. That show, of course, has been available on Pea*** since Sept. 4 — where viewers can already catch the entire Season 1 run. And an option for Season 2 of “The Paper” was already picked up, which means the show will return with more episodes in 2026 on the streamer.

NBC execs hope to add more momentum to “Stumble,” which will air in the additional Monday slot through Feb. 2 (with the exception of an NBA game on Jan. 19). That Monday 8:30 p.m. slot will eventually be taken over by new comedy “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins,” which premieres with an hour-long episode on Feb. 23 at 8 p.m. ET, before settling into 8:30 p.m. the following week, on March 2.

“The Paper,” which is Pea***’s No. 2 comedy so far (behind only “Ted”), added nearly 6 million viewers to its cross-platform reach during the NBC run, according to the network. When it originally decided to air a second run of “The Paper” on NBC, folks in the know said an internal study showed that there was only around 4% duplication in viewership between NBC and Pea*** audiences. Pea*** viewers are also about a decade younger than those for NBC, and the network hoped this would expose “The Paper” to a very different demographic.

As for “Stumble,” the show was created by Jeff Astrof and Liz Astrof, and is set in the competitive world of junior college cheer 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 billed as a recurring guest star. Other guest stars in Season 1 include Jeff Hiller, Ashlie Atkinson and Dascha Polanco.

The Astrofs are executive producers, along with Dana Honor and Monica Aldama (from Netflix’s “Cheer”). Jeff Blitz is director/EP. Universal TV is the studio behind the single camera comedy, which has been picked up for 13 episodes in Season 1.

Variety TV critic Aramide Tinubu gave the show a thumb’s up, calling it “a hysterical mockumentary about the high-stakes arena of junior college cheerleading. For viewers who adored the ‘Cheer’ docuseries and Aldama’s no-nonsense approach to coaching, this light-hearted twist on that world introduces a cast of wildly colorful characters and a woman determined to win, no matter the cost.”