CAST OF NBC'S EMMY-NOMINATED 'THE OFFICE' WORKS OVERTIME TO HOST 'NBC PRIMETIME PREVIEW' THAT OFFERS ORIGINAL COMEDY DESIGNED TO SHOW SNEAK PEEK OF NEW FALL SERIES

CAST OF NBC'S EMMY-NOMINATED 'THE OFFICE' WORKS OVERTIME TO HOST 'NBC PRIMETIME PREVIEW' THAT OFFERS ORIGINAL COMEDY DESIGNED TO SHOW SNEAK PEEK OF NEW FALL SERIES

BURBANK � August 7, 2006 � Golden Globe winner Steve Carell and the cast of NBC's Emmy Award-nominated "The Office" (Thursdays, 8:30-9 p.m. ET) will appear in character as the Dunder-Mifflin worker bees quit pushing pencils long enough to help showcase the network's new series for Fall 2006-07 in "NBC Primetime Preview" � a 30-minute program that features original comedy from the series' creative team beginning August 12 through September 17.

The annual Fall program, which offers a sneak peek at NBC's new Fall series and some returning series, will be offered to NBC's 232 television stations (check local listings) as well as on such non-NBC sites as CNBC, USA, SCI FI, Bravo, Universal HD, E!, TV Guide Channel and on selected United Airlines flights. In addition, Comcast, Time Warner and Cox will be offering the show via On Demand platforms. It will also be broadcast on the NBC Network on Saturday, September 2 (8-8:30 p.m. ET).

Cast members, including recent Emmy nominee Carell, Jenna Fischer, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson and B.J. Novak, will be featured in quick wraparound sketches designed to match the theme of each new series whose highlights are introduced during the program. Series regulars Angela Kinsey, Brian Baumgartner, Phyllis Smith, Kate Flannery, Leslie David Baker, Mindy Kaling and Paul Lieberstein also will star.

Among the series spotlighted are NBC's new dramas "Friday Night Lights," "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," "Heroes" and "Kidnapped." The new comedies are "30 Rock" and "Twenty Good Years." NBC also welcomes the NFL back to the primetime stage with "NBC's Sunday Night Football."

September 18 marks the premiere of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," Emmy Award-winning Aaron Sorkin's and Thomas Schlamme's (NBC's "The West Wing") riveting insider's take on the backstage drama of a late-night comedy sketch show. The drama features an all-star cast that includes Matthew Perry ("Friends"), Bradley Whitford ("The West Wing"), Amanda Peet ("Syriana"), Steven Weber ("Wings"), D.L. Hughley ("The Hughleys"), Sarah Paulson ("Down with Love"), Nathan Corddry ("The Daily Show with Jon Stewart") and Timothy Busfield ("thirtysomething").

"Heroes" (Mondays, 9-10 p.m. ET), an epic ensemble drama centering on the radically changed lives of several ordinary people who find they possess extraordinary abilities, will debut on September 25. Among the series stars are Milo Ventimiglia ("Gilmore Girls"), Adrian Pasdar "Judging Amy"), Hayden Panettierre ("Ice Princess"), Sendhil Ramamurthy ("Blind Guy Driving"), Masi Oka (NBC's "Scrubs") and Ali Larter ("Final Destination").

The ambitious drama "Friday Night Lights" (Tuesdays, 8-9 p.m. ET) -- inspired by the hit feature film that conveys the passions of a small Texas town for its top-ranked football team and stars Kyle Chandler ("King Kong") -- will debut on Tuesday, October 3.

Among NBC's other new dramas, "Kidnapped" (Wednesdays, 10-11 p.m. ET) -- an intense, high-stakes and serialized thriller about a teenaged boy's kidnapping that stars Jeremy Sisto ("Six Feet Under") and Delroy Lindo ("The Core") -- will debut on September 20.

NBC's new comedy "Twenty Good Years" (Wednesdays, 8-8:30 p.m. ET) will premiere on Wednesday, October 4 with back-to-back original episodes (8-8:30 p.m. ET and 8:30-9 p.m. ET). The series stars Emmy winner John Lithgow ("3rd Rock from the Sun") and Jeffrey Tambor ("Arrested Development") as mismatched buddies who realize that life doesn't last forever.

Meanwhile, NBC's other new Fall comedy, "30 Rock" (Wednesdays, 8:30-9 p.m. ET), debuts on Wednesday, October 11. It stars Emmy winner Tina Fey (NBC's "Saturday Night Live," "Mean Girls") as the head writer of a frenetic late-night television variety show (Fey is also the writer and an executive producer with Lorne Michaels). Alec Baldwin ("The Aviator," The Cooler") and Tracy Morgan (NBC's "Saturday Night Live") also star.

The NFL season kicks off on NBC on Thursday, September 7 (8-11 p.m. ET) as the Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers host the Miami Dolphins, marked by NBC's "Football Night in America" studio analyst Jerome Bettis' return to Pittsburgh. On Sunday, September 10, "NBC Sunday Night Football" debuts with one of the most anticipated games in recent memory with brother against brother as Peyton Manning leads the Indianapolis Colts against younger sibling Eli Manning's New York Giants in New York. "NBC Sunday Night Football" is be preceded by the "Football Night in America" (7-8 p.m. ET), NBC's NFL studio show that will offer an exclusive and complete look at each Sunday in the NFL.

"The Office" (8:30-9 p.m. ET) will clock in for its third season on Thursday, September 21.

"NBC Primetime Preview" is produced by The NBC Agency and Greg Daniels, Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky.

From Reveille and the NBC Universal Television Studio, "The Office" is executive-produced by Ben Silverman, Greg Daniels (who developed the series for American television), Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Howard Klein.