Fancast: Inside TV

NBC announced that the new, critically acclaimed series "quarterlife" from Emmy Award-winning creator-producers Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick ("thirtysomething," "My So-Called Life," "Blood Diamond") will premiere on February 18 (9-10 p.m. ET) as an hour-long drama series.

NBC's partnership with "quarterlife" will also allow the network to distribute the series on NBC.com.

The series, which originally launched on MySpace on November 11 and on quarterlife.com November 12, represents the first time that a network-quality series was produced directly for the Internet. It also marks the first time that an independent project of this kind has been owned and controlled by its creators -- as well as the first occasion that an Internet series has been created alongside a social network, quarterlife.com.

The "quarterlife" series tells the ongoing stories of six creative people in their 20s. As with Herskovitz and Zwick's previous television projects, the team's commitment to realism is at the center of "quarterlife" as is the recognition of universal human themes through the truthful depiction of the way young people speak, work, think, love, argue, and express themselves.

The central character is Dylan (Bitsie Tulloch, "Lost," "Lonelygirl15"), a young woman whose overly truthful video blog -- at quarterlife.com -- spills the closest secrets of her friends, and the show's characters -- filmmakers Danny (David Walton, "Heist") and Jed (Scott Michael Foster, "Greek," "The Horrible Flowers"), actress-bartender Lisa (Maite Schwartz (NBC's "Medium," "Dexter"), geek-extraordinaire Andy (Kevin Christy ("Love Don't Cost a Thing"), and Debra (Michelle Lombardo ("Click," "Entourage"), who is still tied to her parents. Together, they chart the sometimes excruciating, sometimes comic, often emotional experiences that comprise coming of age as a part of the digital generation. Barrett Swatek ("Seventh Heaven," "The 40-Year-Old Virgin") also stars as Brittany.

For those counting the days until the Internet series quarterlife hits the network, NBC announced a new premiere date, moving it from Monday, February 18 to Tuesday, February 26 (10-11 p.m. ET) before it settles into its new regularly scheduled day and time of Sundays (9-10 p.m. ET) beginning March 2. As a result, "Monk" and "Psych," two hits from USA Network that were previously scheduled for their broadcast premiere on NBC on March 2 will now debut on Sunday, April 6.

A mere two days after premiering with the worst 10 PM time-slot ratings in 17 years, NBC has decided to hand it's series quarterlife over to daughter network Bravo, says THR.

The premiere numbers prompted the show's co-creator Marshall Herskovitz to denounce the show's transition from online phenomenon to broadcast series.

"We're deeply grateful for NBC's efforts to make 'quarterlife' a success on network television," he said. "However, I've always had concerns about whether 'quarterlife' was the kind of show that could pull in the big numbers necessary to succeed on a major broadcast network. ... We live in a media world today where many shows are considered successful on cable networks with audiences that are a fraction of those on the Big Four. I'm confident that 'quarterlife' will find the right home on television as well."