NBC'S NEW MEDICAL DRAMA 'MERCY' TO PREMIERE ON WEDNESDAYS (8-9 P.M. ET) BEGINNING SEPTEMBER 23

UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIF. - July 15, 2009 - NBC's new drama series "Mercy" will debut on Wednesday, September 23 (8-9 p.m. ET) in place of the new drama "Parenthood" which will premiere at a later date to be announced.

"Mercy," a new medical drama with a unique point of view, portrays the lives of the staff at Mercy Hospital as seen through the eyes of those who know it best -- its nurses. Nurse Veronica Callahan (Taylor Schilling, "Dark Matter") returns to Mercy from a military tour in Iraq -- and she knows more about medicine than all of the residents combined. Together with fellow nurses Sonia Jimenez (Jaime Lee Kirchner, "Rescue Me") and Chloe Payne (Michelle Trachtenberg, "Gossip Girl"), Veronica navigates through the daily traumas and social landmines of life and love both inside the hospital and out in the real world.

The cast also includes: James Tupper ("Men in Trees") as Dr. Chris Sands, a new doctor at the hospital who complicates Veronica's life; Diego Klattenhoff ("Supernatural") as Mike Callahan, Veronica's estranged husband; Guillermo Diaz ("Weeds") as Nurse Angel Lopez and James Le Gros ("Ally McBeal") as Dr. Harris.

"Mercy" is a Universal Media Studios and Berman Braun production. Joining writer/executive producers Liz Heldens (NBC's "Friday Night Lights") and Gretchen Berg & Aaron Harberts ("Pushing Daisies," "Pepper Dennis") are executive producers Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun. Emmy Award winner Adam Bernstein (NBC's "30 Rock," "Rescue Me") is the director.