NBC announced a big fall schedule change to get Studio 60 out of the way of the Grey's Anatomy/CSI showdown on Thursday nights at 9 EST....and put the Friday DoND in it's place. (the Monday ep stays the same).

The press release....

I guess they think they can be a consistant 3rd in the slot....

A sure fire sign of weakness indeed. What was the point of announcing the schedule at the upfront presentation last week, IF they were going to juggle half the sched as counteraction to the other networks?

Says to me the suits are scared, and they damn well should be. It this crop fails, they'll be looking for new work. Or promoted. Whichever.

And if they wanted to get "DOND" down to once a week, this may not hurt them that much, as long as it still performs on Monday night--they've got pretty much the same competition this fall and "How I Met Your Mother" is not proven as an anchor for CBS yet, so things just might turn out OK.

Obviously, they wanted to get "Studio 60" out of the way--and I noted that they put it on Mondays at 10, so that Sorkin couldn't complain about having a game show as a lead-in. And if "Lost" is going to have one more season of hotness, might as well fill that slot with "Biggest Loser" and other low-risk reality fodder.

The rumors were that either "Apprentice 6" or the two sitcoms on hold for mid-season were going to go in at 9, but [Peter Marshall] this may just work out.[PM] (There may be more changes coming as the summer wears on--they're taking the chance for Sunday mid-season that "America's Got Talent" is not going to crash and burn in its summer run.)

I don't blame NBC for this one. They have big hopes for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and they were high enough on it that they were willing to put it up against one ratings juggernaut. To try and put it up against two at the same time is just suicide. Meanwhile, DoND is perfect counterprogramming against two top dramas.

The wholesale changes they had to go through to find Studio 60 a safer spot certainly reek of desperation on the surface, but all in all I think they're making a smart move.

And to me, the big this is not the DoND move, but the fact they now have two L+O shows back to back...but DoND may do OK with those who don't watch the dramas (I'll watch CSI occasionally, but I have no interest in Grey's Anatomy (never watched an episode) or The OC (ditto)...

This reminds me of Studio 7. Anybody remember that show? [crickets chirp] I rest my case.

Why Fox renewed The O.C., whose ratings were on life support this season, I'll never know. Looking at Fox's schedule, if the Yankees don't make the playoffs, Fox will have to rely on American Idol to bail them out yet again. But I digress.

You may recall ABC thrived with a game show on Thursday night just a few years ago, so why shouldn't NBC? And I always chose The Apprentice over CSI during The Donald's heyday because I was never a big fan of gory stuff. But now that my mom, a big CSI fan, roped me into said drama this year, Thursdays at 9:00 is VCR time. But boy, is Mom going to be upset that they pushed Medium back to midseason. (She's a fan of all the CSI series, so Medium must be good for her to give this priority over CSI: Miami.)

I do remember that show, and it was really good. I'd rather see Studio 7 as a weekly program than three hours a week of The Deal. But that's just me. It was nice to see that there were some smart kids out there, even if they were only appearing on a low-rated summer replacement quiz show.

Remember that most new shows that premiere in the Fall are cancelled because of low viewership, move to a dead time slot/night (i.e. Saturday), go on hiatus or barely limp to the end of the season when they're put to sleep. Since NBC's shows are as likely (or more likely given the network's rotten streak) to bomb as the competition's I wouldn't be surprised to see a 3rd weekly episode of 'DOND' to be triggered when a promising drama or block of new shows tank in the Nielsens. And the 'Law & Order' shows have proven remarkably adept at time slot and day changes (cast changes are another story though, since the Mothership show hasn't been the same since Orbach passed away) plus NBC owns them and rips the rewards of highly-rated syndicated repeats on cable. Unlike fly-by-night pretenders (like, gulp, 'DOND') NBC has a financial interest and stake in keeping the 'L&O' shows going to feed the syndication package pipeline. I'd expect the 'L&O' shows back on their old time slots as soon as the early casualties of the Fall '06 season start mounting, when even three 'DOND' shows a week will not be enough to plug all the leaks.

Not true--follow me.

In 2005, they buried L&O: Trial By Jury in the Friday at 10 spot and f'ed up a pretty decent show. Then they put another Dick Wolf show, Conviction, and it got even worse ratings then TBJ. In the meantime, NBC decides to move the mothership to Wednesday at 9 to get clobbered by Idol and put crapfest Heist at 10, earning L&O even lower ratings. They wised up and moved L&O back to 10, but now they are shifting it again to Friday for 2006.

NBC is trying its damnedest to kill off the mothership for some reason. For NBC, Friday is death, plain and simple. L&O won't survive two years, tops.

Brandon Brooks

Which, to me, makes no damn sense whatsoever. L&O: Original Recipe was NBC's only show making good ratings. I think before D/ND, it was NBC's only Top 20 show, maybe other than "ER". Why they're taking a Friday nite gamble is beyond me.

Are they still considering taking ER out of the Thursday at 10 slot?

I don't know about L&O, but SVU was definitely a top 20 show. They wisely aren't touching that show.

Brandon Brooks

This switch from Fridays to Thursdays poses an intresting situation. How will the viewers respond to this move even when they originally had it pegged at the Fridays at 8 slot upon the schedule release. Now with it on Thursdays, NBC wants to "make a statement" that America can handle a game show at 9 PM oppisite the dramas. Only time will tell how well this works. I'll give it a few weeks & make my scheduling adjustments accordingly.

Outside of Studio 7 & WWTBAM, what was the last game show to sport a Thursday slot(the TPIR summer special from 1986 doesn't count) & become a moderate sucess?

A. Studio 7 was a "moderate success"?
B. Ever hear of a little show called Survivor?

Thursday's better for watercooler talk, and I presume CNBC will rerun it Fridays now anyway. Win-Win.

Excluding those, name one that aired on Thursday, PERIOD.

You're an idiot.


Survivor isn't a game show.

In your opinion.

No, I don't want to argue whether Survivor is a game show or not.

Well, yes. I suspect most would agree with me, though.

(Mainly I just say that to see how high Casey Abell can jump. :))

Wasn't WHODUNNIT a Thursday show?

Not your point, I know, but just thought I'd bring it up for giggles.

Doug

Among network shows besides those mentioned, "Almost Anything Goes" in 75 and "Password" from 63 to 65. Of course, you could always say WOF and J! on your local station airs Thursday nights.

Doug: WAS Whodunit a Thursday show? All I remember of it was the cool magnifying-glass things on the front of the podiums that would display the contestant's selections.

And I think if we have to go all the way back to 1975 (or so; I know Whodunit was a little later) to even FIND one, my point is proven all the more, and Karlberg is still an idiot.

No arguments on anything there. :)

I'm almost sure it was a Thursday show (actually in 1979, just for the completionists). Anybody got an EOTVGS handy (mine's back at the house)?

Doug

Yes, "Whodunnit" was a Thursday show, paired with "Highcliffe Manor," with Eugenie Ross-Leming, whom I first saw on the PBS game show "We Interrupt This Week."