NBC Shuffle
From today's announcements:
NBC will return the Emmy Award-nominated "Scrubs" and move freshman comedy "30 Rock" to Thursday nights beginning November 30 to form a new two-hour 8-10 p.m. (ET) comedy block with "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office." The change will follow a special super-sized night of comedy two weeks earlier on Thursday, November 16, with three 40-minute episodes of "My Name Is Earl," "The Office" and "30 Rock."
The announcements were made by Kevin Reilly, President, NBC Entertainment.
"We are excited about the prospect of two-hours of top-notch comedy on Thursday nights, which includes the return of 'Scrubs,'" said Reilly. "We will stay on-brand with the best comedy block on television, which will position us for the future on the night."
Starting November 22, NBC will feature various specials on Wednesdays (8-9 p.m. ET), which will soon be announced.
Interesting things about the announcement: As www.tvtattle.com has already pointed out, this seems to leave no place for "Twenty Good Years." Also, even as one NBC exec was trashing the notion of scripted shows in the 8 p.m. hour, here comes the network with a new lineup including … scripted shows in the 8 p.m. hour.
And I'm glad to see "30 Rock" keep getting a chance.
October 25th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
'Bout time.
Is it just me, or is this what NBC should have done to begin with? I think 30 Rock will fit in much better in that situation, and Scrubs on Thursdays is a great idea.
I'm still torn on 30 Rock. There are a bunch of great "little moments" in it, but so far each week I've found myself at the end of the show wondering "Is that all there is?" But, definitely enough of the "little moments" to make me want to keep watching it.
October 26th, 2006 at 7:50 am
What a disaster this season has turned out to be for NBC.
And it promises to only get worse.
In January, the network must replace four hours of key Sunday night programming when the NFL closes shop for the year.
And then, a few weeks later, "American Idol" returns.
Maybe it has no choice but to try to see if it can find an auidence for "Friday Night Lights" and "Studio 60".
Or, as was hinted last week in comments about Fox and the CW, perhaps just cut back to 15 hours of programming a week. Game shows at 8, scripted at 9, a few dateline "catch the predator" specials (or other trash news) sprinkled in.
With only four scripted shows in last week's top 40 (and with the network sure to overuse "Deal" and "1 vs. 100" in its desperation), NBC is in serious danger of becoming irrelevant.
Why would the producer of a new, edgy, non-derivative show ever think of pitching it to NBC?
As for the comedies, none of the NBC shows has ever really achieved much ratings traction. The days of laugh-out-loud network comedies seem to have, for the most part, passed.
October 26th, 2006 at 9:59 am
I sat through my first episode of "30 Rock" last night, and while I enjoy Tina Fey, I laughed not once (and this show is miles better than the one on Monday where everyone is just so……precious. Ugh.). I think the problem with "30 Rock" and the other awful, awful program about late night TV is that they're trying just a little too hard to be too cool for school while comedies like "Earl", "Office", and "Scrubs" just go for the goof. Tina Fey's got a good sense of comedy…I hope the show gets better..and NBC pulls the plug on the other one before it gets so full of itself it explodes.
As for "20 Good Years"? Stick a fork in it and send it to CBS Mondays where it belongs.