They already tried programming Friday and that didn’t work out so well.

NBC was going to have to cancel more shows then it had new ones in production. If Kings, Merlin, and the Philanthopist all fail, they’ll be even happier with this. I’m not saying they will. Plus Medium is pretty much on the bubble and likely to be ended. If all this happens, they’res no way NBC could fill all it’s time. Eliminating the 10:00 hour on weeknights makes it possible.

Mon:
Heroes
Kings

Tue:
The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser

Wed:
The Philanthropist
Law & Order: SVU

Thu:
My Name Is Earl
Amy Poehler
The Office
30 Rock

Fri:
Chuck
Law & Order

They could save Dateline, The Apprentice, and new shows for Midseason once football is over. A whole bunch of new shows in the fall would be too big a risk considering that leno’s performance is still a question mark.

The best thing about this is that Friday doesn’t have to be a throwaway night anymore. They have enough programming now to at least *try* on Fridays.

I think this spells the end for
Knight Rider
Kath & Kim
Friday Night Lights
Deal Or No Deal (now that they have enough to air on Fridays, even NBC doesn’t have to settle for 5 mil and a 1.3 in the demo)

I also seriously doubt that Howie Do It, Momma’s Boys, or Superstars of Dance will do well enough for a return. Much less a fall berth… if they do well enough they can be filler for repeating shows or midseason replacements.

Nice to see that somebody out there still believes in the traditional model.

“No broadcast network has ever before offered the same show in prime time five nights a week.”

Warren Littlefield would beg to differ, since his solution to all of NBC’s problems was 5 editions of “Dateline” a week. (That and 20 “upscale” multi-cam sitcoms set in New York City with sassy white chicks working for newspapers, magazines, tabloids, promotions agencies and/or lingerie companies.)

Not to mention that DuMont had a 5-night-a-week prime time show all the way back in 1947, with the kiddie program, “Small Fry Club.” CBS followed with “Face the Music” in 1948.

David- “The Leno-less Tonight Show with Conan OBrien will fail because he is not as personable and fun to watch as Leno.”

Conan appeals to a younger crowd. No one at my university ever comes to class talking about something that Leno did but they do talk about how funny Conan was.

Canceling Law & Order would be big mistake for NBC.

Hell, it even beat it’s lead in, Life, by 3 Million!

As for the claims that Chuck is treading water, it is the only show to increase its viewship from the start of the year to date for NBC — up a total of one million with a peak up of 1.25 million. It comes just shy of 7 million this week and it holds its demo week-in, week-out. In the new world order of NBC, that is a success.

The following shows should be retired:

Earl — has gone one season too far — the tornado episode this year was a train wreck. Jason Lee is phoning it in too.
L&O — time to bury the old dog, she just won’t hunt no more.
Knight Rider — honestly, I think we can all agree on this one.
Life — I love it, I really do, but its demo numbers are not good at all.
K&K — the single worst comedy in the last 5 years to air on TV, in my opinion.

Shows already retiring or retired:

ER — going out properly and with some dignity. A procedural never gets that.
My Own Worst Enemy — good concept; bad execution.
Lipstick Jungle — unappealling then, unappealing now.
Deal or No Deal — when it came back as a special; nowhere near what it once was.

Shows to be modified or used differently:

Biggest Loser — cut it to one hour; use two hour special for opener and closer. Move to Sunday opposite Extreme Home Makeover at 8pm after football in winter.
Medium — keep as mid-season show with 13 show run — Sundays after Biggest Loser.

Just my thoughts, but if NBC really is going to cut and run. I’d:
1) Try to program a real Friday, like CBS — target an audience and get it — if that means Biggest Loser and some other reality show great. I won’t watch, but I know my mom and sister-in-laws will.
2) Plan a real Sunday for after football — men watch football; target men with something-like Chuck, Kings, Burn Notice, etc. and advertise the hell out of it during football season. Again, target an audience and go out and get it.
3) Put your stars on Leno at 10pm; Put your stars in the hosting role of SNL.

Wow that was fun to get out.

You don’t need huge ratings to be a hit on Saturday night. You need to be exciting. Don’t bury the audience before its dead. Is Cops the most entertaining program we can come up with on Saturday? CBS has Craig Ferguson who is one of the best talk show hosts on any network. Why not give him an hour or two on Saturday night? Who knows what might develop?

Leno won’t be the last talk show to make it to primetime. This is just the beginning. Over 50 years ago, Pat Weaver saved network radio with an audacious experiment called Monitor, 40 hours a weekend, a show that broke the rules, a show that had no format. It lasted 20 years. He joked that it was a “kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria,” news, comedy, music, all together in one program. Network television needs its own kaleidoscopic phantasmagorias.

I don’t think it will work. Leno will go against some of CBS big shows. I don’t think Leno will beat CSI:Miami, CSI:NY, Without a Trace, Private Pratice, Numbe3s even 11th hour would do good against Leno.

Then you will have shows like L&O:SUV and L&O that will go against The Mentalist on Monday and Criminal Minds and Lost on Wednesday or CSI and Grey on Thursday, they can try for Sunday but that is where we will find Cold Case and DH. So what is left for NBC Friday and Saturday nights. Not a lot of choices.

What NBC should have done was to fire both Zucker and Silverman, hire someone that will give the audience what it does want like CBS did with The Mentalist.
The Mentalist is a huge success for CBS because CBS gave its audience what it wanted, some may not like The Mentalist (I don’t like it) but it is a success.

Instead of trying to get the next big hit NBC is going for cheap, easy solution that may work in the short run but not in the long run. I see this move as working maybe a month or two but not a season. Plus the real loser in this apart from the viewers who like scripted shows, is Conan O’Brien. After an hour of Leno, who I am sure most guests will want to appear on his show since he will be in primetime, who will want to stay up, wait for the news so they can watch Conan? Not me unless he’s got guests that I really want to see.