FOX Reconfigures Midseason Slate Amid Extended Strike

Well, that's one less unscripted series to worry about clogging up air time this spring.

FOX has pulled reality series When Women Rule the World off its schedule, benching the series until this summer, a move which has freed up real estate on its now 24-free Monday night lineup.

According to Variety, the decision to cut When Women Rule the World "could have come down to a sales issue. On the surface, When Women Rule the World -- which follows a group of women who control a group of men -- does not sound like something advertisers would be keen on.

New midseason dramas Canterbury's Law--starring Julianna Margulies as a hard-edged attorney who takes whatever is necessary to win a case (though one to whom Damages' Patty Hewes wouldn't likely give a second thought)--and New Amsterdam, about an immortal detective (no, not Angel... or Moonlight) will now launch on Monday nights.

Both series will launch after Prison Break and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles wrap their shortened runs on Monday evenings, behind repeats of House.

Also on tap: midseason series The Return of Jezebel James, Unhitched, and Thursday night installments of American Idol, along with reality series Moment of Truth.

While I am not particularly keen on any of FOX's midseason entries, I'm at least glad that some of them are scripted series that were held over until now, rather than ghastly strike-replacement programming like When Women Rule the World.

Fat Lady Sings for "Viva Laughlin," While "Amazing Race" Waits in Wings

The fat lady has sung for musical drama Viva Laughlin.

Series, which died on stage in its two airings to date, has sung its last pop-inspired aria and has been yanked off of CBS' schedule, effective immediately.

Network will air a repeat of CSI in its Sunday at 8 pm timeslot before giving the time period over to returning reality series The Amazing Race, which launches on November 4th.

"If there ever was a season that I consider one of the best, it's this one," said Amazing Race's creator/director/executive producer Bertram van Munster in a statement. "It's insanely funny, fast-paced and dramatic all at once. Teams are in hot pursuit of one another at every location and its reality television at its nail-biting best."

This season on The Amazing Race, teams will travel approximately 50,000 miles, including first time stops in Ireland, Lithuania and Croatia.

Teehee! I cannot wait. For too long, The Amazing Race has been sadly absent from my already jam-packed television-viewing week.

FOX Pushes "New Amsterdam" to Midseason; Shifts Schedule

For once, FOX may have done something smart.

I don't often say that but it's perhaps for the best that the network most likely to cancel a new series (you might as well call them Trigger Happy TV) is holding back on several of its newest offerings until midseason, giving them a chance to creatively retool before thrusting the series into the public eye.

Following in the footsteps on midseason launches for The Return of Jezebel James, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and The Rules for Starting Over, FOX has yanked supernatural drama New Amsterdam--a police procedural based around an immortal man who has lived in Manhattan since the days of the Dutch--off of the fall schedule. It was slated to launch on Tuesday, September 25th, at 8 pm.

According to Variety, the network said the moves "were made in order to improve Fox's chances in the fall, where it has struggled in recent years."

So what's taking over for New Amsterdam in the meantime? FOX has shifted its schedule slightly, scheduling reality programming from 9 pm on Wednesday to Sunday. (Yes, you read that correctly. Half of Wednesday night and Thursday, Friday, and Saturday will be offered up at the altar of alternative programming.)

Part of that strategy involves keeping summer reality hit Don't Forget the Lyrics on the air through the fall as well as moving the US format of Kitchen Nightmares (starring everyone's favorite enfant terrible chef Gordon Ramsay) to Wednesdays at 9 pm, where it will launch on September 19th, leading out of comedy block Back to You and 'Til Death. Taking over Kitchen's vacated timeslot (Thursdays at 9 pm) then will be the recently ordered additional episodes of Don't Forget the Lyrics.

FOX has also shifted drama Bones, entering its third season, to New Amsterdam's timeslot (Tuesdays at 8 pm). The move is a wise one: Bones was previously going to launch this year in a rather combative timeslot--Wednesdays at 9 pm--where it would have gone up against four other dramas: Private Practice on ABC, Bionic Woman on NBC, Criminal Minds on CBS, and Gossip Girl on CW.

FOX was quick to stress that New Amsterdam wasn't cancelled and will remain in production; the series' projected January timeslot (Fridays at 9 pm) hasn't been struck and the series will eventually make it onto the air.

NBC Shifts "Chuck" to Mondays, Unveils Revised Fall Schedule

I can't say that I'm surprised that NBC has reconfigured its fall lineup, in the wake of Ben Silverman's appointment at the network but I am pleasantly surprised to see that the Peacock has taken Chuck, one of my new favorite fall dramas, slightly out of the line of fire and moved it to another night.

Chuck, from Warner Bros. Television and creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak, will now kick off Monday nights at 8 pm, joining returning drama Heroes at 9 pm, which leads into new fall drama Journeyman at 10 pm.

Hmmm, Chuck, Heroes, and Journeyman in a row? Could NBC have cracked a way to keep audience tune-in on Mondays? Only time will tell but I think it's a wonderful combination that should have been devised from the get-go.

Meanwhile, Deal or No Deal, which had occupied that Monday night timeslot, will relocate to Fridays, which also gets a makeover, as well. Deal or No Deal kicks off the night at 8 pm, followed by a relocated Friday Night Lights at 9 pm and Season Five of Las Vegas at 10 pm. And The Biggest Loser will, er, expand to 90-minute episodes, followed by The Singing Bee on Tuesday nights.

Of the switcheroo, Ben Silverman had this to say:

"We can't wait for the new season to begin and we believe that these programming changes will allow for a powerhouse Monday night with Chuck, Heroes, and Journeyman. On Tuesdays, the 90-minute The Biggest Loser has always performed well and will fit perfectly with our new summer hit The Singing Bee. On Fridays, we can hammock Friday Night Lights between two proven hits – Deal or No Deal and Las Vegas, with new cast member Tom Selleck."

In other NBC-related news, the Peacock unveiled its fall premiere dates for new and returning series:

SEPTEMBER 11th:
8-10 pm: The Biggest Loser

SEPTEMBER 17th:
8-9 pm: Deal or No Deal

SEPTEMBER 24th:
8-9 pm: Chuck
9-10 pm: Heroes
10-11 pm: Journeyman

SEPTEMBER 25th:
9:30-10 pm: The Singing Bee
10-11 pm: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

SEPTEMBER 26th:
8-9 pm: Deal or No Deal
9-10 pm: Bionic Woman
10-11 pm: Life

September 27th:
8-9 pm: My Name Is Earl (one-hour premiere)
9-10 pm: The Office (one-hour premiere)
10-11 pm: ER

September 28th:
8-9 pm: Deal or No Deal
9-11 pm: Las Vegas (two-hour premiere)

October 4th:
8:30-9 pm: 30 Rock

October 5th:
9-10 pm: Friday Night Lights

October 25th:
9:30-10 pm: Scrubs

CW to Lose "Hidden Palms" Earlier Than Expected

You've got to love when a network obviously shows so much pride in their product that they push a launch date for a series endlessly, dump the thing during the summer months (read: burnoff), and then mess around with the scheduling.

In a move, post-Veronica Mars cancellation, that surprises no one, the CW has announced that it will "condense" the airing structure of newbie drama series Hidden Palms and wrap the series on July 4th.

The CW will therefore air back-to-back episodes of Hidden Palms on Wednesday, June 20th and June 27th, from 8-10 pm ET/PT, with the series finale (a.k.a. Episode Eight) planned for Wednesday, July 4th. Because the CW's teen audience will doubtlessly be inside watching the network rather than, you know, watching fireworks or being outside on the Fourth.

Additionally, effective immediately, the CW will drop the Sunday night replays of the teen drama, replacing it with repeats of, yes, Seventh Heaven. (Seventh Heaven's slot will likewise be filled with back-to-back repeats of Reba, another dead series.)

No word yet on what will take over Hidden Palms' vacated timeslot come July 11th.

"Drive" Screeches to a Halt; Series Pulled from FOX's May Schedule

Looks like FOX has pulled Drive onto the shoulder.

After announcing that it would take the rather unusual tack of intentionally breaking up Drive's 13-episode run into two chunks (thus limiting any momentum the series would have built up), FOX has now announced that it is in fact benching the series for the entirety of May sweeps.

Four hours of the freshman series, about an illegal underground cross-country race, have already aired. FOX will fill Drive's Mondays at 8 pm timeslot with (you guessed it!) repeats of House.

While there's been no official word of the c-word (that would be cancellation, people!), it's not a good sign for a series that's already had its share of odd scheduling and plummeting ratings.

Oh well. It's not as if I didn't already make the turn for the exit ramp last week.

ABC's "Traveler" to Start Road Trip Early

Remember Traveler, that little 8 episode action drama that was originally ordered for the 2006-07 season?

The series, which stars Matthew Bomer, Logan Marshall-Green, Aaron Stanford, William Sadler, and Stephen Culp (a.k.a. poor dead Rex from Desperate Housewives), follows two grad students (Bomer, Marshall-Green) forced to go on the run after their friend (Stanford) frames them for a terrorist act (namely, the blowing up of one NYC museum). Together, they must find a way to prove their innocence while tracking down the man responsible for the crime (the titular Will Traveler).

ABC announced a few weeks back that it would burn off the series (earlier chopped from its 13 episode initial order to 8 eps) in its entirety this summer, a rather unceremonious dumping of a show that I found eminently more engaging and suspenseful than, say, the current season of 24.

To counter-balance any negativity to the summer scheduling, ABC has now announced that Traveler will in fact kick off on its deadly road trip earlier than expected. The freshman drama will get a sneak peek of sorts on May 10th in the prime post-Grey's Anatomy slot at 10 pm.

Traveler's pilot episode (look for a review next week) will then be rebroadcast on May 30th (its original launch date) in the series' regular timeslot, Wednesdays at 10 pm.

Having seen multiple versions of Traveler's pilot over the last year, I can't wait for this summer series to kick off. I'm just itching for something smart, suspenseful, and sleek to watch during the long, hot months of summer.

ABC Drops "In Case of Emergency" for Repeats of "Lost"

These days, to say the networks are getting as trigger-happy as a character on Lost is a bit of an understatement.

With only one episode left to air, In Case of Emergency has been pulled off of the schedule, effective immediately.

The news comes as a bit of surprise as the freshman series, which starred David Arquette, Jonathan Silverman, Greg Germann, Kelly Hu, and Lori Loughlin, aired its penultimate episode last night. In terms of ratings, it tied for last place in the hour with a repeat episode of The Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Doll. (Ouch.)

To fill the void left by the now-departed In Case of Emergency, ABC will fill its timeslot next week with a repeat of last night's episode of Lost (following a second window strategy employed earlier this season). Encores of Lost will fill the timeslot for the remainder of the season.

More Lost? Bring it on, ABC.

NBC Whacks "Black Donnellys" Sooner Rather Than Later

NBC is apparently REALLY unhappy with freshman series The Black Donnellys.

Just mere days after announcing that the April 16th airing would be the series' last, the Peacock has today turned around and issued another announcement stating that, following another dismal performance this week, it would be yanking The Black Donnellys off the air... immediately.

Ouch.

It was clear that The Black Donnellys, created by Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco (of Crash fame), wouldn't be around for long anyway, as NBC planned to use the real estate for Ashton Kutcher's latest reality opus The Real Wedding Crashers (yes, about people hired to crash weddings as a prank!) instead. In the meantime, NBC will fill the timeslot next week with an additional episode of new comedy improv series Thank God You're Here.

As for those remaining Donnellys episodes, fans can catch the last six or so eps on NBC.com but let's just say the likelihood of the series returning next season is as probable as everyone making it out of the final installment of The Sopranos alive. Capice?

BBC America Unveils New Schedule, Launches Themed Programming Blocks

Confused about BBC America's wacky schedule? Tired of endless Benny Hill reruns? Fret no more.

Digital cabler BBC America has announced that, under new president Garth Ancier (remember him from the old WB?), it has reorganized its entire lineup, launching distinctive primetime programming blocks that target various demos every night of the week, which will also serve to modernize the channel and stabilize the schedule.

On Mondays, cabler will launch an 8-10 pm block called Murder Mondays, presenting a night of scripted mystery/dramas including new seasons of Robson Green-starrer Wire in the Blood and James Nesbit-led Murphy’s Law.

Tuesdays are all about male-driven action with Tuesday Nitro, with espionage drama MI:5 (aka Spooks, which was unceremoniously yanked from A&E), drama Ultimate Force, which follows an elite army unit as they encounter life-threatening and dangerous situations, and undisclosed reality series.

The girls get their own night with Wicked Wednesday, presenting a block of female-skewing soaps/dramas and comedies, including the final season of British soap Footballers Wives (with Joan Collins joining the gang), faintly Aaron Spelling-tinged drama Hotel Babylon, about the soapy goings-on at a luxe hotel, comedy Goldplated, about a seemingly wealthy family who subsist entirely on credit cards; and comedy Sinchronicity, about three young party-goers looking for love.

Big Thursday brings BBC America's audience, event-type celebrity-driven series including new seasons of Gordon Ramsay’s F-Word and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and the return of celebrity chat show/shrine to randomness The Graham Norton Show.

On Friday nights, the network will unveil Crime Scene Friday, primetime block of crime dramas including Whistleblower, The Innocence Project, Silent Witness, and (Televisionary favorite) Waking the Dead.

Saturdays are now the home of all things remotely sci fi or supernatural with Supernatural Saturday, a block of otherwordly dramas including newbie dramas Jekyll and Torchwood, as well as familiar faces Life on Mars, Hex, and Doctor Who.

Little bit of a change on Sundays, which launches a family action drama block at 7 pm with Adventure Sundays, including Robin Hood and Wild at Heart, followed by The Brit Movie, a different British movie each week.

At 10 pm Mondays through Fridays, BBC America will air long-running soap Hollyoaks (hmmm, no return of EastEnders, then). On Saturdays at 10 pm, it will air Jennifer Saunder's latest comedy The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle (starring Saunders and Miranda Richardson) and comedy Lead Balloon, as well as stand-up specials from comedian Dylan Moran and others.

And for those of us on the West Coast who are even more confused about the timing of programs, BBC America will soon launch a West Coast feed sometime in the next six months, which means not having to try and figure out what time the latest episode of Life on Mars is on anymore.

In the meantime, Ancier's new schedule debuts on BBC America in June.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Jericho (CBS); Friday Night Lights (NBC); America's Next Top Model (CW); George Lopez/George Lopez (ABC); Bones (FOX)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Crossing Jordan (ABC); Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll (CW); According to Jim/In Case of Emergency (ABC); American Idol/'Til Death (FOX)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Medium (NBC); Lost (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: America's Next Top Model.

On tonight's episode ("The Girl Who Gets Thrown in the Pool"), the girls are told to come up with nicknames after learning how "fashion icon and living legend" Twiggy got hers and there's a cavalade of guests this week including 50 Cent, agent Nancy Josephson, Beverly Johnson, and producer Larry Sanitsky. (Um, why?)

10 pm: Lost.

I can't tell you how happy I am that Lost is back on the air again. On tonight's episode ("Left Behind"), it's an estrogen fueled episode as Kate and Juliet are forced to fend for their lives when tossed into the jungle and left to die but naturally they end up fighting rather than working together when Juliet tells Kate why Jack told her not to come back for him; meanwhile, Hurley convinces Sawyer to apologize for his actions or be banished from the group.

FOX Slows "Drive" to Six-Episode Initial Run

FOX continued to tweak its late spring/early summer schedule today, with a number of scheduling-related announcements that would seem to confuse even the most seasoned TV viewer.

But the most, er, intriguing development has to be that the network has opted to split the 13-episode run of upcoming drama Drive, starring a slew of familiar faces including Nathan Fillion and Amy Acker, into two sections.

Drive kicks off on April 15th but, due to the series' "tight production schedule," FOX will only air the first six episodes of Drive for now, wrapping its five week run on May 7th. Subsequent episodes will then air at a to-be-determined date later in the season. (Read: summer burnoff.)

Due to the fact that On the Lot, Steven Spielberg's reality series ode to student filmmakers, is set to inherit the series' Mondays at 8 pm timeslot on May 28th (following a repeat of House on May 14 and the second half of 24's 2-hr finale on May 21st), some sort of arrangement was bound to occur. But is splitting Drive's freshman season in half really the best option? (It certainly doesn't belie any confidence from FOX in the series.)

Meanwhile, FOX has also announced that The War at Home will end its second season on April 22nd. That night, the lineup will shift around considerably, with King of the Hill moving to 7:30 pm in order to accommodate double episodes of The Simpsons and, starting April 29th, a repeat airing of King of the Hill at 7 pm.

But hold your horses! On June 10th, the network will again rejigger its Sunday night lineup, this time moving The War at Home to 7 pm, followed by King of the Hill. 8 pm brings The Simpsons and Amercan Dad, while at 9 pm, we've got Family Guy and Season Two of The Loop. Riiiight.

FOX Holds "Standoff" Until Summer

Apologies to the two or three remaining fans of FOX's beleaguered freshman drama Standoff. Looks like you won't be seeing the professional and romantic antics of your beloved hostage negotiators next Friday night after all.

In a random scheduling change, Standoff will not be returning to the airwaves next Friday as reported and written about in numerous publications. Instead, FOX will be pushing the return engagement of Standoff until well after May sweeps, landing the show a June 8th return date and will use its intended Friday night timeslot to air repeats of House. (Though at press time, FOX had still not changed the date listed on its Standoff mini-site.)

Before you start worrying about Ron Livinston and Rosemary DeWitt finding work with pilot season already in full swing, FOX has been very careful to avoid speculation that the series has been cancelled. Instead, a network spokesperson was careful to indicate that a decision has not been made on the future of Standoff until after the network picks up its fall pilots.

Eleven episodes of Standoff (out of a total 19 episodes shot) have aired to date. The series originally debuted in a Tuesday night at 9 pm timeslot in September before shifting to 8 pm in October and then going on a rather lengthy (and now protracted) hiatus in December.

The eventual fate of the series calls to mind the fact that of the three new drama series FOX introduced this year, Standoff is the only one still somewhat alive, following the cancellation of fellow froshers Justice and Vanished (and that's not even mentioning Happy Hour or The Rich List).

NBC Shifts "30 Rock" Closer to Scranton

It was just the other day (Friday, if we're being precise) that I said how much I wished NBC would come to their senses and move freshman comedy 30 Rock (a Televisionary fave), using The Office as a lead-in, rather than the much loved if somewhat underperforming Scrubs.

Looks like someone at the Peacock was listening.

NBC announced that it would do just that, shifting 30 Rock a half an hour earlier, to 9 pm, beginning April 5th.

Wait, what's that you say? You thought the cruelly imposed hiatus of 30 Rock (intended to deny us our fix of such random oddities as Ray Ray's Mystery Garage) was supposed to last much longer than that?

Fortunately, NBC has surprised us again and will be returning 30 Rock to the schedule a little earlier than can be expected. (My prayers to Jack Donaghy were apparently answered.) April 5th will feature a 35-minute "super-sized" episode of 30 Rock (along with The Office and Scrubs).

NBC's lineup for April 5th will be the following:

8 pm: The Office (40 mins): "The Negotiation"
8:40 pm: 30 Rock (35 mins)
9:15 pm: Scrubs (35 mins)
9:50 pm: Andy Barker, P.I. (30 mins)
10:20 pm: My Name is Earl (repeat; 40 mins)

(Meanwhile, Scrubs will vacate its 9 pm timeslot to move to 9:30 pm, where it will air for a few weeks, followed by two back-to-back episodes from 9-10 pm on May 3rd.)

Could this be a positive sign that NBC is willing to commit to second season of the hysterical and addictive 30 Rock? Only time will tell, but I'm looking upon this move as a sign that NBC has more than a little confidence in 30 Rock.

NBC Sets Launch Date for "Andy Barker" But At The Expense of "30 Rock"

After weeks of speculation, NBC has finally released firm launch dates for its midseason series, The Black Donnellys and Andy Barker, P.I.

It was widely anticipated that The Black Donnellys, a crime drama about four Irish-American brothers involved with organized crime (from Crash creators Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco), would take over the Monday nights at 10 pm timeslot from struggling freshman series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, beginning March 5th. (That said, not coincidentally, it's the night Heroes wraps up its next batch of episodes, providing Donnellys with a rather cushy launch pad.)

NBC has not said how many weeks Donnellys will, er, "help out" Studio 60, though it did order 13 eps; how long Donnellys remains will have much to do with the performance of the newbie series, though after its initial broadcast, it won't have new episodes of Heroes as a lead-in.

Meanwhile, the Peacock also finally revealed an airdate and timeslot for freshman comedy Andy Barker P.I., starring Andy Richter (of the still very much missed Andy Richter Controls the Universe), but it's not one that made this TV watcher very happy.

Andy Barker will rotate into NBC's single-camera comedy block on Thursday nights at 9:30 pm, taking over real estate belonging to the I-still-can't-believe-no one-is-watching-this-show laughfest 30 Rock.

30 Rock, which aired its most hilarious episode yet last week ("Black Tie"), will take a bit of a breather when Andy Barker takes over its timeslot on March 15th. After Barker airs its six episode order (including an ep penned by Jane Espenson), 30 Rock will rejoin the schedule on April 19th.

Having seen the pilot for Andy Barker last May (and been way too disappointed despite the presence of Richter and Arrested Development's Tony Hale), I can't say that I have the highest hopes for the series In the meantime, I don't know what I'll do with my impending 30 Rock withdrawal as it's become a crucial part of my Thursday night routine and made me almost forget how bad My Name is Earl has become this season. Almost.

ABC Gets "Lost"... A Little Later at Night

Looks like you'll have to stay up a little later to see what happens to Jack and the other survivors of Oceanic Flight 815.

Come February, ABC will shift drama Lost (still in the midst of a brutally long 13-week exile from the network) to the 10 pm timeslot in order to avoid competition with FOX's American Idol result show.

While the move is somewhat surprising (why move your juggernaut to another timeslot on the same night), it makes sense to push Lost back an hour, especially given the stiff competition from CBS' Criminal Minds and, yes, that worrisome feeling that American Idol will further erode the series' audience. Add to that the worry that no program will perform well after Lost (just look at the numbers and, um, indefinite hiatus of The Nine and the cancellation of Invasion) and it's worth the risk to move Lost into uncharted waters. Still, it's not a good sign that the series keeps moving later and later on the schedule. Hell, remember when it used to air at 8 pm?

What will ABC put in Lost's place when the drama moves? Good question. Right now it's looking like the network will create a two-hour block of comedies, comprised of two aging returnee series and two freshman laughers that ABC has held onto thus far into the season. Beginning at 8 pm, it's According to Jim (starting January 3rd), with George Lopez joining Jim at 8:30 pm (beginning January 24th). From 9 to 10, ABC will air crime caper comedy Knights of Prosperity and the David Arquette and Greg Germann-led In Case of Emergency.

So what does that mean for the 10 pm hour in January, when the previously announced Primetime: Basic Instinct wraps its five week run? Expect struggling freshman serialized drama (is there any other kind) Day Break to suddenly wake up and find itself in a new timeslot. That is, until Lost returns in February.

Only nine weeks and counting...

Peacock Tidies Midseason Schedule: "Friday" Shifts, "Studio 60" to Stay Put

It was with a bit of relief as NBC finally released its mid-season schedule... about two weeks later than promised by topper Kevin Reilly.

No word on what led to the prolonged period between the intended announcement and, er, yesterday, but some rather unexpected results did manage to turn up. Let's take a look:

MONDAY: NBC has kept its entire Monday night lineup intact, including the struggling Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which will remain at 10 pm. Many insiders had thought that the Peacock would try shifting the sinking Studio 60 in another slot, but it's staying tight for the moment, following a full season pick-up for the series, albeit at a reduced license fee. Look for a midseason drama (see below) to take over here in a few months' time.

TUESDAY: Newsmagazine Dateline NBC will take over the 8 pm timeslot vacated by struggling freshman drama Friday Night Lights. Hmmm, anyone seeing shades of Reilly's announcement a little while back about programming cheap reality shows only at 8 pm on most nights? Looks like NBC 2.0 is actually happening after all.

WEDNESDAY: Friday Night Lights still won't appear on Fridays, but will instead shift to Wednesdays at 8 pm, taking over for the comedy block formerly occupied by 30 Rock (now on Thursdays at 9:30 pm) and the cancelled Twenty Good Years. But didn't Reilly say that he wasn't doing drama at 8? Um, yeah. Nor do I see why moving Friday Night Lights from one 8 pm timeslot to another will help matters... especially once CBS's Jericho returns with new episodes. But then again, I'm not a programming exec!

THURSDAY: Will blissfully remain the same, with the single-cam comedy block of My Name is Earl, The Office, Scrubs, and 30 Rock. Ahhhhh.

FRIDAY: Will remain the same, though it's been indicated by several insiders that Raines will end up in the 9 pm timeslot come the spring, with Las Vegas wrapping its season a little early.

SATURDAY: No change whatsoever.

SUNDAY: Dateline will move to 7 pm on Sundays as of February 11th, followed at 8 pm by new reality series Grease: You're the One That I Want (sorry, but I refuse to make a title-related pun about its future). At 9 pm, it's the Los Angeles-based sixth edition of lost-its-edge reality series The Apprentice (which promises making the losing team sleep in a tent!) and the return of crime drama Crossing Jordan at 10 pm.

While no official word was given about where the Jeff Goldblum-led Raines or Paul Haggis' The Black Donnellys would end up, those who know claim that Raines will pop up on Fridays (see above) and The Black Donnellys will eventually take over Studio 60's Mondays at 10 pm slot in the spring. The second season of reality entry America's Got Talent has been pushed back to the summer.

No mention whatsoever was given to midseason comedies The Singles Table (which saw its order cut from 13 to 6 episodes a while back) or Andy Barker P.I. From what I am hearing, the latter's set is just a mess with constant chaos and a revolving door hiring-and-firing policy as they move to quickly churn out the 13-episode order.

Will Andy Barker ever make it on the air? That's anybody's guess.

One of those series is expected to pop up on the network's single-cam comedy lineup on Thursdays nights and my worry is that, unless 30 Rock starts to perform, The Singles Table or Andy Barker will wind up at 9:30 pm.

Fingers crossed that doesn't happen.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Survivor: Cook Islands (CBS); My Name is Earl/The Office (NBC); Smallville (CW); Ugly Betty (ABC); 'Til Death/'Til Death (FOX); Desire (MyNet)

9 pm: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS); Scrubs/30 Rock (NBC); Supernatural (CW); Grey's Anatomy (ABC); The O.C. (FOX); Fashion House (MyNet)

10 pm: Shark (CBS); ER (NBC); Men in Trees (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: My Name is Earl.

On tonight's episode of My Name is Earl ("Born a Gamblin' Man"), Earl is reunited with a former classmate while delivering sandwiches (must have something to do with that list of his) and is tempted to help make him more of a man by teaching him how to gamble. Not quite sure what that's got to do with anything, but tune in tonight to find out.

8:30 pm: The Office.

On tonight's episode ("The Convict"), chaos ensues when Michael discovers one of the new Dunder-Mifflin employees has a prison record, in this episode written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the creators of the original UK version of The Office!

9:00 pm: Scrubs.

Finally! Scrubs is back on NBC's schedule, where it belongs. And on tonight's episode, the sixth season premiere ("My Mirror Image"), J.D. tries to see himself as a father, while Dr. Cox comes to the astounding realization that his, er, anger management issues may have consequences in the future.

9:30 pm: 30 Rock.

On tonight's episode ("Jack Meets Dennis"), after Liz returns to the arms of her ex-boyfriend (guest star Dean Winters) simply because he asked her to, Jack decides to become her mentor and teach her a thing or two about life.

10 pm: Afterlife on BBC America.

It's the premiere of the supernatural thriller Afterlife, starring Leslie Sharp and Andrew Lincoln, on BBC America. On tonight's episode, psychology lecturer Robert (Lincoln), takes his students to meet psychic Alison Mundy (Sharp) and, while initially skeptical about Alison's, um, powers, Robert begins to believe after a very personal experience.

O.R. Mishap: CBS Cuts "3 Lbs."

The diagnosis is not good for 3 Lbs.

After just three (yes, count 'em, three!) airing, CBS has yanked medical drama 3 Lbs. off the schedule, effective immediately.

The drama, which starred Stanley Tucci, Mark Feuerstein (his series kiss of death continues!), and Indira Varma, was unceremoniously canned by CBS, which rushed the midseason medical drama onto the air.

3 Lbs replaced the crime drama Smith (which CBS also cancelled after three airings) on Tuesdays at 10 pm. Like Smith, 3 Lbs. didn't deliver the audience CBS was craving, averaging a rather unhealthy 8 million viewers. Additionally, the series' ratings were 16% below Smith.

Call it a case of schadenfreude, but I can't help but smile when a cancelled cult audience series' replacement show winds up doing worse than the series it replaced. Ha-bloody-ha.

In other scheduling news, ABC will air five episodes of newsmagazine Primetime on Wednesdays at 10 pm, subbing in for freshman drama The Nine, which it put on hiatus over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Newsmag will air a limited series dubbed Primetime: Basic Instinct which will use hidden camera to document how people react to an array of frustrating/stressful situations, such as misbehaving children, annoying public cell phone use, and offensively prejudicial remarks from cab drivers.

The limited series is part of a 48-episode order for the season of Primetime, which has yet to receive a firm timeslot for the 2006-2007 season. It's unclear whether Primetime will remain in the slot as ABC has yet to release its January schedule, but given that they've yet to find a decent 10 pm companion for Lost, trying a newsmag rather than another serialized drama might be just the ticket.

Sci Fi Blasts "Battlestar" to a New Night

The crew of the Galactica is headed to a new destination: Sunday nights.

Sci Fi has announced that it is relocating the third season of critically acclaimed drama Battlestar Galactica to Sunday evenings at 10 pm, beginning January 21st, coinciding with the second half of Battlestar Galactica's third season and the launch of Sci Fi's newest drama, The Dresden Files. The latter series stars Paul Blackthorne (24) as Harry Dresden, a wizard turned private investigator.

It's the first time that Sci Fi has tried launching a night of original programming on Sundays, which traditionally have been a mix of low-budget movies and acquired programs. But the success of this past summer's Eureka, which aired on Tuesdays evening, showed the network that it could launch a night of originals on another night than Friday.

Not that Sundays are going to be a cake walk, either. Battlestar Galactica, which lost about .2 million viewers from last season, will now have to go head-to-head with dramas Without A Trace on CBS and Brothers & Sisters on ABC.

So Long, "Six Degrees"; ABC Replants "Trees"

Looks like maybe you can launch a series on Fridays, after all. That is, if you intend to move it to a better timeslot once one opens up.

ABC has announced that it will move drama Men in Trees from its Friday night timeslot (one of the very worst berths in all of Television Land) to the plum post-Grey's Anatomy timeslot on Thursdays at 10 pm, beginning November 30th.

And a further vote of confidence in the drama, ABC has ordered the back nine episodes of Men in Trees, bumping the series to a full 22-episode season in the process. It's the first full season pickup for a freshman series for Warner Bros. TV, the studio behind Men in Trees, and the third pickup for ABC, which previously announced it had ordered full seasons of Ugly Betty and Brothers & Sisters. (ABC is still weighing pickups on fellow freshman series The Nine and Help Me Help You.)

So what does that mean for the current holder of the post-Grey's Anatomy timeslot, the struggling drama Six Degrees? Not such good news, I'm afraid. Looks like that series aired its last episode of the year last week (ouch) and isn't anticipated to return to the schedule until January (if at all).

The likelihood of ABC ordering any new installments of the NYC-set drama is slim to none, so Six Degrees fans, make your peace now. It's increasingly looking like we'll never learn what was inside Mae's box after all.

ABC Somewhat Confident in "Help," "Nine," and "Trees" While Cutting Trip Short for "Traveler"

Several series got some spirit-lifting today as NBC and ABC made some announcements regarding script orders, while one midseason entry has been dramatically cut back.

ABC ordered additional four scripts of Ted Danson therapy comedy Help Me Help You, Anne Heche-led romantic drama Men in Trees, and struggling bank hostage drama The Nine. While it has not committed to ordering any more additional episodes, it at least means that the network is curious enough to see where the storylines are going before investing more money into producing fresh installments.

It's a positive sign for the three series but I'd be curious to see how Help Me would do without Dancing with the Stars as a lead-in. As for the The Nine, with its dwindling retention out of Lost (and Lost disappearing off the schedule in less than two weeks now), I don't see how ABC will commit to ordering a full season of the drama, unless Lost's temporary replacement, Day Break, becomes a sleeper hit. That series was capped at 13 episodes in order to, according to the network, ensure that its first season story arc would be resolved, in case the serialized drama didn't return next season. (The same can't be said for fellow serials Kidnapped and Vanished, which had to dramatically restructure their seasons after learning that their respective networks would not be ordering additional episodes.)

Not such good news for midseason drama Traveler, which ABC has cut back to only eight episodes (13 installments were originally ordered), due to a lack of scheduling space for an entire 13-episode run. Due to that serialized factor (once a buzz word, now seemingly a flaw in Hollywood), producers will have an advance opportunity to tie up any loose ends, just in case Traveler doesn't make it through its planned run.

Over at NBC, Aaron Sorkin's beleaguered Studio 60 got a brief of a reprieve, despite comments from Kevin Reilly yesterday that he would be taking a long, hard look at the series. NBC has ordered three additional scripts before it will make a decision about the behind-the-scenes drama's ultimate fate.

And stalwart ER, which was originally also supposed to take a hiatus like Lost to make room for Paul Haggis' midseason drama The Black Donnellys, has actually increased its episode count for this season as NBC has bumped it up to 25 installments.