Monday, November 15, 2010

NBC Makes Schedule Changes; SVU, LOLA to Move

(Note: the highlighting is mine, not NBC's)


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Press Release by NBC

NBC ANNOUNCES NEW MID-SEASON SCHEDULE

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. - November 15, 2010 - NBC today made several mid-season schedule announcements, including the premiere dates for four new series - the dramas "The Cape" and "Harry's Law," the comedy "Perfect Couples" and the alternative series "America's Next Great Restaurant." The lineup also includes series time period changes for "Law & Order: Los Angeles," "Chase," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Parenthood."

Additionally, returning series "Parks and Recreation," "The Biggest Loser: Couples," "Who Do You Think You Are?," "Minute to Win It," "The Marriage Ref" and "The Celebrity Apprentice" resume on the schedule while other moves maximize the amount of original, non-repeat programming on the network.

Following are night-by-night details:

Mondays

The new action-filled drama "The Cape" will premiere with a two-hour episode on Sunday, January 9 (9-11 p.m. ET). An encore broadcast of the two-hour episode airs Monday, January 10 (9-11 p.m. ET) with new episodes starting in its regular time period on January 17 (9-10 p.m. ET). The highly buzzed-about drama "The Event" returns with a two-hour edition on Monday, February 28 (9-11 p.m. ET) and begins airing in its regular 9-10 p.m. (ET) time slot on March 7. The new drama "Harry's Law" debuts at 10-11 p.m. (ET) starting on January 17. "Parenthood" will return on January 4 with new episodes in its current time period (Tuesdays, 10-11 p.m. ET) and will move to Mondays on March 7 at 10-11 p.m. (ET) with original episodes to complete its second season. "Chuck" continues at 8-9 p.m. (ET) on January 17.

Tuesdays

The new season of "The Biggest Loser: Couples" premieres on Tuesday, January 4 at 8-10 p.m. (ET).
"Law & Order: Los Angeles" will move to Tuesdays at 10-11 p.m. (ET) on February 8.

Wednesdays

Beginning January 5, "Minute to Win It" returns at 8-9 p.m. (ET). The freshman drama "Chase" relocates to a new night and time at 9-10 p.m. (ET) beginning January 12. "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" moves to a new time beginning with a two-hour episode from 9-11 p.m. (ET) on January 5 before resuming in its regular time of 10-11 p.m. (ET) the next week. The new alternative series "America's Next Great Restaurant" premieres from 9-10 p.m. (ET) on March 16.

Thursdays

The new Thursday-night lineup features wall-to-wall comedy beginning January 20 with "Community" at 8-8:30 p.m. (ET) followed at the new comedy "Perfect Couples" at 8:30-9 p.m. (ET). "The Office" continues at 9-9:30 p.m. (ET) and "Parks and Recreation" returns from 9:30-10 p.m. (ET). NBC opens a new hour of humor with "30 Rock" moving to 10-10:30 p.m. (ET) and the freshman series "Outsourced" concludes the night at 10:30-11 p.m. (ET).

Fridays

The alternative genealogy series "Who Do You Think You Are?" returns on January 21 (8-9 p.m. ET). "Dateline NBC" will return on January 7 (9-11 p.m. ET).

Sundays

"The Marriage Ref" returns for its second season on March 6 (8-9 p.m. ET) followed by the return of "The Celebrity Apprentice" (9-11 p.m. ET), also on March 6.

The premieres of the new January-March program schedule follow in a grid (all times ET); new series are capitalized.

MONDAYS
8-9 p.m. - "Chuck"
9-10 p.m. - "THE CAPE" will premiere with a two-hour episode on Sunday, January 9 (9-11 p.m.). New episodes start in its regular time period on January 17 (9-10 p.m.)
10-11 p.m. - "HARRY'S LAW' (beginning January 17)
9-10 p.m. - "The Event" (returns on February 28, 9-11 p.m.; resumes in its regular time slot March 7)
10-11 p.m. -- "Parenthood" (debuts in this slot March 7 with all originals)

TUESDAYS
8-10 p.m. -- "The Biggest Loser: Couples" (beginning January 4)
10-11 p.m. - "Parenthood" (beginning January 4 for four episodes)
10-11 p.m. -- "Law & Order: Los Angeles" (beginning February 8)

WEDNESDAYS
8-9 p.m. -- "Minute to Win It" (beginning January 5)
9-10 p.m. -"Chase" (beginning January 12)
10-11 p.m. - "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (originals beginning January 5 with two-hour episode, 9-11 p.m. ET)
9-10 p.m. - "AMERICA'S NEXT GREAT RESTAURANT" (beginning March 16)

THURSDAYS (all beginning January 20)
8-8:30 p.m. - "Community"
8:30-9 p.m. - "PERFECT COUPLES"
9-9:30 p.m. - "The Office"
9:30-10 p.m. - "Parks and Recreation"
10-10:30 p.m. - "30 Rock"
10:30-11 p.m. - "Outsourced"

FRIDAYS
8-9 p.m. -- "Who Do You Think You Are?" (beginning January 21)
9-11 p.m. - "Dateline NBC" (beginning January 7)

SUNDAYS
7-8 p.m. - "Dateline NBC"
8-9 p.m. - "The Marriage Ref" (beginning March 6)
9-11 p.m. - "The Celebrity Apprentice" (beginning March 6)


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20 comments:

Esaul said...

You would think NBC would learn not to shuffle their shows around like this. It's gonna be a bad move. LOLA was doing quite well in its time slot. Now it's competing with The Good Wife, which brough tin 12 million viewers just last week. Are they trying to murder their own show? :\

Chris Zimmer said...

Funny you mention that Esaul. When I told my husband the news, his comment was "are they nuts? That's going up against the Good Wife!" We used to both hate that show when it first came out but have since become fans - it's not because of Julianna Marguilies (we still can't stand her) but the rest of the cast and the stories are great.

but, you never know, maybe the Good Wife is doing well because it doesn't have strong competition. Maybe - just maybe - LOLA can steal some of them away.

Esaul said...

Hm that could be true, since The Good Wife is a sophomore show that did well in the first season, and is really only facing ABC's freshman drama Detroit 1-8-7, LOLA could possibly do well. I've only been watching The Good Wife 'cause of Chris Noth. I've always loved him in the Mothership and Criminal Intent. I can't really stand Julianna either, kinda why I haven't really kept up with that show at all. I do have to give NBC credit though for not pitting LOLA up against NCIS or NCIS LA. And I guess it was smart for them to move SVU away from the 9 pm timeslot where Criminal Minds constantly wins at. Sooo maybe it will be beneficial in the end. *shrugs*

Anonymous said...

I think if LOLA's moving to Tuesdays at 10 (where SVU should be) they need to step up the stories to keep the fans watching! (Some more Harbor City's, Sylmar's, and Hondo Field's)

And SVU is gonna keep swapping from 9 to 10 on Wednesday (where LOLA should stay).

gahks said...

Agree with Anonymous: 'LOLA' should move to Wed at 10/9c and 'SVU' should go back to Tues at 10/9c. 'SVU' has a stronger chance of beating 'The Good Wife'.

janethyland said...

What is SVU up against on a Wednesday in the new year?

Its good to separate SVU and LOLA. There was too much Law and Order on one night.

janethyland said...

The Law and Orders are really in competition with their own network shows. What else does NBC have that is better?

The TV ratings for all network dramas have been erratic this season so far,for instance CSI recorded its lowest rating ever one week!

On NBC last week, Parenthood was its highest rated drama at 2.1 in key demo. So thats the benchmark at present.

LOLA has a difficult task. It has to appeal to the brand fan, but it also has to appear fresh enough to bring in other fans.For instance last week it returned to the old theme tune I think. That might be comforting to thebrand fan, but it could also put people like me off, so that we turn off!Its not easy.

janethyland said...

Me again...sorry,Id put thhe "three in one" if I knew how but I dont!

Anyway someone just emailed me that Dick Wolf will be on Colbert Report on Thursday. If anyone watches it can they transcript here!

Anonymous said...

Great to see NBC bringing in new dramas, that just like the ones in the fall, will fail completely. One day let's hope we are awakenened from this coma and wake up to find NBC admitting it made a mistake and bringing back our show for its 21st season.

Anonymous said...

The 10 PM is definitely the proper time slot for SVU, and I suppose that LOLA won't be "The Bigest Loser"

Esaul said...

I'm not sure where you're getting that info about The Parenthood from, because from what I'm looking at, that isn't true at all. o_O The Parenthood's ratings have been quite terribly low this year compared to last, I mean I'm looking at the data, and Criminal Minds did better than The Parenthood. As for what LOLA is up against, Fox has its local news, as well as The CW, CBS has The Defenders, which has been doing poorly rating wise, and ABC has their new show The Whole Truth airing, which hasn't been on for a couple of weeks now.

janethyland said...

It was recorded in overnights on TVbythenumbers site.
Nov 10th Parenthood got 2.2 in key demo.
Nov 11th SVU got 2.0 in key demo.

Their site discussion talked about Parenthood being top scripted drama for NBC in that week.

I dont rely on one site though. Thats like relying on one newspaper to get your news. There are other sites that look at ratings.

Esaul said...

Oh the one network itself, I misunderstood and thought you meant from all the networks. xD

robinepowell said...

Switch Parenthood and The Event around and Parenthood might get better ratings.

Why put a family show on so late at night? I don't know if Mondays will be better then Tuesdays for Parenthood, but NBC seems determined not to have it on earlier.

As for LOLA & SVU, 10:00 is a better time for both shows, but why move LOLA to Tuesdays? SVU was on Tuesdays for the longest time and should have stayed there.

I've been saying all season that SVU and Parenthood should switch places, yet NBC doesn't see that.

Shelly said...

We watch Good wife and record Detroit 187 (we don't have a DVR), and that's what we'll keep doing. Hopefully our cable company will continue to air LOLA as part of our On Demand package.

So far, LOLA hasn't "grabbed" us like the Mothership did waaaay back in the beginning.

In general though, you can see NBC is really scraping the bottom of the barrel, or it's true the the American public will watch anything... lol... The Marriage Ref... Minute to Win It... America's Next Great Restaurant... sigh... anybody know a good book?

Anonymous said...

Shelly,

LOLA is getting better - even All Things's reviews say that in some capacity!

Comdo said...

I hope USA Network has plans to move "Law & Order: CI" to either Sunday or Thursday night because if it stays on Tue or moves to Wed it'll be going against either "LOLA" or SVU, likely "LOLA".

USA NEEDS to move "Law & Order: CI" back to Sunday nights! NBC NEEDS to move "SVU" back to Tuesday nights; and "LOLA" is fine where it is! :D

Anonymous said...

I really wish that the writers at Law & Order and the heads at NBC would have realized the enormous opportunity they had with the franchise. Right now, it seems we have a dysfuntional franchise with 3 or 4 shows, none of which can find a consistent time slot, dating back to last year when they moved L&O from Friday to Monday and even the previous year when L&O was jostled around some -- and even to when CI went to USA.

Imagine if you had a three or four part Law & order event, stretching coast to coast, or even across the Atlantic, with characters from all the shows in some kind of national -- or even international -- crime spree.

You could have McCoy and Hardin talking about or competing about who to prosecute, cops in nationwide manhunts, and even bringing in SVU, the Major Case Squad, and the cops from LA.

It would be a fun event, very compelling television, etc.

Instead we get a disjointed type of thing where the only crossover we've seen in years is Mariska shaking hands with Ulrich. Woo hoo.

Worse yet, we get cancelled shows (mothership and CI) replaced by crap like Outlaw and Undercovers...which are now, of course, gone.

Sad...

Anonymous said...

So SVU will be up against Southland on Tues at 10? Any ideas on how that will work out?

Chris Zimmer said...

No, it's LOLA that will be up against Southland. SBU is moving to 10PM but staying on Wednesday. It will be interesting to see how two LA crime shows will work up against one another. The good thing is TBT usually re-airs new episodes again later that night, so if there are DVR recording conflicts, a person can always record Southland later.

LOLA's big competition will be "The Good Wife" on CBS which has been doing pretty well in its time slot so far.