NBC has finally named its major scheduling move--and to no one's surprise, it's to revamp Thursday night with its rookie hit show, "My Name is Earl." Looking to return to its former glory on the
night, NBC will take "Earl"--its strong new Tuesday night show--and place it in prime prime-time territory: the 9:00 p.m. time period on Thursday.
"Earl" will be spelling "The Apprentice" when it
goes into hiatus between its two broadcast seasonal editions, starting January 2. "Earl" will be part of a two-hour Thursday-night block, which will include "Will & Grace" at 8:00 p.m. That will
leave no room for "Joey"--although NBC says the show will return after the Torino Olympics in March.
New sitcom "Four Kings" will follow "Will & Grace" at 8:30 p.m. Also moving from Tuesdays,
along with "Earl," will be "The Office" at 9:30 p.m.
For virtually all of the 80s and 90s, NBC dominated Thursday nights with shows like "Cosby," "Cheers," "Seinfeld," and "Friends." For NBC, it
was a relative no-brainer to start comedies on Thursday, since no other network was programming the genre that night. "It is the return to the ancestral home of comedy," said Mitch Metcalf, executive
VP, program planning and scheduling for NBC Universal. "It feels like the right thing to do."
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When the Olympics are over, NBC will also bring back "The Apprentice." Metcalf said the network will
announce time periods for "Joey" and "The Apprentice" during the January TV critics tour.
Rumors swirled that NBC was waiting on Fox, which was considering moving twice-weekly "American Idol" to
Wednesday and Thursday time slots from its current Tuesday and Wednesday time slots. Metcalf was fairly sure that wasn't going to happen, but said "you never know."
NBC's move comes one day after
Fox said it was keeping "Idol" on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.