NBC's Fall 2006 - Revised

You've got to love network weasels. (That's sarcastic by the way.) Just over a week after NBC announced it's Fall 2006 lineup to the public they've torn it up and tossed it on the ash heap of history and come up with a new one. It isn't a matter of uncancelling shows but of rearranging deck chairs. (I am not going to say "on the Titanic"...yet.) Here's what the new and improve lineup looks like, where moved refers to being moved from the night and or time where it was originally intended to run

Complete Schedule: (New shows in Capitals, except of course ER.)
Monday
8-9 p.m. Deal or No Deal
9-10 p.m. HEROES
10-11 p.m. STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP (Moved)

Tuesday
8-9 p.m. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
9-10 p.m. Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Moved)
10-11 p.m. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Wednesday
8-8:30 p.m. 20 GOOD YEARS (Moved)
8:30-9 p.m. 30 ROCK (Moved)
9-10 p.m. The Biggest Loser (Moved)
10-11 p.m. KIDNAPPED (Moved)

Thursday
8-8:30 p.m. My Name Is Earl
8:30-9 p.m. The Office
9-10 p.m. Deal or No Deal (Moved)
10-11 p.m. ER

Friday
8-9 p.m. Crossing Jordan (Moved and brought back)
9-10 p.m. Las Vegas
10-11 p.m. Law & Order (Moved)

Saturday
8-9 p.m. Dateline Saturday
9-11 p.m. Drama Series Encores

Sunday
7-8 p.m. FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA
8-11 p.m. SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

In addition Medium will join Scrubs as shows held for return at the mid-season replacement.

Comments: Wow! Where to start? I'm not sure this is a stronger lineup over all but it does seem to target a lot of areas. I think the move to Monday night's third hour is probably a good one for Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, putting it against the weakest of the CSI shows and ABC's What About Brian? which I seem to recall was a surprise renewal. One the other hand I agree with Alan Sepinwall that using Heroes as a lead for Studio 60 is pretty close to insane. The Tuesday changes is a bit of a puzzler. Is the world really ready for two versions of Law & Order on the same night? It will be up against The Unit, House, Veronica Mars and the ABC comedies Let's Rob.... and Help Me Help You. If nothing else I think the ABC comedies are toast, but will "CI" be able to stand up against House and is The Unit going to survive. The first two hours of Wednesday isn't a bad shift, protecting the two comedies from being caught in the Lost - Criminal Minds juggernaut that dominated the night in the 2005-06 season. Biggest Loser is a throwaway that's cheap to make. Of course putting 20 Good Years and 30 Rock against Dancing With The Stars might not be much in the way of salvation. The shocking change is moving Kidnapped into the slot long dominated by the original Law & Order. I suppose they consider it a slam dunk against The Nine while CSI: New York stays strong. Moving Deal Or No Deal to the second hour of Thursday seems like NBC is conceding the battle for the timeslot to ABC and CBS with Gray's Anatomy and the original CSI. I can't imagine that Deal Or No Deal will stay as popular in the new timeslot against that competition. I'm pleased to see the revival of Crossing Jordan coming sooner rather than later. I think the move is a definite shot at CBS's Ghost Whisperer but I think the big casualty will be Betty The Ugly. There's no doubt about what the target of NBC's other Friday night move is - they clearly expect the original Law & Order to put a big hurt on the numbers of CBS's Numb3rs.