Preston Beckman Knows What He's Doing aka Obligatory FOX Midseason Schedule Analysis Post

C'mon guys, seriously. Is there really *that* much to discuss here and/or gape about?

I love Fringe. Especially this season. But I watch it on Fridays now, anyway. So I'm totally cool with the move to Fridays at 9pm. Taking the Fan Hat off, what does this practically mean? First of all, of course, expect some ratings slippage. But honestly at this point, I don't think there will be a ton (certainly not the ~50% drop that some of my Twitter followers have predicted). The competition isn't there for that. Fringe isn't a casual viewer show. It's viewers seek it out and will continue to do so. Putting it on a night with significantly less competition should help with the Same Day ratings because there will be far less waiting for tomorrow for DVR playback. Fringe does fantastically in Plus Seven DVR increase percentages.

Regardless of how little that figure means to advertisers, here's an instance I think it will actually work to the show's advantage. A portion of those +7 DVR viewers could become Same Day DVR viewers (again, I am one of those, not that I have a Nielsen box for anyone to notice). Even if it's just a couple tenths, that will be enough to counteract any loss the show experiences moving away from the Bones lead-in (the two shows really don't have a lot of crossover audience... Bones is a much older skewing show). Not that I expect Kitchen Nightmares to be a huge lead-in, the Gordon Ramsey shows attract, like Fringe, relatively small viewer numbers when compared to the demo. This could all work to Fringe's advantage. Plus, expectations on Friday are different. The biggest show last week attracted a 1.9 in the demo. Compare that to Fringe's current competition: Grey's around a 4.0, CSI in the low-to-mid 3s, and The Office/Outsourced also in the low-to-mid 3s. Yes, there's less HUTs on Friday nights... but I think it all counterbalances itself nicely to a place where Fringe can be both stable and successful (and depending on budget talks, survive for more seasons).

And between Fringe and Supernatural (sadly, competing against each other), SciFridays are, this Winter/Spring, truly alive and well. Even if SyFy has abandoned the night to the WWE.

As I've stated on Twitter, I find two primary motives for the Idol move to Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The first: protect Glee by letting it remain in a timeslot. Stability is huge in this business, and viewers have clearly found Glee on Tuesdays at 8pm. While I continue to believe that Glee needs fixing, there's no denying the empirical data: it kicks its competition's butt in major sales demographics. Glee and Tuesdays are perfect for each other (as it's music release day).

The second: establish a year-round reality competition wheel. Winter/Spring has Idol. Summer has So You Think You Can Dance (which has traditionally aired Wednesdays and Thursdays, anyway). Fall will have X-Factor. Guess what else this means? More stability. No longer will Fox have to rejigger its schedule every 4 months (i.e. Glee Wednesdays at 9... now Tuesdays at 9... now Tuesdays at 8! Or like House used to be on Tuesdays at 8pm in the Fall then Mondays in the Winter/Spring). Reality competition shows will just give way to each other. Stability.

Okay, three reasons: Thursday ad dollars command a premium. As Idol's ratings slip (and they will continue to do so), FOX can keep charging advertisers exorbitant sums because, hey, it's a major, broad audience pre-weekend platform for advertisements.

A nice side benefit: Bones gets the Idol lead-in it has long deserved but not had since its first season. I'm loving the show, and with Idol leading into it (plus the 9pm hour having higher HUTs, and the show's gore factor lending itself to the 9pm hour more than 8pm anyway), I'm thinking Bones will get a nice boost.

I don't think there's much else to say, as these two are the major moves. We already knew about Lie to Me and Human Target's truncated seasons (and neither has performed at a level that demands renewal... with more stability, Fox will feel free to let both these shows go away, or perhaps ship one to Fridays with Friday in Fall 2011). We already knew about The Chicago Code. House is of course staying put. Raising Hope is doing decent business out of Glee (it's always hard to attract the passionate fanbase of a pop cultural phenomenon to a lead-out... cough, Lost for 6 years, cough) and, like my assertion with Cougar Town benefiting from Off the Map, I think having a lead-out will help... so Raising Hope may improve if Mixed Signals is simply not as big a turnoff as Running Wilde was.

I have no opinion about the Sunday changes except my personal sadness that American Dad, easily the best of Seth MacFarlane's shows, is being relegated to 7:30pm. It is the worst rated, and it's already in syndication, so I get it. And if Bob's Burgers fails, it'll slide nicely in between The Simpsons and Family Guy.

Obligatory NBC Midseason Schedule Analysis Post

It's like playing musical chairs on the siesta deck of the Titanic.

NBC's problems are not going to be fixed wholesale by yesterday's midseason schedule announcement. Not when the highest rated drama on the network (which, to be clear, is the highest rated out of 7) is pulling mid-to-low 2s (which, yes, CW would still be popping champagne over). That drama, Law & Order: SVU, will likely see some real gains when it - once again - moves back to a 10pm timeslot. I understood the decision to have it at 9pm as a lead-in to LOLA, at least in theory. But to put the show back in the timeslot it was getting slaughtered in last year during the Jay Leno fiasco was foolish, don't you think? Not to hit the same nail on the head over and over again, but "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results." I have no idea if NBC expected different results in moving SVU to Wednesdays at 9pm once again. But it didn't get them (what it got was a weakened lead-in into a spin-off that is still unproven and will need to stand on its own stocky legs now). Time to get out of dodge.

Chuck remains at 8pm. I watch Chuck. There are times that I love Chuck. I don't think the show has been fantastic this season (though it has gotten much better the last couple weeks), but then again I also didn't think last season was as good as the second. The second season was awesome. From a ratings standpoint, Chuck gets the crap beaten out of it by the punditry. Because a 1.9 (±0.2) for every episode in Live plus Same Day ratings? Not great. But a consistent show that isn't bleeding viewers or demo... it's gonna stick around. So, sorry haters. It's low rated, but because of NBC's state of affairs... it's not the biggest fish to fry.

The Cape... I haven't seen it. I loved the script. It reminded me of a Saturday morning cartoon in wonderful ways. But I've heard that the final product came out, um, taking itself very seriously. This could be the campiest camp that ever camped, in that case. Not expecting huge things from it, but it gives The Event a break... and when the Event comes back, it'll be to finish out its run and not return for a second season (last night it was below Chuck's A18-49 rating... NBC ought to be able to do better).

Parenthood at 10pm on Mondays is a headscratcher. It's been doing solid if unspectacular business on Tuesdays at 10pm. And there isn't going to be enough of a break between Tuesday episodes in January and Monday episodes in March to really consider it a big relaunch. I don't see The Event as having the same audience profile as Parenthood (while I did see PH having a similar audience as The Biggest Loser). Parenthood, though, has a solid audience at this point and will certainly build on Chase's spectacularly awful ratings... but will still place third to Castle and Hawaii Five-0 (whereas in the coming weeks, it may edge out The Good Wife for 2nd on Tuesdays at 10pm... it's been within a tenth).

I've nothing to say about Harry's Law because it's been so heavily rewritten from the pilot I read, which I had no intention of ever laying eyes on. I can't even lay a guess as how spectacularly this ought to flop.

The Biggest Loser stays, and stays at a plumped up 2 hours. I haven't watched this season, and apparently a big chunk of America's who used to watch the show opted out this year. Perhaps it was casting? Format changes? Will the audience return or have people given up on the show (America's Next Top Model suffered a similar bleed out beginning around Cycle 9 or 10).

Regardless, L&O: SVU used to do decently (more viewers but less demo) on Tuesdays at 10pm out of (a much stronger) BL. We'll see about LOLA. If it continues to pull its current Wednesday numbers that'd be about what Parenthood was doing.

Wednesday night is a night of big changes, isn't it? Minute To Win It returns to Wednesdays at 8pm, where it was pulling mid-to-high 1s last season. Better than Undercovers is doing. But it's a bandage.

Chase at 9pm on Wednesdays... it's there for no reason other than NBC picked up a full season for some reason. I don't get it. It won't be doing better at 9pm because of higher HUTs. It won't have a bigger lead-in (though perhaps a more casual TV viewer lead-in that watches live instead of on DVR). And it'll face a strong Criminal Minds, which is wiping the floor with signature drama L&O: SVU. And Modern Family (I say CM first because I see more audience similarities between Chase and SM). And Idol (weakened as it may be). Chase is being thrown to the wolves here.

And that's okay. Because SVU at 10pm can stand on its own. Unless Off the Map does extremely well (I expect it to perform admirably, certainly better than The Whole Truth, but not spectacularly... leveling off in the high 2s) and CBS keeps The Defenders at 10pm (I'm seeing a Friday 8pm timeslot for Jim and Jerry and the CM spin-off here, though, when CBS announces its changes), SVU should win the timeslot. And the affiliates breathed a sigh of relief.

Thursdays. Oy. What have we here. NBC has a problem, at least from my DVR's POV, on Thursdays. Love Community. No intention of watching Perfect Couples (the pilot I saw was awful). Have stopped watching The Office, but can't wait for more Parks & Recreation (though I must say, from a scheduler standpoint, WHAT TOOK NBC SO LONG to put P&R after The Office? Expect series high numbers and better retention from The Office than Outsourced has). Back in love with 30 Rock this season (after a subpar season 4), but couldn't be bothered with Outsourced. What does all of this mean, at least for my habits? Hulu! Sorry, I'd rather record a full hour of TV that I'm gonna watch than a half-hour and try to watch an hour-long show online the next day. 30 Rock will get recorded, though, since I don't have 10pm conflicts.

What do I think of a six-comedy block on Thursday? I like the idea. And, really, 30 Rock/Outsourced has to do better than The Apprentice... right? Against stiffer competition, 30 Rock is doing mid-2s at 8:30pm. It could actually improve on that at 10pm, with a stronger lead-in (again, I expect an Office-fueled Parks & Recreation to pull better numbers than Community is right now). If it gets to be "edgier" now that it's at 10pm... I'm game. I don't think audiences care about comedy being at 10pm (South Park, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia). It's a remnant of a pre-DVR age that the networks don't program comedy at 10pm. The thing NBC has to be careful with, though, is the 10:30pm show. It has to lead into local affiliates' 11pm news. It's a risk that people will just... leave at 10:30pm. But, again, compared to the current The Apprentice numbers, Outsourced will be an improvement and, for the short-term, that's all that matters. The six-comedy is an experiment and we'll see how it goes. NBC will be able to make an informed decision for next fall on whether to keep it or not. This is also why Community is staying at 8pm against The Big Bang Theory. Sure, it's getting beaten. But NBC could do a lot worse (and Community has critical if not awards press... something NBC does care about with its comedies).

I have absolutely nothing to say about NBC Fridays or Sundays. Nothing.

So, overall? A stop-gap (NBC hopes). Nothing more. Nothing less.

Trimming The Fat (CW Edition)

I am and have in the past been a fan (at times vocal) of shows with mild-to-disastrous ratings.

See, for instance, Veronica Mars (still miss you, Ronnie!)

Of course, when we have personal attachment to shows, we make excuses for why a network should renew / order additional episodes. Upscale incomes. Highly concentrated demographics. Change the timeslot and give this great show a chance to find an audience... it's too damn good to cancel, dammit!

But take your Fan Hat off for a moment. I know, it's hard. But your hair looks fine. Trust me. Let's talk brass tacks.

I was going to extend this post to all networks, but decided that, hey, maybe I'll get to blogging more often if I separate things out a bit. So, for now, we're just talking CW.

This development year was the first in two that failed to produce a "hit" premiere - let alone a "hit" series. For a limited shelf space, limited budget, niche-appeal network like CW with rapidly aging shows and a finicky audience... this is disastrous.

In 2008, CW gave us 90210 2.0 which may have rapidly sunk post-premiere, but for a CW show that premiere attracted eyeballs. Almost 5 million of the (same day). In 2009, The Vampire Diaries' premiere also almost attracted 5 million viewers. Unlike 90210, Vampire Diaries has actually held onto a sizable-enough portion of that audience to be considered CW's lone viable television program (though, unlike True Blood, it failed to see big season-to-season gains... too bad, though).

In a "perfect" world with an infinite budget both for production and marketing and without any personal attachments coming into the mix... The Vampire Diaries is the only show that would survive a real "trimming the fat."

Of course, we, and the CW, don't live in that supposedly "perfect" world.

You can make W18-34 arguments for Gossip Girl (GG, despite having about half the overall audience as TVD, does have basically the same W18-34 audience as TVD... and, according to an article I recently read, GG is tied with The Office for the highest concentration of "upscale" A18-34 viewers). That's two hours of programming.

Supernatural has done respectable business on Fridays and I suspect it will remain there next year. The question is: how does it do without the Smallville lead-in next year? There is also a back-end argument to be made for Supernatural as it's syndicated on TNT (I don't have per episode figures) and the show does well on DVD (genre shows tend to overperform at DVD compared to their audience size). That's three hours.

America's Next Top Model? It's long in the tooth. It's been showing its age since Cycle 10 and this is, what, Cycle 15? The ratings weren't reinvigorated by the "actually a high fashion prize with better designers and photographers" change this cycle. Which I have to imagine added to the cost of the show. Still, this show isn't going anywhere for a while. And ANTM has syndication value. That's four hours.

That's still six hours to program. There are (flimsy) arguments to be made for more seasons of both 90210 and One Tree Hill. But CW isn't a network that can afford to reprogram 6 hours. Reprogramming 4 is still quite a stretch.

Do Hellcats or Nikita fit in?

Probably not. And here's why: Life Unexpected was canceled.

I feel like the experiment of a second season of LUX should tell CW what to do about its two freshmen, Hellcats and Nikita. Neither of them had huge series premieres even by "CW standards" (ah, love that phrase). Hellcats with 3 million, Nikita with 3.6 million. And now they're both lucky to hit 2/3 of those numbers. Nikita's W18-34, behind CW's number one show, are actually the worst on the network (some times, even LUX has higher W18-34). Now, I'm not putting the possibility of either show suddenly catching fire totally out of question. I mean, it's always possible. But is it probable? No. CW hoped LUX would catch fire in its extended break, and it didn't.

Gossip Girl "blew up" thanks to anticipation built during the Writers Strike hiatus, a bold new marketing campaign, a timeslot change, limited competition thanks to the strike, and (JMHO) stellar content in the initial 13 episode order. Then it grew more after the summer... and it was never as popular again as it was at the top of its second season.

Don't expect miracles for either Hellcats or Nikita. Especially because none of those things that helped Gossip Girl "explode" seem to be in the cards (he said without haven't watched any of Hellcats beyond the pilot presentation, and having watched two episodes of Nikita... but I haven't gotten any indication that either are the Best TV Show I'm Not Watching, so...)

The lesson from LUX, then, seems to be that when you don't have enough of an audience to slowly trickle off through several seasons... cut your losses and don't go beyond one season.

Even Hellcats. It rebounded in W18-34 last week... but only to a 1.7 (which is under 90210's season three levels). LUX was pulling 1.7s out of One Tree Hill last season. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results (not that anyone has accused Dawn Ostroff of being sane...)

But CW doesn't even live in a world perfect enough that it can program 4 new hours of TV next fall (yet another reason why this fall was disastrous: a complete lack of midseason replacement backup... we've yet to hear how CW is planning to fill Tuesdays at 9pm after LUX runs out of episodes).

So there may be a season two of Hellcats (and, hell, there may even be a season two of Nikita... which will not be indicative of Nikita itself, it will be indicative of the sorry state CW finds itself in). Don't expect much more.

In short... it seems that the CW is in such terrible shape that there is literally too much fat to trim at this point.

Here's an idea for CW, though. Take a page from the first season of Gossip Girl and from the first season of Glee: run a show's initial order out over the course of the fall (and, if you must, January). Take it off the air. Let anticipation build. Have the studio release a Season One, Part One DVD. Bring the show back in late March / early April and run the back order continuously through sweeps. Alternatively, program like the first season of Heroes (a marketing success story), in 3 chunks, and make damn sure the story has the requisite cliffhangers.

There are risks, of course. Does absence make the heart grow fonder? Or do viewers forget? CW isn't programming broad-appeal shows; it's clearly programming niche shows that tend to have a higher concentration of hardcore, passionate fans, if you give those viewers material that makes them care, their hearts grow fonder, though there's plenty of evidence that it's not always the case (just from last year on ABC: Flashforward and V... of course, the ratings for both were on downward spirals before their hiatus). When you program to a niche hoping for passion, sometimes (rarely / not often) you get a show like Glee where there is a large enough core of passionate fans that the show actually is considered a big hit (remember, the first season's fall airings were not anywhere near the current ratings levels... though between you and me, Dear Reader, I think Glee hit its ratings peak in the first two episodes of this season).

I'm not suggesting CW will find something that hits like Glee. But if you can craft a show that people will anticipate and miss and want to watch... what's another little marketing push?

Think of it, if you will, as more like a cable network than a broadcast network. You can be sure that ABC Family is going to be pushing the return of Pretty Little Liars for its midseason return. And I know there's a difference between airing over the summer and airing in the winter against broadcast competition. But I expect PLL will have no trouble viewership (and I actually expect an uptick).

Of course, the material has to be there (with the casting, and the production, and the direction), and even after all of that, the network still has to pick up the damn show (there's no guarantee that happens as almost every season has a couple of "I can't believe they didn't pick this up!!!" pilots). This year, it wasn't.

An optimist or CW apologist might say "But Travis! You just pointed out a reason to give Hellcats and Nikita a season season order so that anticipation can build! They have to try!" Well... unlike LUX, both of these shows will run full seasons before a pickup has to be made, while LUX "only" had the initial order of 13. There was no opportunity for a schedule break for LUX. There is still plenty of opportunity, in the next 6 months, to see what happens with Hellcats and Nikita. As above, I just don't see it in the cards because the pieces that would need to be in place for a surge just aren't.

Take the Fan Hat off. Run your fingers through your hair and feel the cold breeze.

PS - It was interesting to look at the first seasons of Heroes/Gossip Girl/Glee, each with extended breaks and new marketing pushes for the relaunch... their second seasons premiered to the biggest numbers the show would ever get and then quickly suffered (from a combination of overhype and sophomore slump). Yet another reason why I think that "Audition" and "Britney/Brittany" will be Glee's highest-ever rated episodes.

Fall TV Viewing Schedule

All that said... here is my personal network TV fall viewing schedule, in case you are curious.

* denotes shows that I need a week or two to satisfy my curiosity / figure out if I'm going to put in the investment... including some returning shows that might get the boot
# denotes my "must watch night of airing" shows

MONDAY

8pm:
- How I Met Your Mother
- Chuck#

9pm:
- Lone Star#
- Gossip Girl
- The Event*#

10pm:
- Hawaii Five-0*

TUESDAY

8pm:
- Glee#
- No Ordinary Family

9pm:
- Life Unexpected
- Raising Hope*

9:30pm:
- Running Wilde*

10pm:
- The Good Wife

WEDNESDAY

8pm:
- America's Next Top Model* (necessary explanation: I haven't watched in several cycles, but the prospect of the winner being on the cover Italian Vogue should, hopefully mean the model contestants — and the competition — will all be of a higher quality... so, yeah, I'm curious)

9pm:
- Modern Family#

9:30pm:
- Cougar Town

THURSDAY

8pm:
- The Vampire Diaries#
- The Big Bang Theory
- Community (hulu)
- Bones (hulu)
- My Generation* (hulu)

8:30pm:
- 30 Rock#

9pm:
- Fringe#
- Nikita
- The Office (hulu)
- Grey's Anatomy* (we'll see if the show can recover from a bad season in the wake of its electrifying finale)

FRIDAY

9pm:
- Supernatural (would've been a # but Friday, so I've got the whole weekend)

SUNDAY

8pm:
- The Amazing Race#
- The Simpsons

9pm:
- Family Guy
- Desperate Housewives*

9:30pm:
- American Dad

10pm:
- Brothers & Sisters*

There are surely a number of cable conflicts (damn you, Project Runway, for having an entertaining season and potentially screwing up Thursdays at 9pm for me) and I'm sure that I'll have to chop off several shows as the season continues because, even now, I'm holding onto a few shows that I'm not really die-hard about any longer (cough, well-past-their-prime ABC soaps, cough).

ABC's Scheduling Nightmare

In the last two days, ABC picked up more episodes of The Forgotten, canceled Eastwick, and announced the Ugly Betty would replace Eastwick at 10pm on "ABC Comedy Wednesday." I happen to disagree with all three of these decisions (though the Ugly Betty decision sits better than any of the others... I just don't feel it's a 10pm show, but better Wednesday at 10pm with a semi-decent lead-in than Fridays).

My preference would be to:
- cancel The Forgotten
- move Brothers & Sisters to Tuesdays at 10pm
- move Eastwick post-Housewives (at least for a tryout)
- move Betty to Tuesdays at 8pm (or moved the Wednesday 8pm comedies to Tuesdays at 8pm and Betty to Wednesdays at 8pm)
- reality / repeats / whatever on Friday at 9pm

But, hey, I'm not in charge.

I know, I know, I'm always the one saying "you can't move everything at once!" But in ABC's case... they kind of need to figure something out. They've got a lot of middling success and modest returns, but, at this point, three big hits by today's broadcast standards:
- Grey's Anatomy
- Desperate Housewives
- Dancing with the Stars' performance show (for viewership)

ABC also has a few mid-level hits
- Modern Family
- Extreme Makeover Home Edition
- Private Practice (thanks to its lead-in)
- Brothers & Sisters (thanks to its lead-in)
- DWTS Results (for viewers)

Beyond that... ABC has a few modest shows that, for the most part, are lead-in (or lack of competition) reliant but don't deliver the same returns that PP and B&S do.
- Castle
- Cougar Town (if the last two weeks are more indicative of a future trend than the first few weeks of near-perfect retention out of MF were)
- Flashforward (wish is in serious need of rescue via a strong lead-in if it's going to survive to a season season given it's high profile and cost)

We'll see what V does tonight and in the coming weeks to see if it can be the lead-in Flashforward needs... in March when it returns.

But let's say that happens and someone at ABC decides "let's make a block of V and Flashforward" (let alone V, Lost, and Flashforward as I've seen suggested). Where can you put V and Flashforward together on ABC's schedule?

Nowhere.
- Monday has two hours blocked out for DWTS / The Bachelor
- Tuesday is interrupted by DWTS Results at 9pm (and I don't see ABC sliding it forward to 8pm to face Idol... though I'd welcome it, if it meant making room to utilize audience flow)
- Wednesday from 8:30-10pm is, shockingly, kind of working for ABC... and 9-10pm certainly is, so I don't see them moving it (and, remember, that Idol will be airing from 8-9pm this season on Wednesdays)
- Thursdays from 9-11pm aren't changing
- The shows are too expensive to risk a Friday slot (and, I mean, really, this wouldn't never happen)
- Sundays aren't changing with AFHV, EM:HE, DH, and B&S all doing fine

In short... there is nowhere to create audience flow to save Flashforward, and this isn't even considering the rest of ABC's midseason shows:
- Lost (back in January or February, depending on ABC's counter-Olympics decision)
- V (back in March... will it stay on Tuesdays at 8pm? Will it continue to be as successful as its premiere was?)
- Happy Town (though I have my doubts that this will see the air)
- The Deep End
- Romantically Challenged (which will be replacing Hank and paired with The Middle on "ABC Comedy Wednesday" should 8-9pm stay intact / on Wednesdays).

Since Scrubs / Better Off Ted are replacing DWTS: Results in December and airing, probably, through the March return of DWTS, you can disregard Scrubs/Better Off Ted and think about the dramas, and where you're putting The Middle/Romantically Challenged. Including Flashforward and a few more hours of The Forgotten, that's 7 hours of programming.

So, I ask... where do you put ANY of these shows to try and build hits (and build on hits), given that ABC isn't going to be moving what is working. You have these timeslots available, as I see it:
- Tuesdays at 8pm (versus Idol...)
- Tuesdays at 10pm
- Wednesdays at 8pm (versus Idol...)
- Wednesdays at 10pm (but, oh wait, Ugly Betty is there now)
- Thursdays at 8pm

Stumped? Me, too. Hence my wholesale schedule renovation suggestions way above.

To put it bluntly: it's a problem. I'm kind of glad I'm not the one who has to execute an attempted solution.

The Beautiful Cancellation

I'm not trying to gloat, but, um, THANK GAWD that CW canceled The Beautiful Life (though I'm sad for a friend of mine who worked on it and is now unemployed... hopefully they'll do post on the episode my friend wrote so I can see it at some point).

Here's to the CW, and Dawn Ostroff, for making a strong of terrible, terrible decisions as the netlet comes of age that, in the grandest of teen drama traditions, they finally learn from and grow.

Now the big question... which show gets its repeats post-ANTM?
- Melrose Place? Repeating CW's "strategy" last season with 90210, rerunning episodes that aried the day before. While the reruns seemed like they would help with exposure, when the reruns were no longer schedule, it original Tuesday airing didn't increase its viewership.
- The Vampire Diaries? The show is CW's only hit this season (we'll see how Smallville does, but it's looking to be the only show with more than 3 million viewers this week) and one could argue that adding a repeat, rather than increasing overall exposure, would dilute the original viewership... something you definitely don't want to do with your only succeeding show that is in a tough time period. However it would be airing 6 days after the original episode... not the day after. It could provide a "catch up" opportunity to viewers, while not eliminating the day-of "TV to talk about" aspect CW is aiming for.

My best and uneducated guess is CW will go with Melrose Place.

Fall 2009 Viewing Schedule

Thank the providers that AT&T lets me record up to four shows at once (max of 2 of those at a time in HD)

Please note that new shows get a couple episodes to prove themselves (and some are very much on the fence, denoted below by an asterisk. These shows have something to prove to me (i.e. fill out their presentation, or just have an episode two that shows promise beyond premise)

MONDAY
- 8pm: How I Met Your Mother, Heroes (I feel like I will always give this show one or two episodes each season... just to see...), House
- 9pm: Gossip Girl (the second episode of this season IS AMAZING)
- 9:30pm: Big Bang Theory

TUESDAY
- 8pm: The Biggest Loser, So You Think You Can Dance, V (supposedly Tuesdays at 8pm in November)
- 10pm: The Good Wife

WEDNESDAY
- 8pm: So You Think You Can Dance, America's Next Top Model
- 9pm: Modern Family, Glee, The Beautiful Life: TBL*
- 9:30pm: Cougar Town*

THURSDAY
- 8pm: FlashForward, SNL: Weekend Update Thursday, Community*, Bones, the Vampire Diaries*
- 9pm: Grey's Anatomy, The Office, Fringe
- 9:30pm: Community*, 30 Rock
- 10pm: Private Practice* (yes, yes, not a new show... I'm very curious to see how the cliffhanger plays out, and Bailey is going to be crossing over... shut up), The Mentalist (though I did utterly fail to catch up on the first season over the summer... whoops)

FRIDAY
- 9pm: Ugly Betty, Dollhouse

SUNDAY
- 8pm: The Amazing Race, The Simpsons
- 8:30pm: The Cleveland Show* (haven't seen it yet)
- 9pm: Desperate Housewives, Family Guy, Three Rivers* (what with the pilot being completely reshot and almost entirely recast, I have to watch the new pilot to be able to make a true judgment...)
- 9:30pm: American Dad (the Christmas episode this season was presented in three forms at Comic Con and reminded me that this show can be outrageously funny...)
- 10pm: Brothers & Sisters

Sigh. So much TV. So little sleep.

And this is just broadcast... I will still be watching Mad Men, ABDC, Top Chef, Project Runway, Psych and White Collar (when it premieres in October)... thank god for DVRs and lazy weekends.

Playing It Safe

Huh.

And here I thought CBS was in a position to do something radical.

Sure, Big Bang Theory moves to the post-Two and a Half Men slot, and How I Met Your Mother returns to its old 8pm timeslot (where it never did as well as it has at 8:30pm...)

Sure, after one season after NCIS, The Mentalist is moved away and a compatible combination is broken up (will The Mentalist flourish on Thursdays at 10pm? Who knows... there's certainly less competition, though the CSI lead-in, at this point, will be questionable). Putting NCIS and NCIS2 together seems like a smart move... but with how well The Mentalist did, why not try NCIS2 at 10pm? How well The Good Wife can do out of these shows compared to how well The Mentalist certainly would have done in the mix is going to be at the forefront.

No Wednesday changes? Hm.

Survivor/CSI stay the course on Thursdays despite CSI's recent decline? In some ways, to move it could be too knee-jerk... but something more than sticking The Mentalist on at 10pm seemed in order.

Medium after Ghost Whisperer is the biggest no-brainer, so, while we have no idea if the ratings will pay off, it certainly seems like CBS did the right thing here.

Three Rivers on Sunday between relative-demo-factory The Amazing Race and ancient Cold Case. We'll see how that works out.

ABC Fall Schedule

I'm disappointed in ABC's fall schedule. It does some things that it needs to (um, anything on Wednesday nights). But it doesn't make the bold moves I wish it did (Sunday stays intact).

Monday: same as the spring, DWTS / Castle

Tuesday: Shark Tank (whatever that is, it's a reality show... I'm sensing Opportunity Knocks failure?) / DWTS Results / The Forgotten (I'll get to the review later... this move actually makes sense, it's practically the one place on CBS's schedule there isn't a massively successful crime show... at least until CBS makes its announcements tomorrow)

Wednesday: ALL NEW. 2-hour comedy block (I've seen 9pm entrant Modern Family and, I was complete shocked as it's an ABC sitcom, it was funny) and Eastwick.

Thursday: Flash Forward at 8pm, I'm good with this move, Survivor is the only major player left in this hour. Fox should be happy, too, it will (hopefully) deliver male viewers to the night who will then switch over the Fringe at 9pm. I'm assuming ABC is hoping that FF will deliver male viewers to Grey's... we'll see. The crossover audience, I suspect, isn't much. However if FF can pull decent-to-great numbers... the crossover aud boosting Grey's won't matter.

Friday: Ugly Betty, for its final season, gets the Friday night treatment it was headed for in its first season.

Sunday: same as, um, the last 3 years... but with a weakening, um, everything...

ABC has a lot of midseason programming. The question is... what fails? What changes? Where does Lost go? Scrubs / Better Off Ted? V? Happy Town? The Lawyer Show That Isn't From David E Kelley (yay)? So much up in the air.

This upfront comes down to CBS's announcement tomorrow. Until recent numbers for CSI, I was pretty sure CBS was going to stay the course... but now I'm thinking some major changes are in order.

NBC Fall Schedule

Reactions... Thursday 8-10pm could be stronger for SNLWUT leading into P&R... but without the election happening (or Fey's scorchingly buzzful Palin impersonation), is it really going to generate the kind of heat it did last year? And, once again, 30 Rock delayed until late October... but in this case for a good cause, Community. Having a few weeks of Community after The Office, then moving it to 8pm is a good call. I've seen Community, and it was rather funny. Chevy Chase is underused, but Joel McHale is hilarious.

The rest of the week, The Jay Leno Show hurts NBC's scheduling ability. There's very little flow to, really, any of it.

Monday: Heroes / Trauma. Male skewing, presumably. High action?

Tuesday: The Biggest Loser (2-hours). Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? Especially with a 90 minute winter/spring edition planned to give a spot to comedy 100 Questions.

Wednesday: Parenthood / SVU. Yeah, those fit together...

Friday: L&O / Southland. So, L&O is finally going to die a quiet, middling death on Friday night. And decreasingly rate newbie Southland is joining it. Okay, this pairing makes a modicum of sense (crime shows, at least), but it's such a towel throw that I still have to disparage it.

FOX Fall Schedule

FOX always confuses me...

We'll see how So You Think You Can Dance? performs as a fall series, but part of the fun and excitement of that show has, for me, always been as a summer diversion... and having two cycles in a row of it seems like overkill. Having SYTYCD from 8-10pm on Tuesdays doesn't make me very happy, because, outside of some initial audition and performance shows, really, it should be one hour. Put the 9pm slot to good use (and, interesting that Past-Life, for now, gets the post-Idol Tuesday slot... that pilot must've come in something amazing, I'm so very curious to see it).

Glee on Wednesdays at 9pm works for me, even though it will have to be off the air for a little while in the winter due to Idol auditions. It also seems to mean that Idol's results show is actually going to be in the 8pm hour this year... perhaps ABC should reconsider my earlier suggestions and program Flash Forward at 9pm (or at 8pm this fall, then shift it to 9pm once Lost returns, so FF can avoid Idol).

Fringe on Thursdays at 9pm is an EXCITING programming move. Not so much for fans of Supernatural, who I suspect will be up in arms over this. We have no idea how Fringe will perform outside the post-Idol bubble. But, y'know, which the exception of a resurgent Grey's Anatomy (which, honestly, can't share much of an audience with Fringe)... this timeslot is ripe for the taking. CSI is down (though maybe moving to 10pm, if I had any say in the matter). NBC's comedies are down.

And then there's Friday. Where we see Dollhouse getting the substantial lead-in support that, um, 'Til Death will surely be (after how many months off the air? 24?)

CW Sundays No More?

Per Joseph Adalian, CW is close to giving Sundays back to the affiliates next season.

Good for them (see Next Season - CW for my proposed schedule that still has CW picking up all new dramas but Light Years, and not scheduling Sundays...)

A couple changes...

- CW will probably keep 90210 at 9pm on Tuesdays and put the new Melrose Place at 8pm on Tuesdays (after all, 90210 needs lead-in support)

- if Privileged airs on Fridays, the five drama pilots can still all be picked up, but CW will have 2 options for midseason replacements... something the network needs to have up its sleeve

Getting rid of Sundays, CW can have Gossip Girl level "success" with all of its new programs and still have massive gains in its average versus year-ago (especially if it can find some degree of success on Fridays).

Next Season - NBC

Who the hell knows with NBC in the Jay Leno era!? Not to mention that, outside of Tuesday and Thursday, there's no existing launching pads to remotely safely program new series.

Monday:

- 8pm: Parenthood.

- 9pm: Law & Order: SVU (this is one of the only places CBS doesn't have a crime show)

Tuesday:

- 8pm: Biggest Loser... but a 90 minute version.

- 9:30pm: Get a sitcom tryout slot in here.

Wednesday:

- 8pm: Medical drama (either Mercy or Trauma). I wouldn't have thought a medical drama could work at 8pm, but House has... then again, it was a hit before moving to 8pm. On the other hand... NBC just doesn't have anywhere else to put a medical show.

- 9pm: Law & Order (original flavor). Actually, if it's Trauma (probably too gory for 8pm), L&O at 8pm and Trauma at 9pm.

Thursday:

- 8pm: new sitcom (8:30-10pm stay as they are now with Parks & Recreation, The Office, and 30 Rock)

Friday:

- 8pm: game show hour (where has Deal or No Deal been lately?)

- 9pm: Friday Night Lights in the spring... for fall, a 13-episode order of Medium (or Chuck... I'm going to be pushing for this, but I think Sundays instead of Fridays)?

Sunday (post-football):

- 8pm: Chuck (13-episodes to wrap up... please?) Or possibly Day One, but I didn't love the script and it's so special effects heavy that I need to see the screener before a making judgment.

- 9pm: Heroes (final season for 18-20 episodes, a few two-hour nights)

- 10pm: Southland (of all the NBC cop shows, I just can't see this as a 9pm show...) Unfortunately that means leaving it off the schedule for 8 months... but I don't see an option without a 10pm slot elsewhere.

Next Season - FOX

Ah, FOX. Always having fourth quarter problems. Here's a general suggestion... stop moving the shows that work from where they are in the spring. Take a lesson from CBS and, until Idol and 24 return in the winter, let stability be your friend so that you can market the new shows you're trying out instead of new days and timeslots for your existing shows. I wasn't in love with FOX's drama pilot scripts (outside of Glee, which I didn't read the script of, but saw the pilot and reviewed it ages ago and am in looooooove), so I don't have a ton of specific thoughts on replacement programming to try out.

Monday:

- 8pm: KEEP HOUSE WHERE IT IS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

- 9pm: Glee. The show is already picked up for the fall and will presumably be airing after Idol on Tuesdays in the winter. For the fall, give it the best lead-in available. Then 24 returns in the winter to 9pm. Fox may be tempted to put Maggie Hill, its quirky doctor who has schizophrenia drama, after House but I really do like Glee getting the big lead-in.

Tuesday:

- 8pm: Human Target. Probably the least offensive of FOX's fall pilot scripts, it might be a fun, action-adventure block fit with Fringe.

- 9pm: KEEP FRINGE WHERE IT IS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Even though, unlike House and Bones, Fringe isn't a proven performer on its own. When Idol comes around again, Fringe should be moved to make way for Glee.

Wednesday:

- I'm not sure what to do with FOX on Wednesday until Idol comes back. Lie To Me is winning its timeslot now... but the competition is nonexistent and LTM slips every week. I don't think FOX will have four live-action sitcoms worthy of the fall schedule (I mean, history dictates it will rarely have even one...), but try out a comedy block, perhaps at 9pm instead of 8pm (where it has failed the last could seasons). For some reason 'Til Death is coming back (though I'd say it's more likely that will be used on Fridays), and I've heard good things about Absolutely Fabulous. At 8pm, Fox might have a reality show up its sleeve that I'm unaware of.

Thursday:

- 8pm: KEEP BONES WHERE IT IS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

- 9pm: For some reason FOX is airing another cycle of Hell's Kitchen over the summer right after the winter/spring run... I don't get it. Save it for the fall. It's doing well in this highly competitive timeslot! But you can't air three cycles back to back. Anyway, I don't think FOX should try anything scripted here.

Friday:

- Another comedy block at 8pm, led by 'Til Death? Dollhouse gets at 13-episode reprieve at 9pm? Reality?

Sunday:

- 7pm and 7:30pm: Stick with repeats of the animated comedies. As King of the Hill showed last week, viewers just aren't flocking to Fox at 7pm.

- 8:30pm: American Dad! (it doesn't work as well as it should out of Family Guy, so put it post-Simpsons)

- 9:30pm: Cleveland (like with the Gossip Girl spin-off... popular character gets own show, put it on after the original series and hope it does better than AD! has)

Next Season - CBS

Like I said earlier this morning (Next Season's Network Fall Schedules), I don't predict CBS will be making as many drastic schedule reshaping moves as some have speculated recently. CBS is the most stable network, so I won't get into as many details as I have elsewhere.

Monday:

- 9:30pm: New comedy (seriously, BBT/HIMYM/2.5Men should NOT be broken up... they work!) Once again, Rules of Engagement saved for midseason (or tried out on Wednesdays). Keep in mind I haven't read any of the comedies for the Big Four (and don't pay a ton of attention to reality series in the works), so I can't comment on them as far as which should be picked up or if CBS will add more more comedy (or reality) slots to its schedule (it's possible).

Tuesday:

- 10pm: New drama. As I advised ABC with the Brothers & Sisters move, without NBC in the mix here (with its historically timeslot winning Law & Order: SVU)... this is an opportunity for CBS to fix a timeslot it hasn't had a big hit in for years. Without a Trace is out. It's old, expensive, and loses 25% of its The Mentalist lead-in. The question is... where will CBS put the NCIS spin-off? Tuesday at 10pm is certainly a potential spot... after all, if the NCIS audience sticks around for The Mentalist why wouldn't they for the spin-off? Then again, the NCIS spin-off will have some buzz behind it that CBS may want to utilize on a different night. Unlike my advice for CW with the Gossip Girl spin-off, CBS doesn't need to protect the NCIS spin-off (or franchise extension), but can treat it like the CSI franchises.

Where was I? Anyway, for now, let's just say something new needs to go here. I'm going to suggest not the spin-off and, rather, The Good Wife. As a legal show, it's somewhat outside the normal CBS crime drama oeuvre, but it's script surprised me. It's definitely a character piece, much like The Mentalist.

Wednesday:

- 8pm: New comedy block. I don't think Old Christine or Gary Unmarried performed well enough to warrant renewals... one of them might get renewed, but I don't think both. If either are renewed, I'd say Old Christine because ABC is baiting CBS with the old "we'll take it if you don't" trick. An alternative: RoE (plus new comedy). A second alternative: The Amazing Race (which doesn't belong on Sundays behind 60 Minutes), and Wednesday at 8pm is a very, very weak time period. TAR would win the hour with its current ratings and the current competition. Still, I see TAR staying on Sundays where it will continue to be incompatible with its lead-in.

Thursday:

- 10pm: Washington Field. Could also be NCIS spin-off or The Good Wife, but I like WF here.

Friday:

- 9pm: Final(?) season of Cold Case.

Sunday (the only day I really see CBS making sweeping changes, well not at 7pm obviously):

- 8pm: If TAR moves to Wednesdays at 8pm, House Rules (a very non-CBS show... soapy 30-somethings, DC, politics... as it's not a crime drama, I think it can go in the 8pm hour). Not likely, though.

- 9pm: NCIS spin-off / franchise extension. Capitalize on TAR's demo, um, strength, and the NCIS franchise has proven itself against Idol, I think that the situation could be the same against football on NBC in the fall.

- 10pm: New drama. CBS may be tempted to try one of its medical dramas, none of which I liked from the script (Miami Trauma, The Eastmans, and Three Rivers). As I didn't like them, I would say try out the US Attorneys show, which would definitely be male skewing (to play against ABC's female skewing Sunday). Or, perhaps, see how The Unit does after a more male-skewing lead-in than Cold Case.

Next Season - CW

Oh, CW. You conundrum.

Monday:

- 8pm: Gossip Girl. Sticking with it.

- 9pm: Lily (possibly titled Valley Girl, which works MUCH better IMHO). Don't make the mistake ABC did when spinning off Private Practice from Grey's Anatomy. Be more like Buffy and Angel. Program the spin-off after the original series from the get-go (even if, in this case, a popular character from the original isn't leaving to star in the spin-off). I haven't read the script, I haven't seen the backdoor pilot, but everyone expects this spin-off to be a go series.

Tuesday:

- 8pm: 90210. Deal with it being at 8pm. It hasn't performed much better at 9pm, away from Idol, unlike how Gossip Girl improved when moved to Mondays at 8pm. Use it as a lead-in.

- 9pm: Melrose Place. The obvious choice, I know. Again, script unread, sight unseen, but people expect it to be a go series. Putting the two remakes of old Fox series together isn't necessarily a stroke of genius, but it is a stroke of likeliness and obviousness.

Wednesday:

- 8pm: America's Next Top Model for two cycles, ANTM spin-off Operation Fabulous between cycles. I don't see OF as being strong enough to carry its own hour, and if it was tried at 9pm and failed, CW would be left with another season of using the post-ANTM timeslot for nothing but repeats of one of its drama series, diluting the ratings of the series' first run (seriously, 90210's actual numbers are so blurry for me because it has almost always had a next day rerun).

- 9pm: Vampire Diaries. I haven't done my review of this pilot, but despite my feelings that its oh-so been-there-done-that... one, the CW doesn't seem to really be against retreading old material, and two, I can see it working (despite it not being much more than a talkative version of Twilight). Without a connection to either Gossip Girl or 90210... I say put this in the post-ANTM marquis spot.

Thursday:

- 8pm: Final(?) season of Smallville.

- 9pm: Final(?) season of Supernatural (at least fans tell me that the showrunner has said he mapped out a five season story). Thursdays have worked this season for CW. As long as both components are coming back... don't mess with it.

Friday:

- 8pm: Final(?) season of One Tree Hill. I put this here because I do think the Gossip Girl spin-off will nab the post-GG timeslot, and because of what I'm going to suggest for Sundays.

- 9pm: The Body Politic. Another show I haven't reviewed, and it has the odds stacked against it, being a twenty-something-in-politics show. Hence... put it on after the twenty-something soap opera. The other option if The Beautiful Life (or, actually, a second season of Privileged, which has been rumored for Fridays), but I prefer twenty-somethings in politics over the modeling scripted series in part because I far prefer Minka Kelly to Mischa Barton.

Sunday - give it back to the affiliates. CW doesn't have the money to program more original dramas, and its not developing any comedies (and OF is the original reality show it's developing if I recall correctly... and it's quite possible I don't). If it keeps 7-10pm on Sundays, maybe move my Friday block to 8-10pm on Sundays preceded by a 7pm repeat (i.e. ANTM like in CW's premiere season)... but there are going to be regularly scheduled repeats somewhere on the CWs schedule if it needs to program Sundays... and I abhor regularly scheduled repeats. The movie block has done slightly better than the Jericho repeats, but well enough to warrant another season? I'm not sure.

Next Season - ABC

ABC's big problem: too many holes to fill. Even if its pilots are all amazing, they have to learn from the last two years and not spread their marketing so thin than none of them succeed. Which means that ABC, as I see it, is going to have some rough patches next season, but will hopefully not be entirely bleak.

Monday:

- 8-10pm/8-9:30pm: ABC will be fine with DWTS here and The Bachelor worked this season between cycles.

- 9:30pm: New comedy (though I'd wonder if the network will burn off the remaining Samantha Who? episodes here... the odd thing about the post-DWTS comedy slot is that, since DWTS's duration is so erratic, you really only get 6-7 episodes with the lead-in per cycle)

- 10pm: New drama (though if ABC is going to stick with any of its midseason replacements, it's going to be Castle and ABC may be curious to see how it will do when it doesn't have NBC to compete with... still, my advice is PROGRAM AGGRESSIVELY)

Tuesday:

- 8-9pm: New comedy block (if the network is sticking with Samantha Who? for another season, it may put it at 8:30pm here behind a new comedy and just pray that, unlike the In The Motherhood experiment, the lead-in succeeds). OR Ugly Betty. This timeslot, no matter what is put here, will be massacred when Idol returns. No stopping that. Ugly Betty's final season as sacrificial lamb?

- 9pm: DWTS Results show. Some reality show fodder between cycles (if it works this summer... Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?)

- 10pm: Brothers & Sisters. Again, ABC needs to program aggressively. That means taking B&S away from the post-Desperate Housewives so that can be put to good use leading into a new series. B&S has its own audience (the 2-hour "movie event" proved that). NBC won't be here next season and the timeslot is traditionally weak for CBS.

Wednesday:

- 8pm: Flash Forward. This is the timeslot that ABC launched Lost in. It is the weakest timeslot, competition-wise, on the Sun-Thurs schedule. Lie To Me won last night with a 2.3. A 2.3. Granted, CBS's comedies were in repeat, but even in originals they haven't averaged a 2.3 since the fall. Programming FF on Wednesdays at 8pm would also, for the most part, get it out of the way of American Idol in the winter/spring.

- 9pm: Lost come late January / early February. Until then, I suggest a comedy block. Better Off Ted hasn't been killing in the ratings, but it has been pretty decent (for ABC and comedy) and holds its Scrubs lead-in. If ABC has another male-skewing comedy in its development, group that with BOT and see what happens.

- 10pm: Good luck, ABC! Hah, no, seriously... I haven't done my reviews of either Empire State (Romeo and Juliet between 30-somethings from a real estate magnate family and from a construction union family) or Inside the Box (hardnosed female news reporter in DC), but if either of those pilots are good, try them out here. It's an exciting opportunity at 10pm across the board with NBC out of the mix, but one thing ABC can't do is try crime dramas anywhere CBS has a crime drama.

Thursday:

- 8pm: ABC really ought to move Ugly Betty out of this timeslot next season. Really not sure what to put here in its place, though, since the comedy block idea failed (might just have been those comedies).

- 9pm-11pm: Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice. If it's, um, working... ish?

Friday/Saturday - I have no opinions.

Sunday:

- 7pm: America's Funniest Home Videos ain't going anywhere.

- 8pm: Neither is Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

- 9pm: ... or Desperate Housewives.

- 10pm: Eastwick.

Major marketing pushes: Brothers & Sisters move, Flash Forward, Eastwick because I really do believe that all of those should be where I put them. Not knowing about comedy blocks or Ugly Betty's timeslot, I can't recommend anything... but three major pushes is really the limit for ABC. Unfortunately that leaves Wednesday at 10pm out in the cold... but, y'know what... ABC just has to deal with the fact that it's going to take time to fully rebuild its schedule and it has to do it by really pushing certain things hard, not doing mediocre jobs promoting too many new series.

Next Season's Network Fall Schedules

... are not things I have access to.

There's been a LOT of noise in the last week or so about CBS getting ready for some MAJOR changes in its schedule, and I wanted to say that you should count me as skeptical.

This is the network that just this season reaped the benefits of patience with NCIS, The Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother. By not shaking their schedule up all the time, these series exploded in the ratings this season.

On the other hand... the CSI franchise is flagging on Mondays and Wednesdays at 10pm and Thursday at 9pm and many of the CSI-like series are aging (Without a Trace, Cold Case, Numb3rs, and Criminal Minds... the first two or which are "on the bubble" with WaT an expected cancellation and Cold Case getting its last run next season).

So, this week and last, CBS has made some interesting scheduling moves that have signaled changes ahead. Or has it? Last Tuesday it aired an original episode of WaT after repeats of NCIS and The Mentalist. This Tuesday is bumped NCIS and The Mentalist up an hour and aired repeats of BBT and Two and a Half Men. Wanna know what it didn't do? Air originals out of their regular time period. This, for me, was more about season averages than testing the waters for a move. I mean, really, CBS has made amazing strides on Tuesdays this season... all it needs to do is find a new hit at 10pm (a spot that has been "cursed" in the past... but y'know what? Law & Order: SVU is vacating next season thanks to Jay Leno, so there won't be the major competition any longer). Last night's 10pm airing of Criminal Minds also is a no-brainer for me to justify... why air an original surrounded by repeats and against American Idol when you can air it after a repeat of itself, in a different timeslot, and not deal with season average loss? At the same time, Criminal Minds is one show I actually can see CBS moving to a different night. It's a proven hit and its current lead-out (CSI: NY) is not dependent on its ratings.

Anyway, I'm going to be taking a look at each of the networks and weighing in on what I think they need and what needs to change...

Who Is Really Getting Screwed By Obama's Primetime Speech Next Week?

ABC. That's who.

Why?

Well, because Obama is speaking on Tuesday, Idol is moving its performance show to Wednesday and the results show to Thursday.

Meaning week two of ABC's new Wednesday comedy block will face Idol instead of just Lost on hump day.

But, more importantly, the debuts of ABC's new Thursday night comedies are directly against the Idol machine.

So, good luck to you, In the Motherhood and relocated Samantha Who? We'll be paying more attention to your second week's ratings that your first week's... at least, I will.

Oh, And

It would be nice if, when something live airs, say, 10+ minutes long on the east coast, if Time Warner Cable would change the recording time for the west coast airing 3 hours later... that'd be great.

I'm talking to you, American Idol (which didn't even air the final TWO wildcard selects until the 9pm hour) and America's Best Dance Crew (which I couldn't record at 10pm, so started recording at 11pm, but the 10pm airing ran long... and right at 11pm was the "crowning moment" ... finale suspense ruined!)

Incidentally, sorry Beat Freaks!  You ladies kicked butt... however based on last week's two performances, it was Quest Crew.  And they've been amazing, too, pretty much all season.  We'll get a girl crew as the winner of this competition, yet!