or


[10/16/03 - 12:00 AM]
NBC Stays Out of Baseball Competition
By Brian Ford Sullivan (TFC)

CHICAGO (thefutoncritic.com) -- Viewers hoping to catch a new episode of NBC's "The West Wing" last night got a surprise: a repeat of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" instead. A previously announced new installment of "Law & Order" was also bumped in favor of a repeat of last season's finale. So why is the Peacock all of a sudden in repeats despite the season being only three weeks old?

While NBC has yet to comment on the change, all signs point to a better than expected turnout this season for the MLB League Championship Series on FOX. Last night's conclusion to the NLCS featuring the Chicago Cubs and the Florida Marlins drew a monster 15.5 rating and 24 share in households and a 9.3 rating in adults 18-49, according to fast national data, more than double NBC's average for the night (second place 7.5/12 in households, third place 3.7 in adults 18-49). Compared with last Wednesday, NBC was down 13% in households and 16% in adults 18-49.

Such a performance has caused NBC to bump next week's new episodes of "The West Wing" and "Law & Order" as well when the duo would have faced Game 4 of the World Series. Lead-off drama "Ed" however, like last night, will still continue with a first-run episode next week.

Furthermore with the ALCS set for Game 7 tonight, NBC will dump its planned new episodes of "Friends," "Scrubs," "Will & Grace" and "ER" in favor of repeats of the quartet.

To review, here's a list of the schedule changes in store for NBC:

Thursday, October 16:
8:00/7:00c - "Friends: The One With Ross's Inappropriate Song" (Repeat)
8:32/7:32c - "Scrubs: My Big Brother" (Repeat)
9:00/8:00c - "Will & Grace: Women and Children First" (Repeat)
9:30/8:30c - "Whoopi: The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" (Repeat)
10:00/9:00c - "ER: The Advocate" (Repeat)

Wednesday, October 22:
8:00/7:00c - "Ed: Death, Debt & Dating" (New Episode)
9:00/8:00c - "The West Wing: Red Haven's on Fire" (Repeat)
10:00/9:00c - "Law & Order: Couples" (Repeat)

NBC will then resume with new episodes of all three of its Wednesday dramas on October 29. It's not clear however if NBC's Thursday lineup will resume new installments on October 23 should the World Series go to Game 5.

Bumping first-run episodes for repeats at the last minute when facing stiff competition isn't something new. Last season when the World Series went to Game 7, ABC ditched new episodes of its Sunday dramas "Alias" and "The Practice" in favor of repeats of the duo without warning.

Late update (5:35 PM): CBS has also decided to yank the majority of its Thursday lineup tonight. Both "C.S.I." and "Without a Trace" will run repeats instead of their previously announced first-run episodes. "Survivor" however will still be a new episode at 8:00/7:00c. The remaining broadcast networks (ABC, UPN and the WB) still plan to stick with their original schedules at the time of this writing.




  [october 2003]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
   


· ALIAS (ABC)
· CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION (CBS)
· ED (NBC)
· ER (NBC)
· FRIENDS (NBC)
· LAW & ORDER (NBC)
· LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT (USA)
· PRACTICE, THE (ABC)
· SCRUBS (ABC)
· SURVIVOR (CBS)
· WEST WING, THE (NBC)
· WHOOPI (NBC)
· WILL & GRACE (NBC)
· WITHOUT A TRACE (CBS)




[04/30/24 - 02:32 PM]
Roku Reimagines "Tightrope!" Into Comedy Series Fronted by Ty Burrell and Executive Produced by Bryan Cranston
Through reimagined dialogue and a new lead actor in Ty Burrell, "Tightrope!" reshapes the drama of the vintage 1950s series into a slapstick comedy, where Burrell plays a lone wolf detective following cases city to city, while he searches for his long-lost love who got away.
[04/30/24 - 01:01 PM]
"Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in All Key Target Demos vs. NBC and CBS
Season to date, "Nightline" is growing versus the comparable weeks last season in Total Viewers (916,000 vs. 914,000), posting its largest overall audience in 3 years.
[04/30/24 - 12:30 PM]
HBO Original Comedy Series "Fantasmas" Debuts This June
The six-episode season is created, directed, and written by Julio Torres.
[04/30/24 - 11:32 AM]
Season Four of "Couples Therapy" to Premiere Friday, May 31
Nine episodes will drop for binge-viewing on Friday, May 31 on streaming and on-demand for Paramount+ subscribers with the Paramount+ with Showtime plan before episodes 401 and 402 debut on air on Sunday, June 2.
[04/30/24 - 11:04 AM]
Video: Trailer Now Available - Onyx Collective's "Queenie"
Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in south London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither.
[04/30/24 - 11:01 AM]
Netflix's "Black Rabbit" Adds Academy Award Winner Troy Kotsur, Abbey Lee, Odessa Young, Robin De Jesus & More
When the owner of a New York City hotspot (Jude Law) allows his turbulent brother (Jason Bateman) back in his life, he opens the door to escalating dangers that threaten to bring down everything he's built.
[04/30/24 - 10:34 AM]
Oxygen True Crime's Favorite Guilty Pleasure "Snapped" Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary with a Two-Hour Special Sunday, May 12 at 6:00PM ET/PT
20 years in the making, the "Snapped" special reexamines the Internet's first murder trial, taking viewers back to the days of internet chat rooms and clever screen names, VHS tapes sent via snail mail, and a veritable scarcity of cell phones.
[04/30/24 - 10:31 AM]
Investigation Discovery Debuts Slate of Eight Returning True Crime Premieres for May and June
"Crimes Gone Viral," "In Pursuit with John Walsh," "Signs of a Psychopath," "Homicide Hunter: American Detective," "American Monster," "High Speed Chase," "Late Night Lockup" and "Fear Thy Neighbor" are all due back.
[04/30/24 - 10:01 AM]
Netflix Announces Some Guests for the Six Live Episodes of "John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in LA"
This hard to describe show will feature special guests and field pieces shot in Los Angeles.

[04/30/24 - 09:33 AM]
TNT's Original Scripted Thriller "The Lazarus Project" Returns with Season 2 Premiere on Sunday, June 9, 2024 at 9PM ET/PT
In the new season, resolute Lazarus agent George (Paapa Essiedu) has been left in disgrace after betraying the organization in the name of love.

[04/30/24 - 09:31 AM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of Apr. 22: "Baby Reindeer" and "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver" Hold Onto the Top Spots
"Dead Boy Detectives," the new supernatural detective series, debuted in second place with 3.1M views.
[04/30/24 - 09:13 AM]
Ray and Eilyn Jimenez Compete in a Spousal Showdown for Real-Life Design Clients When HGTV Premieres Its New Series "Divided by Design" on Monday, June 10, at 10 p.m. ET/PT
"We do the exact same thing, but we don't work together. We're the competition," said Ray. "But regardless of who wins a client, we're here to support each other no matter what."

[04/30/24 - 09:00 AM]
Peacock Announces Comedic Commentary Series "Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson"
The 8-episode series will roll out with 2-3 episodes per week beginning July 26 on Peacock, the same day as the Opening Ceremony.

[04/30/24 - 09:00 AM]
"My Adventures with Superman" Returns to Adult Swim on May 25
From Warner Bros. Animation, "My Adventures with Superman" is a serialized coming-of-age story centered on twenty-somethings Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen as they discover who they are, together.

[04/30/24 - 08:35 AM]
FOX Nation to Present Surviving a Serial Killer with Harris Faulkner
The new three-part series details the 1984 abduction and escape of then 17-year-old Lisa McVey.