One rumor had NBC opening up a second night of comedy, that was supported by the number of comedies pilots picked up.  Said rumor had the comedies going up against ABC Comedy Wednesday where only “Modern Family” is a truly solid success.  Why NBC considered putting comedies on the only night ABC had comedies, a bigger mystery.  In the end it didn’t matter, as comedy stays Thursdays-only, for now.  “30 Rock” is finally being yanked out of its post-”Office” time slot which it never deserved getting the ratings bleed.  “Parks and Recreation” is already filming season 3, due to Amy Poehler’s pregnancy.  Those episodes won’t be seen for nearly a year, however, as it is absent from the fall.  Given that “Community” is a black ratings hole, and “Outsourced” won’t be strong, P&R as well as other mid-season comedies could be seen sooner rather than later.  Also noticeable, NBC is keeping Thursday all-comedy, scheduling hour-long comedy “Love Bites” in the 10 pm timeslot.  That should be strong.  (sarcasm intended).

Mondays remains action-adventure night.  “Chuck” stays at 8 and actually gets a fall berth for once, leading into “The Event” at 9 and “Chase” at 10, where NBC is hoping to fill the void left by “24.”  Given how weak a performer the perennial bubble show “Chuck” is, it’s questionable using it as a lead-in, but its fans won’t complain.  Now if only they’d multiply.  That wasn’t a judgment on “Chuck’s” quality, just an eyebrow raise at how poor a performer it is yet is being used to prop up a troublesome night.

“Parenthood” is also a bit of a surprise.  The show was never intended as a 10 pm drama and it definitely doesn’t feel like one.  After the crash and burn of “The Jay Leno Show,” that’s just where “Parenthood” ended up, and while it has struggled with weak ratings in the total viewers column, given how small its overall audience is, it makes its above-average (for NBC) demo performance that much more impressive.  So, rather than shift too much around, NBC is taking the if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it approach and leaving it right where it is.

In summary, here is a list of shows canceled by NBC from the 2009-2010 season:
“Heroes,” “The Jay Leno Show,” “Law & Order” “Mercy,” “Trauma.”

And here is the NBC fall schedule, as you’ll probably be ignoring much of it, come September.

Sundays

7:00 – Football Night in America
8:15 – NBC Sunday Night Football

Sundays (starting in March)

7:00 – Dateline NBC
9:00 – Minute to Win It
10:00 – Celebrity Apprentice

Mondays

8:00 – Chuck
9:00 – The Event
10:00 – Chase

Tuesdays

8:00 – The Biggest Loser
10:00 – Parenthood

Wednesdays

8:00 – Undercovers
9:00 – Law & Order: SVU
10:00 – Law & Order: Los Angeles

Thursdays

8:00 – Community
8:30 – 30 Rock
9:00 – The Office
9:30 – Outsourced
10:00 – Love Bites

Fridays

8:00 – Who Do You Think You Are/School Pride
9:00 – Dateline NBC
10:00 – The Outlaw

Midseason: The Cape, Friends with Benefits, Harry’s Law, The Paul Reiser Show, Perfect Couples

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Monday

8 – Chuck
9 – Trauma (March
10 – Law & Order (March 1 with two hour episode at 9)

Tuesday

8 – The Biggest Loser
10 - Parenthood (March 2)

Wednesday

8 – Mercy
9 – Law & Order: SVU (encores; March 3)
10 – Law & Order: SVU (new episodes; March 3)

Thursday

8 – Community
8:30 – Parks & Recreation
9 – The Office
9:30 – 30 Rock
10:00 – The Marriage Ref (March 4, premieres Sunday 2/28)

Friday

8 – Who Do You Think You Are? (March 5); Friday Night Lights (April 30)
9 – Dateline NBC (March 5)

Saturday

8 – The Biggest Loser (encores)
9 – Law & Order (encores)
10 – Law & Order: SVU (encores)

Sunday

7 – Dateline NBC
8 – Minute to Win It (March 14)
9 – Celebrity Apprentice (March 14)

Thoughts: Well, at least they didn’t rename “The Biggest Loser”  “The Biggest Loser: TBL.”  Given the sad state the network is in, this is probably the best they could do.  Pretty pathetic that instead of developing new hit shows to replace “Friends” and “Seinfeld” we’re not left with reality shows from Jerry Seinfeld (”Marriage Ref”) and Lisa Kudrow (”Who Do You Think You Are?”)  I’m glad to see “Parenthood” is being propped up by “The Biggest Loser,” I’ve been looking forward to it.   Good news for “Chuck,” after encouraging ratings for the first couple of episodes, and given the sorry state of the network, it would seem a shoo-in for next fall at this point.

Following last week’s announcement that NBC would be abandoning its catastrophic decision to strip “The Jay Leno Show” in primetime after only a few months due to overwhelming pressure from its affiliates and the subsequent decision to move Leno back to 11:35, the big question mark has been what will Conan O’Brien do?  NBC seemed to make it clear that they wanted to move “The Tonight Show w/ Conan O’Brien” to 12:05, following Leno’s half hour show which would now air at 11:35.  Whether that is true or a load of peacock crap, we may never know.  Perhaps NBC did want this overcrowded late night menu.  Or, more likely, they wanted to push Conan aside and put Leno back in place on “The Tonight Show.”  Either way, the whole thing stinks.  As a fan of Conan, Jay, and Dave, I just think the whole thing stinks and it was yet another lose-lose situation created by the wrath of Jeff Zucker

Here is the official statement released from Conan O’Brien:

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

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Looks like it! He was already ‘killed’ off last season but came back in Sylar’s body (though he has been MIA the past few weeks save for a small glimpse).Reports are coming in he is the HERO who will be leaving the show come early January. How many more people can the show dump before the show becomes cheap enough to head over to cable?

Bye-bye ‘flying man’.

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The second half hour of THE VAMPIRE DIARIES pulled a 2.1 in the 18-49 demo matching PARKS & RECREATION and the 2.1 demo it pulled for the same time period.  NBC is lucky, and when the final numbers come out they may yet lose to  THE VAMPIRE DIARIES.

VAMPIRE DIARIES Isn’t Ready To Take On Football Just Yet

Vampires are IN. There is no denying their current popularity.  TWILIGHT is about to rule at the box office and TRUE BLOOD is ruling on DVD and HBO.  THE VAMPIRE DIARIES compares to the success of TRUE BLOOD on HBO.  It started ok, but has continued to grow.  A 2.1 is an incredible feat, and one I believe the show will just add on to.  It’s possible this little show with fangs could hit a 2.3-2.5 range before season’s end.  The other vampire show just continued to grow, and this one doesn’t seem to be any different.

Still this is Dawn Ostroff’s only success story for the CW since its inception.  That is nothing to get to excited about for Les Moonves.  She still needs to go.  A vampire show aimed at teens was a no-brainer.

I’m told:  not likely, but anything is possible.  First they’ve already cut the costs down and numbers are trickling back up as long as the cheerleader might be gay.  Throw in the fact that the Peacock currently has nothing on the air doing a whole lot better as far as dramas go and you’ve got your answer when you combine that with DVD Sales & oversea sales.

How Do You Stop The Ratings Bleeding?  Add Zima and…

Have Her Kiss The Cheerleader

Will it make the inevitable move to Friday?  Probably.  Have the producers been told to consider an ending?  I’m most positive they have.  HEROES has no plan, and I’m certain Gaspin has demanded they come up with one.  Is it possible that NBC will green light a new short chapter to end it all?  Possibly.  However I see a full final 5th season would get them to the magical 100 episodes.   The question is will that air on NBC or somewhere else?  I just don’t see this series dying with the solid DVD sales it provides despite the show sucking.  The costs are getting low enough for it to live on cable.  Can it pull a 2.0 on Cable?  Yeah?  That’s a success for many networks.

It may end on NBC (and it’s a huge possibility that extra episodes may be ordered to end it, to have it live on with CHUCK), but the finances say it would be stupid for it to end this year.  Get the show on another network and get rid of Kring and Universal might be able to squeeze out some more money from the franchise.  For NBC it doesn’t make sense, for Universal it does.  Which is an interesting situation.

And its probably about time. The show has once again come to a grinding halt with stories going no where, plot lines left dangling, characters disappearing for several episodes and Sylar trying to figure out if he is good or evil. Sigh.

Since NBC already ordered a shortened 19 episode Season, perhaps they will give Producers the final 3 to let them wrap up everything? Looks like Gaspin is serious about trying to fix the Network. (And ordering 6 more episodes of CHUCK is a good sign he is serious about keeping the show).

NBC will stick with TRAUMA through the end of the year though because they have not a single thing to replace it with. Pathetic.

Well Gaspin has some pilots that he’s already corralling for next Fall that in his mind are strategically chosen to grow the network out of the dumpster it is in.  Part of that plan is having some shows appear after the Olympics that might help improve the horrible statistics that NBC is currently pulling.

The problem for NBC is they have nothing to promote with.  They have no killer show with which to showcase their new shows (and the return of a cult fave).  Last year NBC used the last episode of ER to promote SOUTHLAND, which was a hit for the network in its first 2 weeks.  Then it died, pretty much right after they announced they were picking it up for a second season (and now it’s headed for TNT with no new episodes planned yet).  ER did a good job launching SOUTHLAND.  What does NBC have to use for a launch?  It wasted the SUPERBOWL on THE OFFICE, and THE OFFICE is their only decently rated show.  It has not done a good job of launching new comedies.  Of course that may have more to do with the comedies sucking.

Sorry CHUCK fans, You’ll have to wait until March for more Sarah.

All NBC has is the WINTER OLYMPICS.  That’s it.  They have nothing else that would be good for promotional purposes.  NBC could shoot their wad early and go ahead and move the other shows up, but what will cause more than the dismal amount of people that watch the network notice?  It’s a gamble.  Gaspin is thinking it isn’t one to take.

So we should see the WINTER OLYMPICS have a lot of promotional spots for the new shows and CHUCK.  It’s the only thing that NBC has that they know people will actually watch to notice the promos.

If TRAUMA goes the way it should (to the trash heap) then NBC has a few choices.  One of them is to move HEROES back to its old time slot and bring back CHUCK early.  It appears like this is a serious idea being bandied about.  The idea that CHUCK may be back in January is absurd.  The Olympics would kill any momentum it might get from its premiere.  That would be stupid and Gaspin isn’t BS.

Will CHUCK return early?  The future of TRAUMA may tell us

Is it likely?  Well, lets consider that NBC had been thinking about moving HEROES to Friday, and had even opened up a time slot for it to go die in, when they canceled SOUTHLAND Season 2 sight unseen.  The idea had been that HEROES was dying and lets just move it.  Then the rest of the shows debuted and HEROES despite having horrible numbers is still better than most of the rest of the trash on NBC.  It’s doing better than TRAUMA, MERCY, etc.  In fact the new shows for NBC just plain suck in the drama department.  Now HEROES is a basic strong point.  If TRAUMA ends (but who is to say, I mean they renewed a show that had pulled a 1.8! in PARKS & RECREATION) early like it should an open spot will appear.  HEROES may do better in its old time slot.  Going up against LIE TO ME is smarter than HOUSE.  Meanwhile CHUCK provided better numbers than HEROES in the earlier time slot in some important demos (and I believe Season 2 averaged a 2.5 demo, while HEROES is averaging the same).

Right now NBC needs just about anything.  It’s sad when USA has better shows than their broadcast partner.  BURN NOTICE and WHITE COLLAR are much better than anything currently on NBC in the drama department.