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NBC Fall Schedule Gets Big Revamp: Long-Running `Law & Order' Goes to Fridays As Part of Major Revision

Posted on: Saturday, 27 May 2006, 09:00 CDT

By R. D. Heldenfels, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

May 26--NBC has scrapped large portions of its fall 2006 schedule, notably by moving long-running drama Law & Order to Fridays.

When NBC announced its fall lineup less than two weeks ago, the network's competitors had not yet announced theirs. Having seen the other networks' plans, NBC made changes, NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly said Thursday.

One had been expected. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, a new drama from West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin, was facing two buzz saws on Thursday nights at 9: CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and ABC's moving-into-the-fray Grey's Anatomy.

Studio 60 is now moving to 10 p.m. Mondays, and game-show hit Deal or No Deal will do battle in the 9 p.m. Thursday slot.

But NBC's announcement Thursday was even more shocking for the shakeups involving Law & Order.

The mother ship is leaving a time slot it has occupied most of the time since 1992, according to The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows. It's also facing significant recasting, Reilly said. He did not offer details, but one character, played by Annie Parrisse, was killed off at the end of the just-concluded season.

The 10 p.m. Friday hour over the years has been home to Law & Order SVU, Trial by Jury and Conviction (which was a Law & Order in everything but name). And NBC planned to move Criminal Intent into the time slot in the fall. (Sundays, where Criminal Intent has usually aired, will be used for prime-time NFL football telecasts by NBC in the fall.)

Instead, NBC has opted for an L&O double-header, with Criminal Intent leading into SVU on Tuesdays.

Among other changes, which affect five nights in the fall and a sixth in mid-season, Medium will move to Sundays and be held back for a season premiere in January 2007, after football is over. Crossing Jordan, meanwhile, has moved from midseason status to the fall lineup.

Why all the changes? Because NBC has big ratings troubles. This season, it has again run fourth -- behind CBS, Fox and ABC -- with viewers as a whole and with its target audience of 18-to-49-year-olds.

Reilly said he remains confident about the network's new series. But he admitted that, after seeing other lineups, he created what he called "NBC Schedule, Part 2."

R.D. Heldenfels writes about television for the Beacon Journal and for a blog at www.ohio.com. Contact him at 330-996-3582 or rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

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Source: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

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