I was going to write about “Friday Night Lights” today. About how it’s a fantastic new show on NBC that just hasn’t been able to pull in an audience, and why you should watch it even though it might be on the wrong network.
We’ll do that Monday, but I can’t go through with that plan today because NBC on Wednesday made an announcement that is the first step toward solving its recent identity crisis.
“Must-see TV” is back.
NBC, which last week in a panic that included talk of layoffs and frantic axing of scripted shows in the 8 p.m. hour, is returning to its bread and butter with the announcement that it will bring back the two-hour comedy block on Thursday nights.
It started to crumble when Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica and Phoebe departed at the end of the 2003-04 season and left only “Joey” behind. “Joey” was followed by an already deteriorating “Will &Grace” at 8:30 p.m., and without a pair of quality sitcoms to fill the next hour, NBC moved Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice” into the 9 p.m. hour.
It was the first time since fall 1982 that NBC had ditched the two-hour comedy block it became known for, with such hits as “The Cosby Show,” “Family Ties,” “Cheers,” “Wings” and “Seinfeld” occupying the space.
Now that the network has the goods to do it, it is bringing four of the funniest shows on television together to recreate its iconic Thursday night comedy block.
The only bad news is that we have to wait a month for it to happen.
Starting Nov. 30, this is what Thursday night will look like on NBC:
* 8 p.m.: “My Name is Earl”
* 8:30 p.m.: “The Office”
* 9 p.m.: “Scrubs”
* 9:30 p.m.: “30 Rock”
Of course, 10 p.m. will still feature “ER.” You can’t win ‘em all.
Before the big change happens, Nov. 16 will feature three “super-sized” episodes of “Earl,” “The Office” and “30 Rock,” which are 40-minute presentations that will air from 8 to 10 p.m.
To be clear, this move won’t give NBC a huge jump in the ratings. ABC has a stranglehold on the night with its new hit “Ugly Betty” and the medical sensation “Grey’s Anatomy.” CBS, meanwhile, still gets good production from “Survivor” at 8 p.m. and the forensics fiesta that is “CSI.”
Nonetheless, it’s a bold move that signals a vote of confidence for the network’s best sitcoms and for the genre in general, which is on a serious upswing. In addition to NBC’s quartet of laffers, CBS is scoring with “How I Met Your Mother” and “The New Adventures of Old Christine” on Monday nights.
ABC also has a couple of funny comedies in the pipeline in “The Knights of Prosperity,” a fun little tale of a gang of losers that conspires to rob Mick Jagger’s New York City apartment, and “Notes From the Underbelly,” which takes a look at the pressures and trials of having a baby.
But the point here for NBC is that it has successfully moved past the recent debacles of “Good Morning, Miami,” “Coupling” and “Men Behaving Badly” and developed four strong sitcoms that have rightly taken back two hours of the television schedule from cheaper and easier-to-produce reality game shows.
Victor Balta’s column runs Mondays and Thursdays on the A&E page. Reach him at 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.
For more TV and pop culture scoop, check out Victor’s blog at heraldnet.com/blogpopculture.
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