I'm not even going to bother with the midseason sked. It should go without saying that those never end up being what happens in the winter. I don't find this quite as interesting/controversial as the change-heavy NBC schedule but hopefully I can provide some insight.
MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM HOUSE9:00-10:00 PM LONESTAR (new)
House stays where it is, and Lonestar is their number one new drama option out of their number one drama. (That's assuming Glee is more of a comedy.) Seems reasonable enough. Lonestar vs. The Event will be one of the more intriguing newbie vs. newbie matchups of the season, especially with CBS and ABC likely to be quite strong in the hour. Can either do much?
TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM GLEE
9:00-9:30 PM RAISING HOPE (new)
9:30-10:00 PM RUNNING WILDE (new)
Glee was strong enough last fall to be the centerpiece of Wednesday, has grown even more this winter, so now it gets to be a lead-in. If there's a night to try to establish live-action comedy, it's gotta be Tuesday, the only M-Th night where the rest of broadcast has zero half-hour comedies.
WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM LIE TO ME
9:00-10:00 PM HELL’S KITCHEN
Lie to Me gets another year as a Fall/Summer option that probably won't see much action once American Idol shows up. That show will be barely passable. Hell's Kitchen will be good counterprogramming in an hour where all the other three nets will at least be competent (with Criminal Minds, Modern Family/lead-out, and SVU), reminiscent of when Fox was a solid 4th place with another Gordon Ramsay show here in Kitchen Nightmares in Fall 2007 against Minds, Private Practice, and Bionic Woman. This time, there's definite potential to do better than 4th place, but it still won't be a timeslot-winner.
THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM BONES
9:00-10:00 PM FRINGE
Standing pat here. Early last season that didn't seem like a particularly good idea, but Fringe eventually started to show enough muscle to keep it here. Both these shows could probably do better in other places, but the difference isn't large enough to blow up a night that they've kinda established.
FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM HUMAN TARGET
9:00-10:00 PM THE GOOD GUYS
I actually found Human Target the "worst" renewal of the season, despite a lot of people keying in on the supposed stupidity of bringing back stuff like Chuck and V. (Well, correction: if CBS renews Old Christine, that will be the new "worst" renewal of the season.) Here's why: Human Target was barely stronger than those two shows and on a net that is considerably stronger and has considerably less space on the schedule. It did skew old by genre standards, which sometimes bodes well for a move to Friday, but I still don't see this generating any real interest. Applause to the net for trying scripted, but I think it probably should've been Lie to Me here and Target on Wednesday, even though Target would match up with the similar Undercovers. Or Target shouldn't have been renewed at all. The Good Guys should probably be considered written in pencil, because if that show completely bombs in the summer, it'll get replaced for some kind of reality.
SATURDAY
8:00-8:30 PM COPS
8:30-9:00 PM COPS
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA’S MOST WANTED
Standing pat.
SUNDAY
7:00-8:00 PM THE OT (NFL post-game)
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM THE CLEVELAND SHOW
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD
Standing pat.
OVERALL
It isn't very aggressive. That's all you can really say. The fact that they brought back a couple of mediocre performers in Lie to Me and Human Target indicates they don't have a lot of drama development that they want to put on in the fall. And if that's how it is, that's how it is. I'd have tried Lie to Me on Friday and kept Human Target on Wednesday, but that's the only real change from a scheduling standpoint that I can say I'd make, and I think even with that arrangement they wouldn't do very well, so it's probably neither here nor there.
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