Scheduling Five-Spot, WE 11/21/10 - NBC midseason, Medium, Dark Blue, Caprica, Fox midseason

Here's your Five-Spot of TV scheduling news for the week ending November 21, 2010:

NBC Shakes Up Midseason - Everyone was talking about three-hour comedy after NBC's midseason announcement. Deservedly so. I mentioned it last week when it was still just a rumor. Also notable is NBC moving four dramas at midseason: Chase, Parenthood, Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order: LA. And that's not counting The Event, which goes on hiatus for awhile to make way for newbie The Cape. Will all these moves produce a positive net result? I'm quite skeptical. My tweets on NBC midseason.

Dark Blue Officially Axed - I think most people assumed TNT's Jerry Bruckheimer drama was on its way out, but it was made official this week, and it stands as yet another strike against centering a marketing campaign around a producer's name. Arguably it was that producer's name that even got it the second season renewal in the first place, as the ratings never warranted an extension.

Medium Canceled - The long-running drama already had its order slashed from 22 to 13 earlier in the year, and now the end of the show that ran five years on NBC and two years on CBS is official. It was a surprise hit in its first season on NBC but has gone downward ratings-wise most years since, although ironically it's gotten a bit of a bounce in the weeks since the announcement of the episode trimming. It's now much more competitive with CBS' other two Friday shows than at the time of the announcement.

Caprica Marathon - I always like creative scheduling, and Caprica's recent scheduling has been pretty creative. First, it became that rare cable show pulled in the middle of a run of episodes, and now it's gonna air its last five episodes back-to-back on January 4, starting at 6/5c. Marathons of burnoff eps aren't unheard of on broadcast (Arrested Development) or cable (TNT's recent Raising the Bar) but five hours strikes me as a particularly long one.

Fox Moves Idol to Wednesday/Thursday, etc. - I wrote a little essay on how Fox's midseason announcement was phase two of their plan to have a consistent Monday to Thursday schedule across the regular season. Other notable info: Mixed Signals takes the post-Raising Hope slot on Tuesday, Kitchen Nightmares joins Fringe on Friday, and animated newbie Bob's Burgers will take over at 8:30 with The Cleveland Show to 9:30 and American Dad! to the always rough 7:30 slot.


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