Thursday, October 19, 2006

"Friday Night Lights" Moves From Tuesday To Monday

God forbid they put it on Friday in the spring, like I suggested. There's good news, better news and scary news about my favorite new series of the fall. First, NBC has shown modest faith in the show by ordering nine more scripts. This is the sort of inexpensive gesture that a network HAS to make in a show they haven't given up on already. They've now bought enough scripts for a full season. In a further sign of faith, of sorts, they're gonna air the next episode of the show on Monday at 10 p.m. in the slot currently held by the flailing "Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip." This is great because that's a quality time-slot: it will be facing the anemic ABC drama "What About Brian" (along with the hit series "CSI: Miami") and best of all it will benefit from the lead-in of the acclaimed hit new show "Heroes." They're a great fit. My problem? Currently the show has been competing against post-season baseball. Now they're pitting it against Monday Night Football on ESPN, which draws a bigger audience on cable than "Studio 60" and "Bob" do on network TV. People, it's a show about FOOTBALL. Think maybe the natural audience for it might be watching, um, FOOTBALL on Monday nights? Plus, while the show is certainly mature enough to air at 10 p.m., it's a terrific family drama. Finally, it's a serialized show and moving it to another night and expecting new viewers to sample it without even giving the show a chance to craft an episode that's easy to get into plotwise is a mistake. I'm glad NBC wants to see how it does in another, better timeslot. But they'd be better off suspending the show right now and relaunching it in the spring...on Friday nights.

3 comments:

Michael in New York said...

Oh yes. Homefront was good froth, Early Edition less interesting but Chandler always maintained his puppy dog charm. And he's really good here, better at the toughness of a football coach than I expected. Very likable without trying to be likable. Sadly, married with two kids, but hey at least George on Grey's Anatomy is available.

Anonymous said...

I think if NBC is serious about boosting the ratings for Friday Night Lights they will get James van der Beek (I'm guessing he's available) to appear in an episode just so he can scream, "I don't want... .... ... YOUR LIFE!!!"

Seriously, who wouldn't tune in to that? And if the rest of the episode is good enough, then maybe people will start watching the show on a regular basis.

So Michael, your idea is good and all, but I think mine is a sure fire winner. That, or doing some kind of crossover episode with Heroes that involves Ali Larter and whipped cream. Either way...

Michael in New York said...

I KNEW you'd bring up the whipped cream. Varsity Blues was a surprisingly decent movie, don't you think? Van Der Beek could be the player on a rival team. Sounds like a winner to me.