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May 23, 2013

ABC shuffles Wednesday schedule, again

by Brett Love, posted Jan 28th 2007 10:01AM

Knights of ProsperityRemember way back last fall? ABC was knocking heads with the Dancing with the Stars results show at 8 and Lost at 9. Boy, how things have changed. The network has been getting kicked around by everyone since Emmit walked away with the big silver disco ball and Lost went into hibernation.

This past Wednesday was rock bottom. The network found itself in fourth place both in total viewers and the 18-49 demo. Most disturbing was the performance of the new sit-coms Knights of Prosperity and In Case of Emergency. They managed to attract just 3.58 and 2.98 million viewers respectively. They were up against American Idol, but still... Ouch.

ABC's answer? Move Knights of Prosperity to 8:30 and let According to Jim lead off that 9PM hour. Yeah, that should work. It is good news for fans of Knights. Going up against Bones is certainly an easier task than facing Idol, so it would seem that they are at least trying to give the show a fighting chance. Things don't look good for In Case of Emergency though.

The really interesting part will come next month when Lost returns. How will the complete destruction of their Wednesday night factor into the ratings? Lost has never been a show that really needed a strong lead-in, but at this point it is looking like their lead-in will be almost non-existant. The move to 10 is a possible ratings hit as well. It's nice to dodge Criminal Minds and Idol, but CSI: New York is no slouch, and there just aren't as many viewers available in the 10 o'clock hour. It should be fun to watch what happens.

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Brett Love

Sheila, I don't think I was trying to spare your feelings. Rather, I'm holding onto the notion that NBC is going to wise up and move Medium to Monday @ 10 after Heroes.

February 06 2007 at 1:53 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
getsheila

Lost is coming to Wednesday nights at 10:00? Holy crap! You neglected to mention that is also Medium's time slot over at NBC. Were you trying not to depress the Medium fans? If so, it worked for about a week. Thanks.

The network shuffle. Always a joy to behold.

February 06 2007 at 1:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Brett Love

Actually Porchland, I see it almost opposite of that. My guess is that Lost will return with strong numbers based on all the hype surrounding the start of the second half of the season. Then it will slowly scrub off viewers, due to things like people not giving a crap about a Paolo flashback, until the final few sweeps episodes where some people will return to see if there are any answers coming for them.

I do think you are on to something with the idea that Lost will run the entire season in one block next year though. And I would also agree that ABC has no choice in renewing Lost. While it has its problems, it is still one of their top performers.

January 29 2007 at 5:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Porchland

My guess: "Lost" will struggle initially at the new time slot, the first few episodes will be good, the buzz machine will kick back in, the audience will get back to where it was during the fall "season," and the May sweeps episodes will be solid.

ABC will renew -- because it has to -- and push back the start of next season to January 2008.

After next season, the success of "Lost" and "24" in uninterrupted runs will prompt one of the networks to revamp at least one major show's schedule to run uninterrupted in the FALL.

January 29 2007 at 3:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
TomB

Knights of Prosperity and In Case of Emergency won't be around in a month. Buh-bye!

January 29 2007 at 1:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Michael

Let 'em burn... they cancelled Daybreak.

January 29 2007 at 7:07 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chris Wyant

I think that if moving Lost to 10 PM doesn't work as planned, we might be seeing what Cuse/Lindeloff/McPherson were talking about at the TCA press tour (end game) sooner rather than later.

January 28 2007 at 12:54 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
David

American Idol on Wednesday nights is pointless anyways. I know several people will not be watching Lost live because it's on at 10pm. Plus I rather watch Bones anyday over stupid crapy ABC sitcoms.

January 28 2007 at 11:23 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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