Right on, #24...I only watch when I know it's a new episode. I'm a young, affluent viewer with too many other things to do than to veg out with reruns!

Oh my god. My name is Earl is funny crap. What do you guys want another coffee shop sitcom. Come on. 30 Rock is promising at least and Scrubs, well, bit dumb. The Office I dont watch but I hear enough people like it so who cares. If you want another Friends than watch the reruns and shut up. Go Earl. I am just trying to be a better person.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't remember NBC ever having a better Thursday night lineup than the current one. Seinfeld was almost good enough to carry three bags of crap, but if I have to watch 88 minutes (commercials skipped) of sitcoms this is my ultimate batch.

20 years ago NBC's Thursday night line-up was

8:00 The Cosby Show (the #1 rated show at the time)
8:30 A Different World
9:00 Cheers
9:30 Night Court
10:00 L.A. Law

My guess for the ratings being low that year are:

1. A Different World debuted that year and didn't find it's legs until it's 2nd season when Debbie Allen took over. It also replaced Family Ties in that timeslot so some of their fans probably didn't stay for ADW after Cosby.

2. This was also the year Shelly Long left Cheers so that might of had something to do with it (personally I always liked the post-Diane years rather then when she was on the show).

3. This was the year Hill Street Blues was cancelled and L.A. Law took it's timeslot. L.A. Law had only been on for a year before this.

I only have 2 shows I must watch now that Lost is on too late to bother with, The Office and Scrubs. But, I seem to miss them half the time because they have been switching timeslots around or are assumed repeats. Why can't networks concede a night to a competitor and move to another night. I have found myself watching a bunch of meercats on animal planet friday nights because there aint anything else worth watching after the toddlers go to bed. It is almost like they are forcing folks to by tivo to watch over some nights' regular programming

Oh and Bob: Friday Night Lights AND Studio 60 are niche markets - the one for football the other one for intelligent drama (à la West Wing). Problem is - while we both might like it, that's not the way to generate ratings.

You get high ratings via artificial body parts and publicly humiliating people.

The answer you gave is to the question "What would you put on a 40$ a month premium channel".

Just be glad that stuff like S60 and FNL can still be found on TV and that NBC has executives who aren't afraid to program stuff that requires the audience to actually bring some brains to the TV set instead of drool. All the other networks already cater to the lowest possible denominator.

Dave, you are repeating yourself...

alright is there anyone that's a billionaire here that doesnt mind enormous losses to put all the underperforming shows on one premium network?

Dave, I'm sorry you need prodding from a live studio audience to know when to laugh. Do you only laugh at the movies when other people do so; you need that reassurance that something is supposed to be funny. God forbid you infer anything on your own...

i thought the goal was to increase ratings, not decrease them. So why put Studio 60 there?

Ah Bob, give it a rest already and watch the remaining crappy S60 episodes on the web or be the sucker to buy the only season dvd when it comes out during the summer. Yeesh.