Well, this was bound to happen: NBC has decided to move their highly-anticipated new show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, to Mondays in order to get it away from the daunting challenge of squaring off with both CSI and Grey's Anatomy.

Studio 60 will air at 10 PM on Mondays. This has set off a chain reaction of changes to the fall schedule, which was announced last week:

• Law & Order: Criminal Intent will now air Tuesdays at 9.
• Wednesdays will start with the sitcom combo of 20 Good Years and 30 Rock, followed by The Biggest Loser and Kidnapped.
• Thursdays will kick off with Earl and The Office, followed by Deal or No Deal and ER.
• Fridays will start with Crossing Jordan (returned from mid-season exile), followed by Las Vegas and the original Law & Order (that's right, L&O fans, the show will no longer be on Wednesdays).
• Medium has been banished to mid-season; it joins Scrubs on the bench.

What do you think of the new schedule? Let us know in the comments.

[via The Futon Critic]

NBC released its fall 2006 schedule today, and while there are many predictable comings and goings, there are a couple of surprises too:

In: Deal Or No Deal, Medium, Law and Order: SVU, The Biggest Loser, Law and Order, My Name Is Earl, The Office, Las Vegas, Law and Order: CI, Dateline, Scrubs, Crossing Jordan, The Apprentice

Out: Surface, Joey, E-Ring, West Wing, Will and Grace, Four Kings, Teachers, Heist, Celebrity Cooking Showdown, Conviction

New: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Heroes, Friday Night Lights, Kidnapped, 20 Good Years, 30 Rock, The Black Donnellys, Football Night In America, Sunday Night Football, America's Got Talent, Raines, The Singles Table, Andy Barker, P.I.

Interesting lineup too, as Studio 60 goes into the Thursday at 9 slot (after Earl and The Office) and ER stays at 10 (til January, when The Black Donnellys take over for a while).

Gee, with all of the announcements NBC is making about its upcoming fall schedule, I'm not too sure what they're going to talk about during the upfronts come May. I guess they'll play charades with the press. Or perhaps their advanced notice is a subtle message to advertisers.

We first reported that NBC has renewed all three shows in the Law & Order franchise for next season. Now, three more dramas are joining the list:  Medium, Las Vegas, and Crossing Jordan. What, no Joey? All three series drew about 11 million viewers per episode, with Las Vegas holding on to much of its audience during the show's move to Friday nights.

NBC is adding a dozen shows to Comcasts's On Demand service, starting in May. That means you can buy the show for $.99 after it airs, in case you missed it. Unfortunately, it's not for everybody. In fact, it's not for many of us. The deal is only valid in markets (aka 'cities') where your local NBC affiliate is actually owned and operated by NBC. For instance, here in Portland, our NBC affiliate is owned and operated by BELO Corp., so no luck here. Eh. TiVo is better, anyway.

The shows hitting VOD are:

Las Vegas siren Nikki Cox is engaged to Jay Mohr, the host of Last Comic Standing. Previously, Cox had been engaged to comic Bobcat Goldthwait.

Jay and Nikki met on the set of Las Vegas when Jay was a guest star. His episode just aired on January 24th, 2005, so I'm not exactly sure how long these two have known each other. Place your bets, people! Get it? 'Cuz they met on the set of Las Vegas. And there's really nothing else to say about it.

Once NBC returns to regular programming following two weeks of Olympics (Feb. 10-26), the line-up is going to look a little different. It's moving around a few shows, including Law and Order and Las Vegas, and adding some new mid-season shows to the mix. Get 'yer TiVos ready, here are the changes:

• Deal or No Deal, nightly at 8 pm from Monday, February 27 to Friday, March 3
• The Apprentice, Mondays at 9 pm, starting February 27
  
• Conviction, Fridays at 10 pm, starting March 3
• Las Vegas, Fridays at 9 pm, starting March 3
• Teachers, Thursdays at 9:30 pm, starting April 6 (replacing The Office, which has a season finale on March 30)
• Law and Order, Wednesdays at 9 pm, starting March 22
• Heist, Wednesdays at 10 pm, starting March 22
  

Dear television viewer:

In an effort to further drain you of all your energy, tonight's episode of Extremely Popular TV Drama will involve a cliffhanger to be resolved next week on an episode of That Other Extremely Popular TV Drama which airs on a different night and time.  We hope you enjoy.

Your friends, The Insane Network Executives.

Am I the only one who hates this? For whatever reason, it really bugs me when TV worlds collide. I just can't deal with the notion that, just maybe, Jack Bauer and Sydney Bristow work down the street from each other. Someone who works on a much higher floor than me thinks this is great idea though. Joel briefly mentioned them in his Festivus post from a few weeks ago, but I've got a whole rant in me.

I am a total sucker for the Olympics, but I really hate all the cheesy, promotional crap that goes with it. This time around, NBC and Chevrolet are teaming up to feature some camera-friendly Olympians in their very own mini-movie. Oh, joy. It airs during Las Vegas on NBC in February and it'll also be included with advertisements before the trailers start at AMC, Cinemark, Regal, UA and Edwards movie theaters. Now, I clearly remember the little mini-movie that Chevrolet did during the last summer Olympics where a bunch of athletes call each other and drive their own Chevrolets to Athens (way to carpool, guys). I wanted to throw something at the movie screen everytime I saw it. Why? As a general rule, athletes can't act. You hear that, advertising geniuses? Athletes. Cannot. Act. This time around, the lucky Olympians are halfpipe snowboarders Kelly Clark and Ross Powers, alpine skiers Eric Schlopy, Ted Ligety, and Julia Mancuso, freestyle skier Toby Dawson and snowboarder Seth Wescott. They're all somehow paired up with the cast of Las Vegas and then whisked off to Torino, Italy for the competition. There will also be a behind-the-scenes mini-mini-movie of the mini-movie on NBC's website.

The NBC show Las Vegas is starting to look more like the real Las Vegas with the addition of a certain celebrity chef. Wolfgang Puck owns six restaurants in the city of Las Vegas, and now he's opening up a seventh restaurant in the fictional Montecito Resort and Casino. Puck actually helped finance the construction of his restaurant on the Las Vegas set, which, apparently can function as a real restaurant.

Did everyone see Las Vegas last night? The big death scene at the end? Hysterical!

Everyone's comparing the death scene to how Rosiland Shays died on L.A. Law years ago, falling down the elevator shaft with no warning. But this was even more outrageous. Boyle is on the roof of the casino, arguing with Josh Duhamel. It's really windy, and she's wearing this ridiculous dress with big flaps under the arms...and the wind picks her up and carries her overboard, as Styx's "Come Sail Away" is playing in the background. You could see it coming a mile away (only a few minutes left in the show...it's windy...she's gesturing with her arms...the sail away song is playing...hey, she's going off the roof!).

This is definitely going on my list of Best TV Moments this year.

On the heels of Lara Flynn Boyle joining the cast of NBC's Las Vegas comes word that Rachael Leigh Cook will be joining the cast this fall as well. She'll play a real estate agent who gets involved with Josh Duhamel's character. 

The Montecito has a new owner: Lara Flynn Boyle! The actress will join the NBC hit drama this fall. Says the producer:

"She will add even more story potential and star power to what is already a super-charged cast playing against the backdrop of a dynamic city." No hyperbole there. Nope. 

• Out: Law and Order: Trial By Jury, American Dreams, Medical Investigation, Committed, The Contender, Third Watch.
  
• New: The Apprentice: Martha Stuart, Three Wishes, E-Ring, Fathom, Inconceivable, My Name Is Earl, Thick and Thin, Four Kings.
• Returning: Scrubs, Fear Factor, Las Vegas, The Biggest Loser, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order, Joey, Will & Grace, The Apprentice, ER, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Crossing Jordan, Medium.
  
• Moving: The West Wing (Sundays, 8-9 p.m. EST), The Office (Tuesdays, 9:30-10 p.m. EST), Dateline NBC (Fridays 9-10 p.m. EST).

Read on for show descriptions.

Citing the ever-popular "irreconcilable differences", James Cann has filed for divorce from his wife of ten years, Linda Stokes Caan.  In court papers filed today in Los Angeles, the Las Vegas star has asked for joint custody of the couple's children, and has also requested that he not be responsible for spousal support. I wonder what his defense on that one will be? "Your honor, The Godfather was thirty years ago, and I'm on a television program that nobody cares about - there's simply not enough coin to go around."