The Untitled Blog Project: BIG Day For NBC Thursday

Other than NBC it's safe to say that every major broadcast channel owns a night or at least a share of the week. For example, with a lineup of Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Two and A Half Men, Rules Of Engagement and CSI Miami, Mondays are owned by CBS.
Tuesday I give CBS a slight edge with the overall better schedule of NCIS and The Mentalist but either ABC's Dancing With The Stars or FOX's American Idol usually grab the individual honors. Wednesday's are generally dominated by American Idol. Fridays it all pretty much sucks rating wise, Saturday I could care less about and Sunday is usually a toss up. So that leaves me with Thursday still up in the air. CBS has usually controlled ratings with Survivor and CSI but those shows have been on long and developed loyal fan bases that don't have any other options to choose from, aside from the stale Greys Anatomy on ABC.

Notice, NBC was nowhere on that list I just gave. In fact the only show they had in the top 20 last week and was actually ranked 20th, was Law and Order:SVU which owns the coveted Tuesday 10pm slot woo hoo. Just like I predicted it appears NBC's Kings won't be renewed, it scored so very poorly in it's 2 hour premiere that there were talks it might not make the full season. It started out with only 6 million viewers, and with each half hour the ratings continually decreased, not a good sign for the show or NBC's chances on Sunday nights. Chuck and Heroes have been terrible on Mondays. Tuesday and Wednesday NBC doesn't have a chance to compete, and even though DirecTV bailed out Friday Night Lights again, sadly that show never does anything impressive on Fridays. Now with ER gone, the only mainstays are The Office, 30 Rock, My Name Is Earl, and Law and Order, three of which are on Thursday.

But I'm here to say not all is lost for NBC just yet. Thursday's have usually been their best day and with the addition of two new shows it should continue to get better and compete with the big boys of CBS, FOX and ABC.

I've already talked about Amy Poehlers new comedy Parks and Recreation, which looks hilarious. Poehler, Aziz Ansari, and my girl Rashida Jones will make this show a hit, at least NBC's definition of a hit. It premieres Thursday at 8:30pm sandwiched between two new episodes of The Office.

The other show is Southland starring Benjamin McKenzie, of The OC. Even though he looks pretty much like the tool from Kings I'm hoping that doesn't sway audiences because this show looks very intriguing. From what I've read about it McKenzie plays a rookie cop in Los Angeles who's having a tough time with his career. Michael Cudlitz, who has been in Lost, 24, Las Vegas, and most notably Band of Brothers, also stars in this cop drama. It will not only show the cops perspectives, but will highlight the criminals, victims and families as well. Right now it is scheduled to take over ER's time slot at 10pm and premieres this Thursday as well.

After the Kings disaster, it is critical for NBC that these two shows start off hot. The Thursday time slots are more vulnerable than the girls College Panda hooks up with. Taking over on Thursday would be huge for NBC and would help them save their struggling network.