American Idol's weekly results shows will get a Thursday night berth for the first time as part of a Fox midseason lineup that also includes five new series, all but one of them scripted.

Idol, which will deploy new judges Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler plus some format changes, has been airing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for most of its first nine seasons. But Season 10 inaugurates a Wednesday-Thursday shift, with season premiere dates set for Jan. 19-20.

Idol will begin with one-hour Wednesday episodes before inflating to two hours on Feb. 16. Beginning April 6, the faltering Fox cash cow is scheduled to deflate back to 90 minutes, with a new "offbeat workplace comedy," Breaking In with Christian Slater, getting the 9:30 p.m. ET slot.

The Chicago Code, a new police drama from The Shield creator Shawn Ryan, will be paired with House on Monday nights. Also new are the big money game show Million Dollar Money Drop, the animated series Bob's Burgers and a relationship comedy, Mixed Signals.

Fringe will move to Fridays, a night that long has been a death valley for Fox. Kitchen Nightmares will be its running mate.

Canceled are Running Wilde and The Good Guys.

Here are the nights, times and dates for Fox's midseason machinations. (All times ET.)

MONDAY
8 p.m. -- Lie to Me, two-hour episode Jan. 10 before House moves back in on Jan. 17.
9 p.m. -- Lie to Me, starting Jan. 17 before The Chicago Code supplants it on Feb. 7.

TUESDAY
8 p.m. -- Glee encore episodes, beginning Jan. 4 before new episodes kick in on Feb. 8.
9 p.m. -- Million Dollar Money Drop, beginning Jan. 4, with Raising Hope and the new Mixed Signals taking over on Feb. 8.

WEDNESDAY
8 p.m. -- Human Target on Jan. 5 and 12 before one-hour episodes of American Idol start on Jan. 19. Two-hour Idol episodes launch on Feb. 16. Idol then shrinks to 90 minutes on April 6.
9 p.m. -- Human Target, starting on Jan. 26 and running until Idol steps in on Feb. 16.
9:30 p.m. -- Breaking In, starting April 6.

THURSDAY
8 p.m. -- Million Dollar Money Drop, beginning Jan. 6 until Idol arrives on Jan. 20.
9 p.m. -- Bones repeats, starting Jan. 6, before new episodes begin on Jan. 20.

FRIDAY
8 p.m. -- AT&T Cotton Bowl from Dallas on Jan. 7. Kitchen Nightmares has its season premiere on Jan. 21 (so far nothing to fill the void on Jan. 14).
8 p.m. -- Kitchen Nighmares repeat on Jan. 21, with new episodes of Fringe beginning on Jan. 28.

SATURDAY
NFC Division Playoffs on Jan. 15 before two doses of COPS and America's Most Wanted resume the following week.

SUNDAY
It's quite a jumble, so let's note that Bob's Burgers launches at 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 9. Super Bowl XLV from Cowboys Stadium is Feb. 6, followed by a new episode of Glee. Then on Feb. 13, here's the all-cartoon lineup:
7 p.m. - The Simpsons
7:30 p.m. - American Dad
8 p.m. - The Simpsons
8:30 p.m. - Bob's Burgers
9 p.m. - Family Guy
9:30 p.m. - The Cleveland Show

Much more by Ed Bark at unclebarky.com.

Comments (0) | Permalink

NBC Adding 3 Scripted Series

November 19, 2010 3:04 PM

By Ed Bark
unclebarky.com

Downtrodden NBC will try anew in January with a heavily jumbled midseason lineup that turns Thursdays over entirely to comedy and premieres a new sci fi-ish cop series, The Cape.

The latter series will temporarily supplant The Event on Monday nights at 9 p.m. ET after a two-hour sneak preview on Sunday, Jan. 9.

NBC's three other newcomers are the legal drama Harry's Law (from Boston Legal/The Practice creator David E. Kelley), a sitcom titled Perfect Couples and the reality-competition series America's Next Great Restaurant.

Perfect Couples, which NBC bills as the "heroic journey" of three pairs of twosomes, is being slotted on Thursday nights between Community and The Office. It will mark the first three-hour, all-comedy network lineup since CBS' 1977 Saturday night schedule of The Bob Newhart Show, We've Got Each Other, The Jeffersons, The Tony Randall Show and The Carol Burnett Show.

NBC's Thursday 10 p.m. ET hour, currently occupied by The Apprentice and previously home base for the likes of ER, L.A. Law and Hill Street Blues, will be filled by 30 Rock (already renewed for next season) and Outsourced. The new schedule launches Jan. 20.

Returning in midseason are Parks and Recreation, The Marriage Ref, Who Do You Think You Are?, Celebrity Apprentice and Minute to Win It. As previously reported, the freshmen series Outlaw and Undercovers are goners. School Pride also is being junked.

Chase, starring Kelli Giddish as the head of a Texas-based team of U.S. marshals, will be supplanted on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET by the new Harry's Law, which co-stars two-time Oscar-winner Kathy Bates.

In its new Wednesday slot (beginning Jan. 12), Chase will air at 9 p.m. ET between Minute to Win It and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

The Cape stars David Lyons (ER) as an honest cop on a corrupt force who's framed for a series of murders and then presumed dead. Instead he re-emerges in disguise as his son's favorite comic book hero. Summer Glau, from Fox's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, co-stars as an "investigative blogger" named Orwell.

Here's NBC's night-by-night midseason schedule -- which can be kind of dizzying.

(All times are ET.)

MONDAY
8 p.m. -- Chuck
9 p.m. -- The Cape, beginning on Jan. 17 after Sunday Jan. 9 sneak preview. The Event will then return at this hour on Feb. 28
10 p.m. -- Harry's Law, starting on Jan. 17 before Parenthood switches from Tuesdays on March 7

TUESDAY
8-10 p.m. -- The Biggest Loser
10 p.m. -- Parenthood for four episodes before Law & Order: Los Angeles supplants it on Feb. 8

WEDNESDAY
8 p.m. -- Minute to Win It, starting Jan. 5
9 p.m. -- Chase, beginning Jan. 12 until America's Next Great Restaurant replaces it on March 16
10 p.m. -- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, on Jan. 12 after a two-hour episode the week before

THURSDAY (with the entire schedule taking effect on Jan. 20)
8 p.m. -- Community
8:30 p.m. -- Perfect Couples
9 p.m. -- The Office
9:30 p.m. -- Parks and Recreation
10 p.m. -- 30 Rock
10:30 p.m. -- Outsourced

FRIDAY
8 p.m. -- Who Do You Think You Are?, starting on Jan. 21
9-11 p.m. -- Dateline NBC, on Jan. 7

SATURDAY
8-11 p.m. -- various reruns

SUNDAY
7 p.m. -- Dateline NBC as usual
8 p.m. -- The Marriage Ref, starting March 6
9-11 p.m. -- The Celebrity Apprentice, also on March 6

Read more from Ed Bark at unclebarky.com.