Studio 60 to be replaced by Friday Night Lights on Oct. 30

[shipperx]

Looks like NBC is reshuffling schedules to see if it helps its ailing dramas.  From Ausiello:

Scoop! Friday Moves to Monday!
Studio 60 is getting sacked by Friday Night Lights. At least temporarily.

Sources confirm that NBC is handing Studio 60's Monday/10 pm time-slot over to FNL on Oct. 30 for what I'm told is a one-night experiment. 

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I'm wondering whether NBC is hoping that FNL can better retain Heroes audience.  FNL/Heroes 'feels' more compatible to me, but who knows.   Besides,  as of this week, S60 is only holding 53% of Heroes lead-in.  Given that factoid,  I can see why, even though FNL has worse ratings overall, the network is willing to give a timeslot shift a shot.  On top of all of that, FNL is both cheaper to produce and, unlike S60, actually gained audience this week (especially in the 18-49 demos), whereas S60s ratings continue to slide.  With that in mind, NBC may be thinking of keeping FNL on tive because,   all things being equal between FNL and S60 (meaning both are posting poor ratings), FNL is cheaper to produce (and arguably has better critical acclaim).  As fans ran into with BtVS and AtS, how expensive a show is to produce matters to networks almost as much as the ratings.

Comments

[femmenerd.livejournal.com]

Yay! Then I won't have to torrent it anymore.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Currently they have each episode stream-able on nbc.com

that is SO awesome

[katelennon.livejournal.com]

I would love, love, love Monday nights, FNL vs CSI MIAMI. HoCaine is goin' do, yo.

Plus, ita on the whole Heroes/FNL idea. I like S60, but ultimately, it's very culty and Sports Night-like, which I love, but not a huge audience. They don't like to think so much.

YEAY! FNL on mondays Wooohoo!

[spikewriter]

Damn. I love Studio 60 and will follow it elsewhere if necessary. I'm not so certain FNL will keep me if it moves.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

It's just a one week thing. Basically, S60 is hemmoraging Heroes' lead-in. Clearly these two shows aren't particularly compatible.

What's more, S60 had a huge premiere and has been dropping audience ever since. It's not a matter of the show never having been sampled or not having a good lead-in. FNL had a tiny premiere and this week actually gained audience, but has never had any lead-in whatsoever.

I can understand why NBC wants to try the experiment of seeing whether FNL can pick-up audience if given a decent lead-in.

That said, S60 is almost certain to return to its timeslot because S60 has such a great licensing deal. NBC is contracturally obligated to air all thirteen contracted episodes in a good timeslot.