"Oh my," to quote former NBC Sports man (currently at CBS) Dick Enberg. It's "Friends" last season and NBC is expecting a large party. News reports I've read say they are going to give it a three-hour send off in May. They expect - wish I could find the article and/or who said this - "M*A*S*H" finale-type numbers. I'll reference "Friends" creators Marta Kaufmann & David Crane's first show to answer that: "Dream On."NBC is trying their best to not be worried about our departing six attractive New Yorkers. "Scrubs" has become a modest cult hit and they've thrown three new sitcoms and three new dramas into the mix. Still no breakout hit in the last several years. They're hoping for that with "Coupling."
Sunday has nice flow with returning dramas and the addition of "The Lyon's Den." Monday moves "Third Watch" back an hour to make room for "Las Vegas." Tuesday is completely overhauled with "Frasier" staying to act as a fulcrum for the new comedies and returning and moved shows. "Law & Order: SVU" will help the night.
Wednesday is the only night NBC brings back all together. "Ed" began to gain audience before its brief move to Friday. "The West Wing" hopes to rebound from a season critics say was subpar. I saw them getting a little off message, but it was far better than the majority of hours out there.
Can "Law & Order: The Mothership" be stopped? Thursday returns with the addition of "Coupling." Can the magic of "Must See TV" be brought back before "Joey" replaces "Friends" a year from now? Friday is reconstructed around the now only weekday edition of "Dateline NBC" with the new "Miss Match" before and moved "Boomtown" to follow. NBC chickens out on Saturday with a three-hour "NBC Saturday Night Movie" (see Saturday for more on that).
They'll probably retain their lead in 18-49, probably by a slimmer margin. The drama with the best bet is Rob Lowe's "The Lyon's Den." It's helped by going against a completely retooled "The Practice." Of the other two, i'd say "Miss Match" has the better chance than "Las Vegas." The other two sitcoms are back-to-back on Tuesday, "Whoopi" and "Happy Family." I expect the latter to do better than the former, but don't expect anything big from either of them. "Coupling" is the shot for a breakout hit, but I expect only a moderate one.
