letterten 2007-08 fall preview

Law & Order: Criminal Intent
USA Network. Thu Oct 4, 10p
Season 7
[Sep 30, 2001]

Baby Borrowers
TBA
Season 1

Lipstick Jungle
January, Sunday 10pm
Season 1

World Moves
TBA
Season 1

The IT Crowd
TBA
Season 1

Law & Order
Sun, Jan 8, 8p
Season 17
[Sep 13, 1990]

ABC \| CBS \| CW \| Fox \| NBC \|\| Sun \| Mon \| Tue \| Wed \| Thu \| Fri \| Sat \|\| Complete \|\| Main

	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
Sun	Football Night in America Sep 9 (premiere: Thu Sep 6, 8 ET) Season 2 [debut: Sep 10, 2006]		Sunday Night Football Sep 9 (premiere, Thu Sep 7, 8:30ET/5:30PT) Season 22 [Nov 8, 1987; ESPN]

	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
Mon	Chuck Sep 24 Season 1		Heroes Sep 24 Season 2 [Sep 24, 2006]		Journeyman Sep 24 Season 1
Tue	The Singing Bee Oct 2 Iteration 2 [Jul 10, 2007]	The Biggest Loser Sep 25 (2-hr premiere, Sep 11) Iteration 4 [Oct 19, 2004]			Law & Order: SVU Sep 25 Season 9 [Sep 20, 1999]
Wed	Deal or No Deal Wednesday Edition Sep 26 (premiere, Sep 17, 8p) Season 3 [Dec 19, 2005]		Bionic Woman Sep 26 Season 1		Life Sep 26 Season 1
Thu	My Name Is Earl Sep 27 (1-hr premiere) Season 3 [Sep 20, 2005]	30 Rock Oct 4 Season 2 [Oct 16, 2006]	The Office Sep 27 (1-hr premiere) Season 4 [Mar 24, 2005]	Scrubs Oct 25 Season 7 [Oct 2, 2001]	ER Sep 27 Season 14 [Sep 19, 1994]
Fri	Deal or No Deal Friday Edition Sep 28 (premiere, Sep 17, 8p) Season 3 [Dec 19, 2005]		Friday Night Lights Oct 5 Season 2 [Oct 3, 2006]		Las Vegas Sep 28 (2-hr premiere, 9p) Season 5 [Sep 29, 2003]
Sat	Dateline NBC Sep 29 Season 15 [Mar 31, 1992]		Drama Encores ongoing Encore Presentations of current NBC Dramas		Drama Encores ongoing Encore Presentations of current NBC Dramas

National Broadcasting Company. since 1926.

Kevin Reilly is out. Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff are the new NBC Entertainment/NBCU Studio chairs. Silverman has been a very successful producer and it remains to be seen how he performs at the top.

A couple of gutsy moves: keeping Friday Night Lights, benching Law & Order until midseason and letting Law & Order: Criminal Intent mosey over to sister cabler, USA. The fact that NBC's 2006-07 season was better than the year before can really be attributed to Heroes.

Four new dramas, two of which I think have a good shot, with one maybe and one probably not. The midseason slate is kind of sad, especially with the only sitcom currently on the verge of disappearing before it appears.

NBC Sunday is a lock with Sunday Night Football. Without SNF, NBC would have very little promo space to push any new programming.

Monday becomes Sci-Fi day, an interesting choice, but somewhat of an organic one with Heroes firmly ensconsed at 9pm. Chuck should do well, although Dancing with the Stars might take away women who think Chuck is cute. Heroes is a slamdunk while Journeyman has CSI: Miami and Caruso's sunglasses to deal with.

Hard to believe that Law & Order: SVU is going into its ninth season. It'll hold its own unless CBS' Cane become a breakout hit, which I doubt. The Biggest Loser and The Singing Bee are solid counterprogramming, even if they take a hit from the Dancing with the Stars Results show and House. Can't believe this night, once upon a time, sported The A-Team, Riptide and Remington Steele.

Wednesday is up for grabs for everyone. Deal or No Deal kicks off a night of new drama. Bionic Woman is a yes, Life is a no. NBC should move Bionic out of the way of Private Practice since CSI: NY won't be nearly as big of a threat.

The slightly rejuvenated NBC Thursday is a comedy block of decent proportions once again. Across the board, there's only one new show on any network. Earl and the surprisingly renewed 30 Rock are followed by The Office (look for Ben Silverman in the credits) and what will be the final season of Scrubs. Never have figured out why Scrubs didn't command a larger audience. Can you actually remember a time that ER wasn't on at 10? A solid third place is the best they can hope for with the #1 and #2 scripted programs across the dial.

Another installment of Deal or No Deal starts NBC Friday. Friday Night Lights finally moves to the night in its title, which should eliminate the confusion. Why NBC isn't promoting this during Sunday Night Football is beyond me. Watch this show. It is everything you want in a drama, even if you don't like football. Las Vegas moves back an hour and ends the night. The night is CBS' to lose, but NBC does have a shot.

Dateline and drama encores show that NBC has once again given up on Saturday...like everyone else.

Overall, NBC doesn't seem in terrible shape. Certainly better than this time last year. I expect Chuck and Bionic Woman to catch on. Lipstick Jungle is a wild card with the post-football, midseason premiere. The rest of the currently discussed midseason programming offers little. There still is something missing, because it doesn't feel like there's much there there.