If I were the Head of Network Planning

[buddy love]

I think NBC is going to be in real trouble after this season. Friends will be leaving and ER is showing signs of age--while CBS on Thursday nights is coming on strong with Survivor, CSI, and I think the new "Without a Trace".

I think that next season I would do some bold moves and maybe spice up another highly watched night of TV--in fact the most highly watched night which is usually Sunday night.

I would move ER to Sundays for a new Must See Night of Television. I don't expect (sorry to say) American Dreams to be around.

7-8 I would still have Dateline.

8-9--Providence--I would put it on first to help attract women
viewers.

9-10--ER

10-11--Boomtown (which I think will be do well this season vs. ABC's aging "The Practice" and with ER as a lead in on Sunday nights will really take off next season).

I think this 1,2,3 combination of "Providence", "ER", and "Boomtown" would make Sunday nights NBC's new "Must See TV" night--.

So you ask? what about Thursday night are you giving up on that? No... I do have a creative plan to keep Friends alive>
How about "Friends--then next generation"?? Lets say that the current cast is leaving there apartments (Joey's apartment) and Monica and Chandler's place...moving on with their lives. So who takes over those apartments? younger 20 somethings, but unlike the current cast of "Friends" we add some true ethnic flavor such as an african american, or a puerto rican, or asian--at least two of the characters should be a minority of some kind--after all New York City is a melting pot--add to that making maybe one of the characters a gay or lesbian? Now you say, oh, they will just start repeating the same stories as the original "Friends"--not necessarily--if it is creative enough and the characters are different and more diverse I think the show can go in new directions. At least I would be willing to try if I were the head of network planning at NBC.

So here is how my NBC Thursday night schedule would look for the 03-04 season:

8-8:30--Will and Grace
8:30-9:00--Friends--The Next Generation

9:00-10:00--Third Watch

10-11--Law and Order: Criminal Intent

A major restructuring of Thursday nights. Instead of four sitcoms (usually two of them stinkers) we have two. Then move the interesting but ratings challenged Third Watch to the nine o'clock hour --it won't beat CSI but it will attract more viewers than on Monday night. End the night strongly with one of the Law and Order franchise which should perform well against "Without a Trace"--CBS will win Thursday nights (remember Sunday night will now be there big Must see night--but it will continue to be strong and competitive on Thursdays and may even make "Third Watch" a true hit.

For you "Scrubs" fans out there--I'm not cancelling it--instead I would move it to Wednesday nights--one of NBC's strongest nights thanks to "The West Wing" and the original "Law and Order". What would I do? I would either move or cancel "Ed" probably move "Ed" to Tuesday nights and put "Fraiser" and "Scrubs" on Wednesdays at 8:00 and 8:30 followed by "The West Wing" and "Law and Order" this would gurantee that Wed. would continue to be a strong night for NBC--and both "Fraiser" and "Scrubs" should pull better ratings than "Ed" as the lead in on the night.

I think Friday nights (even though tv viewereship is down) has potential. I would (possibly) move Ed to the 8-9 hour slate now home to "Providence" then I would put "Crossing Jordan" on at the 9-10 hour (Dateline is there now) and then put "Dateline" on at 10-11.

Obviously Monday and Tuesday would need major changes. I would opt for high quality comedy and drama pilots--continue with "Fear Factor" and "Dateline", but would move Date line from Tuesdays at ten to Monday at ten. So Monday would have: Fear Factor, some new 60-minute drama or two sitcoms and then Dateline.

Saturdays I would continue with NBC Saturday night at the movies.

But I think under this reorganization NBC would be strong on Sundays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and improved on Fridays--and hold its own on Mondays. Tuesdays will be a major work in progress and will depend on the quality of pilots.

[Will and Grace Fanatic]

My personal opinion:

On Thursdays next season, Will and Grace should be on at the 8:00 against Survivor, Cause last season they even beat out Survivor with rerun episodes sometimes.

At 8:30 Scrubs, it's doing really well after Friends

9:00 Boomtown, being called the best new drama, could beat out CSI.

10:00 ER, despite the fact that many actor have left this show it is still a top 3 hit.

If NBC did this schedule on Thursday, I'm sure they'll win.

By the way another critics favorite show Push, Nevada is going to be put against Will and Grace and CSI. Likely it will still some CSI viewers bringing CSI's ratings down. Very unlikey it will still Will and Grace viewers.

[Superbatboy]

Let's see, at NBC:

I would move Frasier back to Thursday nights at 9:00pm. Then Move Will and Grace to 8:00pm and have Scrubs either at 8:30 or 9:30. ER would stay where it's at. If Just Shoot Me was still on, I would schedule that at 9:00pm on Tuesday and then program new comedies in and around that. Then I'd move all of NBC's reality series to Fridays. Monday at NBC would be drama night, Starting off with The West Wing at 8, Law & Order at 9, and Providence at 10. That would surely destroy CBS's Monday powerhouse. The other two Law and Orders would be at 10pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays respectively. Ed would occupy the 8pm slot on Wednesdays, and I would schedule two more comedies in the 9pm hour on Wednesday, to counter Fox and ABC. On Sunday Dateline would occupy the 9pm slot. And Saturday night at 8 there would be reruns of old NBC favorites (ie Golden Girls, ALF, Cheers, 227, Diff'rent Strokes, Fresh Prince) and at 9 the Saturday night movie would be scheduled.