NBC To Move "Lights" to Wednesdays, Keep "Studio 60" on Mondays

NBC has just issued a press release announcing mid-season changes to their schedule including an expected move for freshman drama "Friday Night Lights" and not-so-expected decision to keep Aaron Sorkin's struggling new series "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" on Monday nights at 10pm.

In the press release, NBC also announced the January launch of their new reality series "Grease: You're The One That I Want" as well as the new cycle of Donald Trump's reality contest "The Apprentice", for the very first time set in Los Angeles.

Despite industry buzz that "Friday Night Lights" would be moving to Sunday nights once the NFL season is concluded (the somewhat naive reasoning being football fans would continue to tune in on Sundays), the rookie drama set in the heart of Texas will return in its new timeslot on Wednesday, January 10 at 8pm where it would face Bones on FOX, as well as a new cycle of "Dancing with the Stars" on ABC and post-apocalypse drama "Jericho" on CBS in the spring .

As previously reported, "Dateline NBC" will take over the Tuesday at 8 spot on December 26, and the second edition of the news magazine will be added on Sundays at 7pm as of February 11.

"The Apprentice" returns for its sixth cycle on January 7 at a special time 9:30-11pm. The first two episodes will be 90 minutes long. The show will then move to its regular spot on January 21 and air for the rest of the season from 9-10pm (apart from occasional super-sized sweeps installments). "Crossing Jordan" returns in the post-Apprentice slot at 10pm on January 21.


NBC's new reality show based on the popular motion picture starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John "Grease: You're The One I Want" also premieres on January 7 with a 90-minute installment from 8-9:30pm. The show will switch to one-hour format from January 21. The series is produced by BBC Worldwide.

Also worth noting is that NBC's struggling Monday night drama "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" about production of a live television sketch show from Aaron Sorkin, the creator of "The West Wing", will remain on Monday nights at 10pm, a decision that might raise several eyebrows.


The show is considered to be incompatible to its lead-in, the popular sci-fi series "Heroes" and it now regularly loses more than half of its audience. The drama is however very popular in the more affluent and highly-educated households for which reason NBC will stick to it for at least the rest of the season.

Previously announced mid-season entries "The Black Donnellys" and "Raines" have not been given a new timeslot as yet. Although the former series about Irish mafia brothers living in New York was originally to replace ER during a limited winter run on Thursday nights, the network will now be looking for a new home for the series, given ER's surprising new strength.

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