Saturday, November 20, 2010

Fox moves Idol- so what happens to the other guys?

A lot of focus last night on the Fox midseason schedule was over the effective cancellation of Fringe in moving it to Fridays and whether or not Idol had enough juice left handle the move. I personally am more interested in what this will do to the other networks, especially a few key other shows.

ABC:
I think it could be argued that ABC is in the worst shape to handle this Idol relocation. Their Thursday 8pm hour is a nightmare right now and Wipeout was slated there as a temporary player. Wipeout is not strong enough to handle even a reduced Idol if you ask me. The new management team at ABC have been even more slow-footed than the previous regime meaning they've wasted the fall when they could've launched a reality show here this month. Meanwhile, ABC's Tuesdays were basically set to fold until DWTS returns. Now that Tuesdays are wide open again at midseason, ABC has No Ordinary Family at 8/7c to die against Glee, while giving a show they've basically already cancelled in V, the cushy 9pm hour. I think ABC's Wednesday comedies will seen some dips against Idol but have done a nice job of solidifying the night as theirs so far so I'm not seeing much concern there.

NBC:
NBC is also going to feel the effects of Idol but stands to gain viewers for the Biggest Loser on Tuesdays. Community is going to get hammered on Thursdays even more so now but I'm hopeful that both Community and the Big Bang Theory have their own audiences that are basically-Idol proof. The new Thursday 8:30 comedy however, will be lucky to pull Community-level numbers now. I don't see NBC's planned new Wednesday lineup of Minute to Win It, Chase, and SVU being affected. SVU doesn't need a lead in and it wouldn't have gotten one against Chase regardless. Minute to Win It handled Idol okay last year.

CBS:
This network will see the least problems. Survivor has handled Idol before. Criminal Minds won't be affected. Their Tuesday lineup will remain very solid from 8/7c to 10/9c. The Big Bang Theory could be affected but if I know BBT fans, they'll simply wait until 8:30 to flip to Idol results (this is something Fox didn't obviously think a lot about when they decided to keep the Idol results at an hour). CSI could be negatively impacted by Bones, especially Bones with a monster lead in.

CW:
This network is such a question mark to begin with these days but ultimately I don't think it's a major deal for them. I think the Vampire Diaries can handle Idol and we already know Top Model can. Nikita may see positives from no longer facing Fringe. Hellcats will probably be negatively impacted by Idol on Wednesdays at 9. That said, they have a hole on Tuesdays at 9/8c now that Life Unexpected is gone so I could see Hellcats or Vampire Diaries moving should they have problems.

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