30 Rock and Scrubs to swap slots !
By fred | April 21, 2008
This is probably going to be seen as good news by 30 Rock fans, but as bad news for fans of Scrubs. As someone who loves & enjoys both shows each week, I think I will say this is a good news. And no, that doesn’t mean I love 30 Rock more than I do Scrubs…
There are only three episodes left this season for both series, and those episodes will air on the date they were supposed to, just not on the time originally planned. Switching slots, new installments of Scrubs will now air Thursdays at 8.30 after My Name Is Earl, while Tina Fey’s sitcom will have the honor to come at 9.30 right after new episodes of The Office.
It makes sense for NBC to swap those two shows, because clearly they want to promote 30 Rock as much as possible, while they don’t care anymore about Scrubs. And of their entire comedy night, there’s no question that the number one show, in terms of ratings, is The Office. That both in total viewers, or on the demo (last Thursday on the demo The Office was the number one show of the entire night).
Granted, the show didn’t have to face Grey’s Anatomy - back this week - and CSI was a rerun. All of that helped, and will make things more challenging this Thursday without a doubt. Still, the same could be said one hour earlier, as new episodes of Ugly Betty will be back at 8.00 as well.
Despite not being a major hit in ratings, 30 Rock received critical success and won a few awards already, which had NBC to already renew the show for a third season. In the mean time, they refused to order more episodes for this truncated season of Scrubs (due to the strike), despite creator Bill Lawrence’s insistence and the agreement that this season would be the very last one of the show.
NBC wouldn’t give them a chance to give the series a proper series finale, so obviously they don’t really care about Scrubs anymore. But that’s alright, because we know that the show will be back for a final season, on ABC. Even if Scrubs is moved at 8.30 and doesn’t perform as good as it used to an hour later, this should not have any impact on its return next season.
But for 30 Rock, this could mean a little boost in the ratings, and God knows the show could use such a thing. It’s not that it’s been doing bad, but it hasn’t been doing extremely well either, yet the show is pretty hilarious. With now a strong lead-in who always performs well on the demo, one could hope - as NBC do - that the show might see its audience grow, and that could only be a good thing.
It is easy to understand this decision, and quite frankly to support it as well. So mark your calendars : on this busy Thursday and for their final episodes this season, Scrubs will air at 8.30, while 30 Rock will come in at 9.30 after The Office.
