On those rare occasions when the...
On those rare occasions when the networks realize they've made a grievous mistake and fix it, it seems only right that we should acknowledge it and say thanks.
So thanks, CBS, for doing the right thing by The Amazing Race, and more important, for the show's family audience, by moving the show back to an earlier time period. As has been much discussed since the show was moved to 10 pm/ET this spring, with a season far superior than last fall's "family" edition, the new time period was simply on too late for many of its fans to watch it live. Starting next Wednesday, April 5, Race will now air Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET for (presumably) the rest of the season. (Crime-drama repeats will take over Race's slot, and struggling freshman sitcoms Out of Practice and Courting Alex will disappear until a new time slot opens up.)
And thanks, NBC, for flipping Law & Order and Heist, also starting next Wednesday, April 5. That was an even worse miscalculation, taking the durable (if fading) courtroom drama out of its longtime roost and moving it an hour to make room for the seriously annoying new caper drama Heist. Now Law & Order will be back at 10 pm/ET, duking it out with CSI: NY and probably sending ABC's mediocre The Evidence to third place in the time period, where it belongs.
And not so much a "thanks" but a "huh?" to ABC, which decided earlier this week to return Commander in Chief, after a long hiatus, to a new night and time. Though it was previously announced to be returning to Tuesdays at 9 pm/ET starting April 18, the work-in-progress Commander is now going to be seen (but by how many?) on Thursdays at 10 pm/ET starting April 13. That puts it in the line of fire against two hit dramas: CBS' dominant Without a Trace and NBC's still-popular (though downtrending) ER. It's going to have to be a self-starter, but that's going to be harder on Thursdays than it was earlier in the season on Tuesdays. If Mackenzie Allen gets another term in office, it seems it would be a long shot. (Commander's Tuesday time period will instead be filled with comedies, with episodes of Hope & Faith paired with new episodes of long-on-the-shelf Less Than Perfect starting April 18. And ABC's Primetime newsmag moves to Fridays at 9 pm/ET in mid-April, paired with 20/20.)
