From the Futon Critic

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.a...=20061025nbc01

NBC RE-MAKES TWO-HOUR COMEDY BLOCK ON THURSDAYS WITH RETURN OF 'SCRUBS' AND MOVE OF '30 ROCK' TO JOIN 'MY NAME IS EARL' AND 'THE OFFICE' BEGINNING NOVEMBER 30

MOVE IS PRECEDED BY SPECIAL 'SUPER-SIZED' NIGHT OF COMEDY FEATURING 40-MINUTE EPISODES OF 'EARL,' 'THE OFFICE' AND '30 ROCK' ON NOVEMBER 16

BURBANK - October 25, 2006 - NBC will return the Emmy Award-nominated "Scrubs" and move freshman comedy "30 Rock" to Thursday nights beginning November 30 to form a new two-hour 8-10 p.m. (ET) comedy block with "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office." The change will follow a special super-sized night of comedy two weeks earlier on Thursday, November 16, with three 40-minute episodes of "My Name Is Earl," "The Office" and "30 Rock."

The announcements were made by Kevin Reilly, President, NBC Entertainment.

"We are excited about the prospect of two-hours of top-notch comedy on Thursday nights, which includes the return of 'Scrubs,'" said Reilly. "We will stay on-brand with the best comedy block on television, which will position us for the future on the night."

Beginning November 30, NBC's Thursday-night lineup will be "My Name Is Earl" (8-8:30 p.m. ET); "The Office" (8:30-9 p.m. ET); "Scrubs" (9-9:30 p.m. ET); and "30 Rock" (9:30-10 p.m. ET). "ER" will continue at 10-11 p.m. (ET).

Starting November 22, NBC will feature various specials on Wednesdays (8-9 p.m. ET), which will soon be announced.

Congrats, NBC! You just got me for an extra half hour a week.

No way I'm hanging out for 30 Rock, though.

Yay another Supersized Office !

These are game shows??

I'll finally have something to watch on Thursdays at 9.

too bad they didnt move the office back to the later time slot that it had last season

Look at Scrubs in an anchor timeslot... they grow up so fast.

I'm just glad it's no long Scrubs vs. House.

Excellent News!

Funny, yesterday while I was watching 30 Rock, I thought, they could actually have 4 good comedies on Thursday, should they move 30 Rock and Scrubs there.

Yea, I don't think 20 Good Years is going to make it.

Is this the first time there has been a complete night of laugh-trackless sitcoms?

Thursdays are even more crowded now.

Nice to see NBC doing something that makes sense. Hopefully this will result in decent ratings for 30 Rock, but I will still be skipping My Name Is Earl.

Putting it up against the 2 highest rated shows on television sounds like a great idea

thats awesome news!! I dont know if it will do better in ratings but paired with my name is ear, the office and scrubs thats the best hour and a half of tv

Brilliant strategy, I may start watching Earl now.

Let me go ahead and share alittle something special with you that i like to call Perry's perspective: one, if someone is standing in front of me in line at the coffee shop and can't decide what they want in the half hour it took to get to the register then i should be allowed to kill them; two, i am fairly sure that if they took porn off the internet, there would only be one website left and it would be called bring back the porn; three, and most importantly of all, the only way to be respected as a doctor and a man is to be an island, you are born alone, you damn sure die alone. isn't that right spike? the point is, and you might want to jot this down, only the weak need help

I’ll bet they’re counting on the turn-on-the-TV-and-you-can’t-miss-it syndication of Scrubs, as well as Braff’s movie career, to spark new interest in the show.

Kinda like what happened in the later seasons of Friends.

Finally a show worthy of the Seinfeld slot. There has been a gaping comedy hole in the 9 o'clock spot since 1998. It only took the network six years to realize what a workhorse show it is. Good to have a night of reality free comedy back. Unfortunately they ruined that timeslot over the past eight years and it no longer holds the prestige it once did.

It will be nice to have three of the best comedies back to back. The only thing that would make this sweeter would be a purchase & resurrection of Arrested Development for the 9:30 slot.

Looks like I'll be dropping Grey's Anatomy. Five episodes into the new season and it still hasn't recovered from the jump-the-shark nonsense of last season's final 3-4 episodes. I was debating dumping it the other night after I watched the most recent episode. Scrubs just seals the deal.

One of, if not, the funniest lines in the shows run.

This is actually a great idea. I'm actually digging 30 Rock so far so this lineup makes sense, especially with ER doing well again. I'm a bit worried about them going toe to toe with CSI & Grey's, but SOMETHING has to go there and comedies might be decent counter-programming.

I'm a bit confused...is NBC actually dialing back to one night of DOND? It's doing well on Mondays. Could it be that they're actually conserving it to avoid wearing it out like ABC did their big game show hit a few years back?

Yessss!!!

Got into this show immensely right after the 5th season ended. Can't wait to finally watch the show when it actually airs!

I am really glad to have Scrubs back and putting it with the Office is gold...but Thursday at 9pm is so jam packed (Grey's, CSI, The OC, Supernatural), I'm really worried... I'd much rather have the 8pm hour be The Office and Scrubs and move Earl to the 9pm slot (mostly because I think I'm done with Earl, this season has been a let down). Either way, I'll be watching...somehow.

MATT

Sounds like it. The new game show will be on Fridays with Las Vegas and L&O, right? Unless they put DOND on Wednesdays at 8 est after this switch and cancel the lithgow show.

This is awesome! I don't care what it is up against, I'll be watching Scrubs.