CRAIG: 8:00 Manifest; 9:00 The Blacklist; 10:00 Dateline
SHILO: 8:00 New Amsterdam; 9:00 The Blacklist; 10:00 Dateline
ACTUAL SCHEDULE: 8:00 The Blacklist; 9:00 Dateline (2 Hours)
CRAIG: When in doubt, expand Dateline to two hours. Not the worst idea in the world. Definitely a safe one.
SHILO: This is a decidedly conservative decision from NBC. They have a fairly crowded schedule as it is, so two hours of Dateline when they have quite a bit of scripted to get through next season was something of a surprise. Interestingly, Dateline will have to do battle with two-hour 20/20 episodes, so the ratings gains it gets from airing at 9:00 with a compatible lead-in might be muted, but in the absolute sense, this should be a win for NBC.
I do wonder, though, how The Blacklist will hold up facing Hawaii Five-0 and whether we’ll see two-hour Datelines all season. If the 9:00 Dateline is just a placeholder for something else, what does it say about NBC’s feelings on its lower-priority scripted shows?
