FRIDAY
CRAIG’S PREDICTIONS: 8:00 Dateline; 9:00 Timeless; 10:00 The Blacklist
SHILO’S PREDICTIONS: 8:00 The Blacklist; 9:00 Dateline; 10:00 Chicago Justice
ACTUAL SCHEDULE: 8:00 Blindspot; 9:00 Taken; 10:00 Dateline
CRAIG: I was really surprised to see Blindspot coming back; I was just as surprised to see Taken returning. But, would two shows that didn’t perform too well earlier in the week actually perform on Fridays? Personally, I doubt it; but we’ll see.
SHILO: They got a reduced rate on Blindspot and given the way their schedule shook out, the most reasonable place to put it was Fridays at 8:00. It’s a low-priority, financially conscious way for them to have scripted on the night while allowing Blindspot, which overperformed this spring, the chance to begin its walk to syndication. What I don’t get about Fridays, though, is Taken; I understand that it’s an already cheap, international-friendly co-production that NBC got a further discount on when they renewed it, so they’ll probably make money regardless of ad revenue. But where it was a weak performer after The Voice, if they absolutely had to begin its 16-episode order in the fall, they should have moved it to Fridays at 10:00 and used Dateline on it. This would’ve gotten Dateline away from 20/20 and used it on something fairly compatible while deprioritizing Taken as much as possible. Instead, I think NBC has opted to weigh down Dateline and use Blindspot on something that probably won’t benefit much from the lead-in.
