WEDNESDAY
SHILO: 8:00 Law & Order: SVU; 9:00 Shades of Blue; 10:00 Chicago PD
CRAIG: 8:00 Shades of Blue; 9:00 Law & Order: SVU; 10:00 Chicago PD
SHILO: To me, NBC’s Wednesdays wholly depend on what FOX does with Empire. And since I’m assuming that FOX will move the music industry soap to 8:00 in order to accommodate a new show at 9:00, I just don’t think putting something new to lead off the night would be the best decision. It’s definitely an NBC-like decision, no doubt, but I think Empire was enough of a success to get through to them and that instead of essentially burning off a project they’re obviously high on, they’ll move SVU to 8:00 to take the hit. NBC repeating SVU at 8:00 on Thursdays late this season shows me that they’re not afraid of putting it in that hour, while Jennifer Lopez cop drama Shades of Blue will get to air in the highest-viewed primetime hour with a solid lead-out in Chicago PD and possibly no direct procedural competition. Plus, this plan accomplishes Bob Greenblatt’s talk of putting all three Chicago shows on successive nights rather than consolidating their strength on 1-2, which is a better use of the franchise.
CRAIG: I’m going in with the assumption or hope that FOX keeps Empire where it is, which is why I’m keeping a known veteran at the 9 o’clock order with Law & Order: SVU, which is entering its 96th season.
Since Shades of Blue already has a series order, I figured I’d put it on at 8 to continue NBC’s whole “cop ladies” thing they have going for themselves on Wednesday nights. My apologies to Debra Messing and her scarves; I just couldn’t find room for The Mysteries of Laura on the schedule, though renewing it wouldn’t be the absolute worst thing in the world. Back to Shades of Blue, TV audiences are used to seeing JLo on Wednesdays at 8, and I’m assuming a Fall run of 13 episodes would get it down before American Idol returns in January.
I’d keep Chicago PD on Wednesdays at 10.
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1 Comment
Mysteries of Laura is low in the live demo, but high in overall viewers. And NBC’s “Woman Crush Wednesday” promotion seems to work. In total viewers, the show is NBC’s best result with in-season regularly-scheduled programming versus all regularly-scheduled competition in the Wednesday 8-9pm hour in more than five years. That counts for something.