Will Parenthood bring back the prestige (and good ratings) that the NBC Thursdays at 10:00 slot once enjoyed?
CRAIG: They hope! But really, I’m not sure. Scandal and Elementary are the competition, both are very strong shows, and neither one of those shows makes the audience cry as often. It does follow this “family trend” of NBC Thursday this year… but I still really don’t know. The acclaimed Thursday NBC dramas I remember were almost all procedural in nature, whether it’s police or hospital. I think L.A. Law was even there. Then again, if anything screams “family procedural” it is this one.
SHILO: I’m not sure that the prestige ever fully left NBC Thursdays at 10:00, though the night has been inconsistent qualitatively and decidedly poor in terms of ratings for several years. What should help Parenthood is that unlike fellow critical darlings Awake and Hannibal, it wasn’t thrown into the Thursday lion’s den and expected to continue the long line of success in the time slot that once housed ER, L.A. Law, and Hill Street Blues. It has its own audience from four seasons on Tuesdays, three of which being favorably scheduled with The Biggest Loser, and is the best tonal fit of any recent drama the network has tried in the slot, in addition to being self-contained enough to jump into without having caught up on past seasons.
However, Parenthood will be the only new drama in its timeslot, with Scandal coming off an electrifying second season and Elementary potentially getting a boost from a revamped comedy lineup on CBS. While it was never going to become the new top dog against this kind of competition, I don’t think that NBC had any expectations of it going from reliable solid performer to phenomenon overnight. If the show can hold most of its Tuesday audience, or even snag some new viewers to make up some of the difference, and continue to garner the type of critical adulation that it received last season, it’ll be a win for the network.
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This is one female looking forward to Reign. I’m also a fan of SPN and Arrow. I watch most of the CW’s shows. But, I’m also 36, so not the target demo anymore.
Thursday is giving my DVR a workout! I already record TBBT, and now I have a conflict between Elementary and Parenthood. NBC moving Parenthood to Thursday at 10 really shocked me. It could get creamed and I hope NBC isn’t expecting too much, or it might end up the last season just because they moved it. I’ll be recording Elementary and watching it with the mister later.
I’m totally looking forward to Reign. It looks like an AMAZING show. I already ship Mary and Sebastian. (Torrance Coombs). Such a lovely potential couple, prince is also fine, but his step brother is better :)