What's the deal with the wacky scheduling of the first two episodes (1st epiode- 8:30/7:30pm Thursday, January 8th; 2nd episode - 8/7pm Wednesday, January 14th). Why does a network starved for a Reality hit, who actually gets a show with a good buzz for a change, screw around with putting the Premiere on a different time and night than the rest of the show? Is it simply to try and milk "Friends" for one week before they toss Trump into a less safe spot?

Does anyone know if this is an hour or half-hour show? I'm embarassed -- almost -- to admit that I'm setting my VCR for Thursday night, because lord know I'm going to need my weekly Bowie Hogg fix.

Thursday is 90 minutes (8:30-10 eastern). I think the regular show will be an hour, at 8:00 on Wednesdays.

Kromm, NBC most likely is premiering the show after Friends to try to capitalize on the huge audience that tunes in for that show on Thursday nights, and try to hook these viewers into the show. NBC isn't a network known for fantastically rated reality shows, so I guess they are trying to improve their odds for this one.

jcpdiesel21, I realize that's the point, but I'll bet that the reality of the situations will be that all that happens is that people will take a Thursday "off" from watching NBC. Or if they do watch it on the Thursday, I think many of them fail to find it the next Wednesday, and only catch on the FOLLOWING Wednesday after they've realized it's not still on Thursday. And then because they missed a week, they'll give up on the show.

I actually think they gain far more of a ratings bump for the second episode if they broadcast the Premiere episode twice--once in the normal slot and once in some slot which otherwise might be a repeat of another show.

Hell, I could be wrong. But we won't really know for several weeks, because even if the Premiere gets huge ratings, it's the following shows which will likely take a nosedive.

I think premiering on Thursday is a great idea. It shows NBC's confidence and satisfaction with the show. Most Thursday viewers are lazy (must-see reruns still get huge ratings). Even if there is a drop-off, it's better than any other timeslot they've got. Especially leading into a new, much-publicized ER episode (Carter's return).

How is it any different than CBS premiering All-Star Survivor after the Superbowl? Or airing the finale (usually) on Sundays, for that matter?

Bottom line: People who care and are hooked will find it on Wednesday. This is gonna be a hit, I'm sure of it.

Kromm, it is kind of silly that they are premiering it one night and then airing it regularly on another. They just are looking at a big premiere, but may in fact lose viewers who mistakenly tune in on next Thursday night expecting to see the second episode.

What they will probably do during the premiere episode is continually remind us that the second episode will be seen on the following Wednesday.

It would make sense to show the premiere twice, first on Wednesday when it will regularly be on, and then perhaps as an encore on Thursday to open the show up to more viewers.

Couldn't they have done a 90-minute episode on Wednesday instead, without causing all the confusion? Oh yeah, The West Wing. Stupid NBC monkeys.

In order for NBC to get anyone to watch a new show, they premiere it Thursday - that's still NBC night for many. It makes perfect sense to me. I'm sure they'll be reminding us ad nauseum what the regular time for the show is.

If they really want to get people to watch they should let the Fab 5 do a makeover of The Donald. That would be ratings gold and a wonderful grossover.

ETA: I meant to say crossover, but I like the typo so much better.

6 minutes in and I had to run and pop in a tape. I am already this show's bitch. I hate the Donald but have to watch anything that combines my two passions, reality TV and business. Throw in For the Love of Money (Money, Money, Money, Money - Money!) as the theme song with cool-ass John Woo-type opening credits? Oh yeah. I'm not even going to deny it.

I just saw The Donald on 12/22. Man, his hair is even weirder from the back!
(I saw Trump at Tower Records in Trump Tower. Say that 10 times fast.)

Another Can't NOT Watch show!!

Does that mean the contestants who are fired will be blown away in a deafening hail of melodramatically excessive gunfire?

And doves and homeroticism and more doves...

I SWORE to myself I wasn't going to watch this show. Who am I kidding? I was hooked before the first commercial break. I couldn't take my eyes off of those mysterious swirls in his hair....it was like they were hypnotic.

It's disturbing that I enjoyed the show so much. Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment or maybe It's really research, but should I really be watching a show about keeners and cut-throught business practices when I'm a jaded law student about to enter into practice? That is, if I can secure a job in this sick, sick world we live in.

The Apprentice Scores Big



Pretty impresive.

Sadly, no. Just cool, slow-walking jacket blowing. More's the pity.

ETA: And oh my gosh. I just looked at the SN and realized I *know* you from several TARcons. Heh.

I was worried about it being on Thursday nights, since Thurs is traditionally Survivor night. So Wednesday works better for me, unless American Idol is............Jeez, I gotta get a life!

NBC has changed its mind.

Apprentice will air on Thursday after Friends next week.

CBS apparently wanted to blunt the Apprentice by schelduling a new episode of CSI against it on Wednesday and NBC got scared.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...e_apprentice_dc

This is going to totally confuse anyone who saw the big-ass commercial at the end of the last episode.

Yes, it is. But NBC will probably barrage the airwaves with plenty of commercials and reminders during programming that the show has been switched back to Thursday night. I think it's a good move to keep the big audience for at least another week, especially since CBS was going to try to stomp the Wednesday episode with CSI. Although I am miffed that a new episode of my favorite "lesser" (the article's quote, not mine) comedy Scrubs is pushed back another week.

FYI: For Ontario viewers, they repeated the premiere episode on CHCH (channel 11 from Hamilton) tonight (on Saturday night, that is) at 9 pm. Don't know if they'll do this again next week but just in case you miss Thursday's show, you can try to find it Satruday.

OK, now I'm really confused. I haven't seen the first episode yet, so I checked the NBC schedule, figuring they would repeat it. They now have Ep 1 scheduled for Wednesday at 8:00 pm, and Ep 2 scheduled for Thursday at 8:32 (?) pm. But an earlier poster said the premiere was 90 minutes, and West Wing is on Wednesday at 9:00. NBC did this crap last fall, postponing a West Wing for the baseball playoffs, and then re-adding it to the original schedule without much notice. I still haven't seen the damn thing.

This is how you screw up an emerging potential hit show by the numbers! You totally confuse your viewers! :-)

Last I heard, they were showing an abbreviated version of the premiere on Wednesday, so it'll only be an hour. West Wing should be on as usual. The change was in response to CBS's attempt to stomp NBC by putting a new CSI up against the second ep on Wednesday, and a rerun CSI on Thursday. As soon as CBS announced that, NBC switched the second ep to Thursday against the rerun CSI.

As it stands now, it's a new ep of CSI on Wednesday against the edited rerun of the The Apprentice first ep; and then a rerun CSI against the 2nd ep of The Apprentice on Thursday.

Was watching American Dreams when all of a sudden there was a commercial announcing that The Apprentice was coming on after Friends this Thursday night!

The show should switch to Wednesdays and stay there.

Well, I have to go back to The Surreal Life.

I'm not sure the suggested sequence (CBS puts a new CSI on Wednesday; NBC then panics and moves Apprentice out of the way to Thursday) makes sense. The big numbers that the premiere got were against a new CSI. Why would NBC be afraid of the second ep going against a new CSI? Isn't it more likely that NBC put it on Thursday again because it did so well that they wanted to both repeat the first ep to pick up new people and give the second ep the plum spot on Thursday?

It doesn't make sense to me that they would have run scared from a new CSI.

Apparently, the new CSI ep is generating a whole lot of buzz among die-hard CSIers, since spoilers indicate that it may break the whole Gil/Sara 'ship out into the open, which TPTB have carefully avoided doing for 3 and a half seasons. Or it may not.

CBS is the network who was/is running scared-they're the ones who started the dance in the first place. NBC has countered once and is now standing pat--rerun ep1 Wednesday, run ep2 Thursday. CBS has changed their schedule at least three times so far, since they're now saying that the new CSI is going to be on Thursday. CBS really-really-really doesn't want to lose Thursday night; it would be major news if the top-rated show goes down to a (gasp! ack! say it isn't so!) reality show.

Well this sucks for those of us who are fans of Scrubs. I was behind this show in a regular Wednesday night slot, but if it's going to start screwing up my Thursday TV watching, that's another thing entirely.

Stick with your original plan, NBC - Wednesday night Apprentice.

I would guess that Burnett has some clause that prevents NBC from scheduling Apprentice opposite ASS when it starts, so NBC is trying to milk the Thursday slot for what it's worth now.

bookgirl - you're exactly right. This New York Times' article details the CBS/NBC battle over timeslots:

TV Show Spurs Moves and Countermoves From CBS and NBC

My TiVo still doesn't know about the Wednesday showing this week. KEEP UP scheduling people!!!

I think keeping Apprentice on Thursday one more week is a fine idea. A Simple Life probably grabs a lot of the same demographic, so it's nice not to compete with the finale. Plus, it's gotten a lot of word of mouth around here this week. It's been nice to tell people about the re-airing of Ep#1. I wish all pilots would show twice.

Maybe it will move to Wednesday next week?

LOL @ the schedule battle. They're gonna mess around and no one's gonna see CSI or Apprentice. LOL

I liked The Apprentice, though. I'll try to watch if they can stop passing around the episodes like a hot potato.

Dang!! I was psyched about The App tonight--but yahoo says it's a repeat and from what you all have written--that sounds right, aaarrggg. I'm mad. I hate being addicted to Mark Burnett's stupid sagas but I am, and I want to feel like I know "my" schedule! Crikey! I'll check it out anyway just to make sure but bleh!

Well, it is a repeat. We will have to wait till tomorrow.

Isn't this show an hour long? Because they have it listed for tonight from 8:30 until 9:00 only, does anyone know if that's correct. Maybe they are splitting it into two parts?

I'm looking at the grid for my cable system right now. It shows The Apprentice as hour-long, starting at 8:30 EST.

That's strange, mine has Will and Grace at 9. Maybe they'll push it back to 9:30. I guess I'll have to tune in and see what happens. Thanks!

What the fuck. When is the non-repeat second episode going to be shown, or did The Hair pull the plug on the whole thing ? I am so confused.

Thanks, jcpdiesel21.

The official NBC website lists episode two of The Apprentice at a full hour tonight, starting at 8:32 PM EST/7:32 CST. Will & Grace has been pushed back to 9:28 PM EST/8:28 CST.

Hopefully the show will switch to Wednesday next week, and we won't have to deal with this last-minute rescheduling nonsense again.

Yes, thanks jcpdiesel

I've never really understood why people get so upset about two different shows they want to see being on at the same time. Doesn't nearly everyone in this country have either TiVo or a VCR? Tape one and watch it later. I don't get what all the angst is about on the part of the viewer.

I undestand the angst on the part of the networks. They can't monitor how many people record the show, only how many watch it when it airs and so they want people to watch their show and not someone else's. But on the part of the viewer I don't understand what the big deal is. But then, I've never been one of those who had to see the show at the exact same time the rest of the country is (which doesn't happen anyway when you consider the West Coast), but whatever.

Personally, tonight I will watch Friends and TA and tape the new ep of CSI to watch later. I've never been a Survivor fan, so that's not an issue for me.

Am I missing something?

Yeah - something's missing. Like my cable company/VCR interface that won't allow me to tape and watch at the same time. And when I tried to get it straightened out, the cable co and the VCR folk fell all over themselves pointing at one another. Even my very tech-savvy friends can't figure it out, but I know several people in my area with the same problem. So.....no, I can't watch and tape at the same time. And it pisses me off! Arrrrgh! No, wait, that's Survivor - right?

ETA: Not snarking at you Rhonda. It's just a real sore spot in my "viewing pleasure".

Skycatcher -- you wouldn't happen to live in SoCal, would you? Because it's the exact same conundrum here. Everywhere else I've ever had cable -- Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Iowa City (freakin' Iowa City, people!) -- it's been no problem. But then I moved to L.A., and the Cable Company that Shall Remain Nameless (But Rhymes with Bombast) is all, "What? Watch one show and tape another at the same time? Modern science cannot operate at such speeds!" Yeah, whatever, Heisenberg.

I don't have an issue taping two different shows, as I have a tivo in one room and a VCR in another room. Of course it gets really hectic when I have to tape three shows at the same time...lol

I'm in New York (and pay a ton of money for digital cable!) and I have the same problem. Something about the cable box can only be set to one channel at a time. When I go out of town on a trip, I have to decide which channel I need the most and only tape the shows on that channel. I assign each of my friends a different channel and pray they'll remember to do the taping. We all do this for each other. It gets very complicated.

Speaking on topic: This is my first reality show and I'm kind of annoyed at how much I'm looking forward to seeing the second episode.

You're right on, Oh Vienna. I'm in W.L.A., and the cable company does rhyme just as you said. I'm in telecommunications, have tons of engineering-type friends that can build you a world-wide communications system overnight, and they can't get the damn thing to work either. I've given up, which burns me, because that's just what that #$%@$!! cable company counts on.

LOL @ Alia James - you poor puppy. You have no idea what trouble you're in now. ESPECIALLY with these boards to come back to after each viewing. It's totally addicting, and can lead to checking out such unheard of pleasures as American Idol, Survivor and many others, just so you can come here and snark with the rest of us. I've never seen something called The Amazing Race, and now I can't wait for it because of these boards.

Oh, Sky, Sky, Sky, how I envy you reading Miss Alli's Amazing Race recaps. They are little bits of starlight on your screen. Go read them now. We'll wait. And, no, you don't even need to have seen the shows or even know what the contestants look like. They're just that good.

Topic, sorta? I hate Bombast, too, and for the same reason Alia James does. We can put crap on Mars and yet we can't tape one show and watch another. Misuse of funds? I think so. Fortunately, there's nothing that I'm panting to see on opposite Donald and The Sycophants tonight.

When I lived in W. LA and wanted to watch one channel while taping another one, the only way it could be done was to rent two cable boxes. That's right, pay the price of another box just to use my VCR the way God meant it to be used.

I am so glad I don't deal with them any more. Have you ever considered DirecTV?

This is actually a smart move by NBC.

They will have the audience left over sticking around from Friends, a lot of whom undoubtedly will like the show and become a loyal audience. Also, it would prevent people from switching over to Survivor come Feb 1st and would keep them there for the whole 7 pm hour.