ABC and Fox Adjust Skeds
Post-strike strategies to get back in the game
By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/25/2008
With the writers' strike behind them, ABC and Fox are tinkering with their spring primtetime schedules, trying to get as much out of the season as they can.
For ABC, the most noteworthy move is moving Lost back an hour to 10 p.m. Thursdays and pushing rookie Eli Stone out of the time slot. Lost will return with new episodes April 24, when the network will bring back the rest of its Thursday lineup of Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy.
ABC is still considering where to plug in the rest of Eli Stone's 13-episode order.
ABC also is bringing back Desperate Housewives April 13 with five originals and a two-hour season finale. Brothers and Sisters returns April 20 for four new episodes. Samantha Who (April 7) and Boston Legal (April 8) will also return with six original episodes each.
At Fox, hit medical drama House will be back with new episodes April 28 and is moving to a new time slot, Monday at 9. Bones will return with new episodes Monday, April 14, at 8 p.m. Comedy Til Death will have a new episode March 25, and it will shift to its new time slot, Wednesday at 8, on April 16. Freshman comedy Back to You returns with new episodes Feb. 26 and 27, and then is on hiatus until April 16, when it moves to its new time slot on Wednesdays at 8:30. Another freshman comedy, Unhitched, will premiere March 2 at 9:30, following Fox's Sunday-night animation block.
The Return of Jezebel James initially had a cushy post-American Idol premiere date, but the comedy will instead debut Friday, March 14, at 8.
Canterbury's Law will premiere March 10 at 8, while another new drama, New Amsterdam, debuts March 4 before moving to its regular time slot March 10 at 9. Summer reality staple Hell's Kitchen will return with new episodes April 1.
