WB Shuffles Sked Slightly

The WB Television Network is literally moving a mountain to get its fall schedule right.

The network is shifting half-hour comedies Blue Collar TV and Drew Carey's Green Screen Show from Wednesday at 8 and 8:30, respectively, to Thursday nights at the same time to make way for young-targetted drama, The Mountain, which moves from Thursday into the Wednesday 8-9 slot.

WB CEO Jordan Levin said the moves were counterprogramming to schedule shifts elsewhere.

Specifically, The WB had seen an opportunity to counterprogram the Thursday hour--Sitcom Joey on NBC, and reality shows Survivor on CBS and Extreme Makeover on ABC--when it initially scheduled The Mountain. Fox two days later announced it was slating its own popular young-targeted drama, The O.C., at Thursday at 8 (a new time for the sophomore show) opposite The Mountain, prompting WB to rethink its move.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.