NBC Brings Back the Super-Size for Sitcoms

NBC is unabashedly returning to its super-sizing ways May 11 when it stretches episodes of Will & Grace, My Name Is Earl and The Office to 40 minutes each between 8 and 10 p.m. ET on a Thursday night it is calling “Super-Sized Comedy Night.”

NBC is bringing back the super-sizing strategy it has used often in past sweeps periods, beginning in February 2001, when it stretched Friends to 40 minutes to help counter CBS’s move of Survivor to Thursday nights.

Will & Grace will kick off the night with the penultimate episode of the series’ final season, followed by the season finales of Earl and The Office.  The season finale of The Office was written by star Steve Carell.