Networks Mull Midseason Moves

With ABC’s Dancing With the Stars set for Thursday nights starting in January, competitors are considering midseason moves, Reuters reports.

Fox is considering moving American Idol to Thursday to grab a greater share of movie marketing dollars studios lavish on the night. NBC may follow suit with My Name Is Earl, which has emerged as primetime’s top-rated comedy in the coveted adults 18-49 demographic.

The jockeying for position is a continuation of a trend first triggered at May’s upfront period, when several networks made bold scheduling changes while the network that once owned the night, NBC, has stuck with a shaky lineup that has only grown weaker this season.

No one is ruling out the possibility of a major scheduling shakeup on TV’s most lucrative night as November sweeps approaches.

“We think about it, we’ve talked about it, it’s a possibility,” Preston Beckman, executive vp strategic program planning at Fox, said of a Thursday Idol move. “But right now we have the right plan going forward for our schedule.”

“It’s something we’ll look at really carefully,” Mitch Metcalf, executive vp program planning and scheduling at NBC, said of the prospect of moving Earl. “The last thing we want to do is damage an asset.”