Shocker: NBC May Bail on 10 pm Hour
NBC‘s 10 pm programming block may soon become must-flee TV.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the network may stop programming the 10-11 pm hour, potentially giving those seven hours to local TV stations. The idea — which could take effect as early as Fall 2023 — is reportedly being considered as a way to cut costs amid declining linear ratings.
NBC’s current 10 pm series include Law & Order: Organized Crime, Chicago P.D., the soon-to-conclude New Amsterdam and the about-to-launch Quantum Leap reboot.
If the plan gets the green light, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon would likely move from 11:30 pm to 11 pm (or, perhaps, as early as 10:30 pm, per WSJ).
An NBC rep declined our request for comment, but a network spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal in a statement, “We are always looking at strategies to ensure that our broadcast business remains as strong as possible. As a company, our advantage lies in our ability to provide audiences with the content they love across broadcast, cable and streaming.”
NBC famously — or infamously? — toyed with a similar experiment back in Sept. 2009 when it replaced its 10 pm programming on Monday-Friday with The Jay Leno Show. The ill-fated move lasted just five months and 95 episodes.
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They would still be programming fall Saturdays and Sundays because football would still be running
I have no idea what time shows come on anyway since I record all of the shows that I want to see, and view them over the weekend. What does matter to me is that if there is a show I like that is cancelled, they can be on the network schedules at any time but they’ve lost me and other viewers when they cancel a well-liked show.
Truthfully, there aren’t many series on anymore that I like anyway, and each year as my favorites are cancelled I go more and more to streaming channels and away from network tv. They are the ones who are putting themselves out of business with all of the stupid things they’ve been doing with their programming. When they look back in a few years, they are finally going to realize why they went out of business.
NBC stopped trying years ago. There has been a lack of innovation amongst broadcast networks and streaming programming has taken over watercooler talk. It’s a pity, the network that once had Must See TV now has no comedy hits. Instead, they have 6 hours of Dick Wolf and still run The Voice twice a year…this is lazy programming. Yes, it’s also crazy that their competitor ABC will be running 4 hours of Bachelor in Paradise this fall.
Tsk tsk, TVLine: NBC replaced its 10pm programming Monday-Friday with The Jay Leno Show in 2009, not with The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Because at the time it was The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, on after The Jay Leno show. Remember? Team Coco!
I hate this! What’ll they do with all the programming?? Start an hour earlier? No. Just lose shows. Suck…
Most likely, it’ll be like what Fox affiliate tv stations have been doing since the late 1980s. Local late news may not start an hour earlier, but NBC affiliates may air local “news magazine” shows or specials. In the late 1980s, NBC experimented with starting prime time a half an hour earlier with a different sitcom each of Monday through Friday. Suzanne Somers had a show called “She’s the Sheriff”. The sitcoms weren’t that good, and the experiment didn’t last beyond two seasons.
That was a gimmick for their owned-and-operated stations. LA’s station was one, so Johnny Carson mentioned it a lot in his jokes.
Some of those shows aired on non-NBC stations in other cities.
Two words: “Peacock”.
That’s one word
They’ll just cancel them. Morons
Ouch. They must be bleeding money if they’re looking to do that. What would happen to the shows currently on at 10? Would they switch most shows to a 13 episode season and have a fall schedule and a spring schedule (obviously different shows, not like now)
The traditional TV season is 35-36 weeks. I think the broadcast networks could do 15-16 episodes for fall series with season finales airing in February. Spring series 13 episodes and premiere first week in March.
With long running procedurals, One Chicago, SVU still doing 22 episodes.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the average season on nets dropped to just 10 episodes, as streaming has kinda made that a norm. NBC could essentially dedicate one hour a week to a L&O wheel and another hour to a Chicago wheel.
Regarding a 10-episode season, Magnum P.I. will be a good test to see if a broadcast procedural can do an adequate job w/ a limited number of episodes. If it succeeds, other shows may have to follow suit. Especially in today’s tv environment.
Years ago I thought they should make all the L&O shows an anthology. 24 EP seasons, 8 for each show. And maybe one or two crossovers
22 episodes per season, I can picture that going away completely, at least for hour long dramas. However, I would think that the broadcast networks would still do 13 episodes (or more) for most fall series.
Right now they only have 2 successful 10pm shows in Chicago PD and L&O Organized Crime. New Amsterdam is ending, and I doubt Quantum Leap is gonna be a big success.
They’ll definitely find slots for PD and Organized Crime. My guess is they push forward the 9-11 slots on Wed & Thurs to 8pm. Then save Chicago Med and OG Law and Order for Mondays in the Winter after The Voice. They’ve struggled to find a fill in for The Voice this past Winter and Spring. Those 2 shows might be the perfect answer to cover January through May. I think Fire, PD, SVU and OC continue to do 22 episodes per season. Med and L&O might be cut down a little to 18.
Makes sense !! YOU should go work for NBC !!
Great idea! Perhaps they should also look into new hires -giving them new ideas. Cut away all of those major money makers that no longer think but just collect a paycheck and hire you for those $$$. You made it make sense – especially for those Wolf shows. We know NBC doesn’t want to lose those viewers.
So just what they did some years ago with Jay Leno at 10? Nothing to see here. Carry on.
This is different. They’re considering not showing any networks show at 10 and just leaving it up to their affiliates to show their own stuff at 10.
Yes, article mentions that
It’s not the same. They had programming at 19. It was Jay Leon’s show. The new plan is to give the hour back to affiliates so there would be no programs from NBC at that hour, similar to the format of FOX and the CW
The low ratings that Leno’s show started to have started to drag down news ratings as well. This would still give news a primetime lead-in that is hopefully stronger with Voice/Chicago/L&O shows, just at 10/9c instead of 11/10. They could program an hour of news, or half an hour mixed with half hour syndication, then the late shows starting now at 11/10c. Sunday news would run late due to football, and perhaps occasional other news due to awards shows/etc.
I’m sure you were being sarcastic but in all seriousness, the details are a little off.
Leno famously screwed over Conan. By giving over the Tonight Show and getting an hour long variety show like the kind you’d find Betty White I’m sure.
It bombed. NBC gave him the Tonight Show back. Conan had relocated to LA for this but got shoved off NBC. That’s when he went to TBS.
As I recall.
On topic: I remember Thursdays as being the night I could stay awake to watch whatever it was. Father Dowling Mysteries FTW
Conan screwed over Leno by demanding Leno’s time slot during his 2004 contract renewal. Read Bill Carter’s book. Leno’s mistake was going along with it at the time, rather than going public with the truth. If it was OK For Conan to demand Leno’s time slot, then it was certainly OK for Leno to take it back.
That was over 10 years ago. The TV landscape has changed completely since then. The truth is the networks can’t afford to have all these hours of TV to fill going forward. Shows just don’t rate high enough where they are making the money back. Personally, I think this is the right move.
Holy crap.
What would the affiliates do? Expand the late news to an hour (my bet)? Run a half-hour of syndicated crap?
Since the mention Fallon moving to 11pm/10 central, my guess is the news is at 9pm, and likely stretched to an hour though it will depend on the market. There are some newsrooms that are shared with affiliates. For example, my local CW and my local FOX share a news studio, so CW airs news at the start of primetime and bumps the CW offerings back an hour. I’m not sure offhand if any NBC affiliates share with a CW or FOX studio, but if they do, they’ll have to similarly work out how to program that.
I’m in central, so when I said 9pm, I meant news at 9pm central or 10 e/p.
Yeah, the more I think of it the more it makes sense to just extend the news to an hour and keep all the ad revenue for that half hour, as opposed to running a court show and selling only a couple minutes, or whatever they get. Even a low-budget station could find some way to pad out that hour.
They could do worse than run Classic Arts Showcase in the hour.
So dumb. It’s not like we need any more news. By the time the evening news comes on to report stuff, we have all learned it from our phones hours earlier. The news cycle is fast…even for ppl that don’t do much on their phones. This is a huge mistake!
You know how to be competitive at the late hour? Get good shows! Stop canceling other shows when ppl are invested!
Stop trying to make ppl use/get peacock. I get peacock free through NY service provider. It’s free and simple to get to. Do I use it? NOPE! I’m a DOEHARD olympics fan. They moved a LOT of the Olympics stuff to peacock. And I still didn’t use peacock. Not all of us want to stream. We watch it live or DVR it. And let’s be honest…most of NBC’s stuff is for “older” audiences. Those are usually the ones geared toward tv and NOT streaming.
It’s true not everyone wants to stream, but that group grows smaller by the day. There was just a report out that more people are streaming than watching broadcast and cable. That number is just gonna continue to get bigger.
Peacock is honestly a good service. I think it’s only gonna get better as they continue to invest in it and advertise it. I always recommend it when I have a chance.
Ultimately I think broadcast will exist for 2 main reasons: news and live sports. Eventually I think we’ll maybe see 3-4 original scripted series airing on each broadcast network total. With one airing each night Mon-Thur.
A return to the days of cheap syndicated dramas?? I pray to Saints Dempsey and Makepeace it’s true!
Yuck! Not EVERYONE only wants to stream! Sometimes we enjoy watching TV!
I don’t stream at all! This would s^ck.
Agree 100%…but it’ll just look like Fox’s schedule mostly. Earlier news, earlier late night shows, etc. Then maybe reruns of stuff?? Or show old shows or stupid infomercials 🤦♀️
Look at Fox’s ratings. Most of their shows reflect this.
I refuse to get Peacock so do your worst NBC. Idiots.
Why refuse? It’s a good service. You get a lot for your money. I recommend it.
Because I already pay for NBC through my cable company and watching ads. This is double dipping. Just like Paramount Plus. I’m glad you enjoy it, but for me it’s the principle.
N B C, don’t toy with an with even an idea of changing your 10p m.
Slot. Learn from your 2009 time.
Looks like they’re trying to force more subscriptions to their Peacock service. Good luck with that.
That is just what I was thinking! Stupid move – not all of us are going to pay more than we already do…especially with all the tax crap coming our way.
This is the way of the future… we complain but when less and less shows are getting a 1.5 rating, stations are going to find new models to get business. In 15 years i expect cable to go away completely and everything be subscription
And force people to watch ads. As long as cable lets us DVR all of the stations they carry, the networks are losing ad revenue they think they capture if they drive viewers to streaming services.
It’s NBC…they will move the 10 pm shows to the premium tier of Peacock streaming and then up the rate once everyone is hooked on the shows. Doing it to Days of Our Lives starting Sept 12th, but most people didn’t notice/care because it’s daytime. Now that prime time might be affected, it will only get worse.
I mean, they only have 13 million subscribers. They have to try and do something to get people to watch.
This is us was only pulling in 2 million people… getting 13 million subscribers seems like a win
That’s crazy! I love my Chicago PD & Organized Crime at 10pm. Especially PD. Makes no sense to me!
I give broadcast 5 years.
That’s being generous…not sure it has 3 sadly!
Sounds like another “New Coke” decision coming out of NBC – guaranteed to end badly – if anyone thinks starting Fallon earlier will take viewer share away from Colbert, think again – maybe we need Hank Voight to pay a visit to 30 Rock and explain reality?????
What gives with you people,anyway. You want more money,raise the advertising rates or lower the rates these actors are paid.
My wife and I live on SS and are comfortable. We do not owe any one money
So we’d probably see a schedule like:
MON: Voice (fall) / Comedies (midseason)
TUES: Voice (fall) / Chicago Med (midseason)
Chicago Fire
WED: Law & Order
Chicago PD
THURS: SVU
Organized Crime
FRI: 2 Hour Dateline (unless they use less hours to do scripted here and program Dateline on Saturdays instead of encores)
SUN: Football (fall) / La Brea if still strong, Quantum Leap if hits, etc. type shows midseason
– Unless Mariska/co. decide to end SVU or otherwise cut down on the procedurals, or make some Peacock exclusives. We might also see shorter seasons and splits similar to what FOX does with the 9-1-1- Franchise so far –
I would go with a schedule like this…
Mon:
Fall
The Voice (2hr)
Win/Spr
Chicago Med
Law and Order
Tue:
Fall
The Voice
La Brea
Win
That’s my Jam
Comedy Hour
Spr
Unscripted
Magnum PI
Wed:
Chicago Fire
Chicago PD
Thur:
SVU
Organized Crime
Fri:
Dateline (2hr)
Sun:
Fall
SNF
Win/Spr
New Drama
Unscripted
Oh I’d probably do something different with more shared slots if I was programming it, just giving an example of how much Dick Wolf could still dominate the schedule and how little room there would be for new programs. I did also forget about Magnum PI. That said, maybe we will see more shared slots with lesser episode counts and something like:
SUN FALL: Football
SUN MID: Game Show / Magnum P.I. / *?
*Quantum Leap, Found, and/or new depending on ratings and if NBC starts with 1 or 2 hrs of unscripted
MON FALL: The Voice (2 hr)
TUES FALL: The Voice / Comedies
TUES MIDSEASON: Comedies / La Brea
WED FALL: Chicago Med / Chicago Fire
WED WINTER: Chicago Med / Chicago PD
WED SPRING: Chicago Fire / Chicago PID
THURS FALL: L&O Original / SVU
THURS WINTER: Original / Organized Crime
THURS SPRING: SVU / Organized Crime
FRI: Dateline (2 hrs)
SAT: Encore / SNL Vintage
*I’d prefer to see Dateline cut down for scripted. I feel Blacklist could be announced as final season, esp. if they do go forward with cutting down.
Some might ask, How does 3 dramas sharing slots save money? But since they’re giving the time to affiliates and don’t have the cost of other added programming, 3×22 dramas now down at 3×18 would be 12 less episodes a night, and thus still saves $$. This allows them to program more originals for more ad money as well – Wed & Thurs would have 27 nights of originals instead of 22. These are usually ran in the span of 36 weeks, with the likes of Ninja Warrior, AGT, and encores in summer. A few are the holidays weeks/specials, so let’s say 33 weeks to fill – 27 means only 6 to then fill with with in-season encores, specials, etc. (and occasionally Winter Olympics), versus 11 if non-shared slots at 22 each. Of course they’ll have to more carefully plan the crossovers this way – can’t have a huge cliffhang on Chicago Med’s finale if it’s off while Fire & PD then still take people to the hospital as if everything’s normal. But maybe we’d see something like this and keep Dick Wolf still limited to two nights a week on NBC (more if counting CBS/FBI/etc.).
A few things not clearly said, but hopefully people can follow :) But for example, 12 less episodes a night – I meant 12 less for Wednesday and Thursday. Also I was still thinking of Sunday being 4 hours for some reason when it’d be down to 3 when FB isn’t on.
And I also forgot NBC Mondays at midseason with the 2nd one, oops. So maybe I’d do La Brea & Quantum Leap there depending on how ratings hold up, and all comedies on Tuesday once Voice results are over in fall. I believe they’d be the only ones doing comedies on Tuesdays, unless ABC expands back to Tuesdays that season (but it sounds like they’ll be Wednesdays only for this season).
This may be a negotiating ploy. NBC is negotiating with OneChicago on a new deal. They may also be negotiating with the Law & Order shows as the original and Organized Crime do not have multi year deals. What better way to get leverage than to threaten to get rid of one third of these shows by cancelling the 10:00 p.m. hour?
That could be. But if sports/etc. is costing more, they likely are on Dick Wolf about cutting costs – and this is perhaps the real reason behind the Kelli Giddish exit. It might have come from Wolf, but because of pressure from higher ups to lower costs.
With Giddish, you may be right. I think that they wanted to lock her up on a multi year deal and have her and Scanvino under contract before they had Rollins and Carisi get married. Whether they low balled her or she over played her hand and wanted a lot more money we may never know. As far as SVU goes, it is certainly easier to have her leave the show before a Rollisi wedding.
Maybe NBC is simply wanting to try something different. Think about it. They acquired Magnum P.I., which was not only another network show, but TOTALLY different than their other procedurals. Maybe they want to shake things up a bit.
They must be out of their minds!
Maybe they should consider something they probably should have done a long time ago: move prime time in all time zones to 7pm-10pm. There’s no reason to keep Eastern and Central running prime time shows simultaneously at the same GMT time. There used to be a cost benefit to doing this; now there really isn’t any. And since networks are already running Mountain and Pacific at different GMT times anyway, what’s the difference whether they run three different GMT prime times or four? (Actually six, because of Alaska and Hawaii time zones.) So move Eastern, and Pacific for that matter, to a 7pm prime time start, and their ratings should go up marginally enough to make the change cost-effective.
They are looking at what Fox has been doing for decades. Here in the Houston, TX area, there are two hours of primetime programming (8 – 10 pm E) then local news from 10 – 11 pm E. They then run syndicated shows from 11 pm E on.
I think if NBC does this, they will lose viewers and it will cost them and their affiliates a lot more. It’s really a stupid move.
Disagree. Chicago PD does extremely well at 10pm but ratings in the 10pm hour overall are declining and the broadcast networks, or at least NBC and ABC, likely can not afford to keep programming first run scripted originals at 10pm. Which means that ABC and NBC would either have to program the 10pm hour with cheaper unscripted programming, lower cost “gently used repeats” of series from their streaming services and Canadian acquisitions or give up the 10pm hour entirely.
I think that’s terrible. If you can’t or don’t want to pay for special programming, you’re screwed. That’s a very low blow to viewers.
It was bound to happen eventually. Ratings have been in free fall on network TV for a while now. Sucks to those who enjoy watching shows on these channels, though.
If they’re considering this, they’d have to believe that the juice is worth the squeeze, so to speak. Obviously, it’s really clear that streaming is where every production company’s focus is right now. I’m assuming that, unless there’s a huge outcry or some unforeseen consequence, more networks will follow suit.
Exactly this. Networks are a business and just like any business they say they care about the customer but it’s always about the money. People are moving to streaming by the millions each quarter and dropping cable and satellite. I doubt they even consider people that are only over the air. But long story short is the networks really don’t care if your older and can’t navigate streaming, or if your on a limited income. Or if you just plain out don’t want to stream shows… That’s where we are moving to so networks are focused on that and that alone.
Oy. Apparently they think we should just all go to sleep earlier.
Because outside of NBC, there’s else nothing on TV?
But millions of us do already in PST/MST…
All networks should probably start 7/6 pm to 9/8 pm those 10/9 pm hours are so late. Plus they always have lower ratings than the rest of the hours because most people can’t stay up that late.
Central time zone has always started at 7 and that works out well, but 6pm – people are commuting, picking up dinner, I just don’t see that early working. Plus it’s the early hours that do more poorly in spring/summer because people do more outside as the light stays out longer. A lot of the 8pm shows experience drops in spring. Also, most of the cable originals, besides the premium ones on weekends, are at 10pm/9c, so that’s part of why there’s lower viewership. That and more people with DVRs catching up with other shows from earlier in the night that they like better. Actually the more I think about your suggestion, the more I like it – can have more shows on during dinner, less competition on the DVR – but I don’t think anyone will go for that when it would mean disrupting the 7/6pm news many stations have.
Without compromising anyone I will say I’ve know for weeks that this was happening and to those asking if this is just something they’re considering and no worries nothing would happen to those shows, guess again and then guess again.