TVSquad

Interesting piece in The New York Times that asks the question: where the hell is 30 Rock?

The third season of the show won't bow until October 30, but you would think that the show would want to launch a week or two earlier because of all of the attention that Tina Fey is getting for her Sarah Palin impersonation on Saturday Night Live, her Emmy win, and her new mega-million dollar book deal. So how come the show hasn't premiered yet? They must have an episode or two done for the new season.

I am going to admit something to you fine readers, something that I'm not very proud of, but need to put out there:

My name is Joel Keller. I write about TV. And I don't have a TiVo.

In fact, I don't have any DVR; I have my reasons. But I do have two VCRs. Up until now, that's been more than enough; even with all the good shows that have premiered this year, I've been able to effectively timeshift and watch every show I've wanted to watch.

But after NBC announced its schedule shift yesterday, I have determined that Thursdays are going to kill me.

It looks like all the good press Ugly Betty is getting has gotten back to ABC. The network has decided to move the telenovela, about a plain girl thrust into the world of high-fashion publishing, from the "death slot" of Fridays at 8 to a more upscale neighborhood: Thursdays at 8, right before the mega-hit Grey's Anatomy. It is replacing Big Day and Notes from the Underbelly, which I would imagine would get slid into the vacated Friday slot, but there's no word yet. According to The Hollywood Reporter the move was done after the reception the show got at the TCA press tour. So it is now scheduled to go up against My Name Is Earl and The Office, making Thursday the "throwdown" night of the week.

Even though I thought it had some problems, I was intrigued enough by the show that I put it on my list of new shows to watch if I happened to be home on Fridays. Now, though, I'm not sure it's going to survive the face-off, at least in my house. I'm an avowed fan of Earl and The Office, and I don't think I'm going to have enough energy to follow all three shows, TiVo or no TiVo.