In Which NBC is Rescued from Ignominy

Time’s Jamie Poniewozik offers an inventive salve for what’s ailing NBC. Since the network no longer seems to want to spend money on scripted programming in the 8 p.m. hour of primetime, and since its newscast featuring Brian Williams is the most successful amongst the networks, why not put it in primetime, where even more people would have a chance to see it?

Poniewozik concedes there are more than a few kinks to work out in his idea, but notes: “ABC, CBS and NBC have a half-hour in the evening they can't get enough people to watch, and an hour at night they can't afford to fill. … The networks weren't going to give their news divisions an hour each night as long as prime time was still, well, prime. But now that it's been devalued, the time may be right to ask again: why not kill two birds with one stone--or, rather, try to cure two dying birds with one operation?�

This, of course, would prevent NBC from acting on its dream of a Howie Mandel-dominated primetime schedule cluttered with suitcase-brandishing models and excitable contestants possessing no discernible intellectual prowess. But a Mayor can dream, can’t he?