It doesn't look good for ABC's comedy block of Scrubs and Better Off Ted. Neither series has exactly been setting the ratings world on fire, with Ted performing particularly poorly, while the retooled Scrubs has been hit-or-miss with many fans. Now, it looks like ABC will be burning off the remaining episodes in two-hour blocks on Tuesdays, beginning January 5.
ABC is also following up their presentation of the Rose Bowl on Friday, January 1st, with two episodes of Ted and one of Scrubs. This is generally not the way a network treats a show that they're interested in nurturing, but it is a continuation of the much-appreciated trend we're seeing this season of networks at least airing all of the episodes of commissioned series.
At that scheduled rate, ABC will be out of episodes by the end of January, just in time for the final season of Lost to return to Tuesdays at 9 PM ET on February 2nd. Originally, the comedy pair were set to be the lead-in to Lost, but it looks unlikely that ABC will order additional episodes of either. For now, the plan is to air the previous week's episode of Lost Tuesdays at 8 PM ET, leading into each new episode.
Here's how it breaks down:
Tuesday, December 22 & 29
9 PM - Scrubs
9:30 PM - Better Off Ted
Friday, January 1
8:30 PM - Better Off Ted
9 PM - Scrubs
9:30 PM - Better Off Ted
Tuesdays, January 5 (until they run out of episodes)
8 PM - Scrubs
8:30 PM - Better Off Ted
9 PM - Scrubs
9:30 PM - Better Off Ted
It is a little odd that they're not airing sold hour-long blocks of each show, but rather staggering them back and forth. I guess it's so people who only like one of the two shows will have to scramble to keep track of when to tune in and when to take the latest issue of Maxim to the bathroom.
