Not since Bart took on Bill has there been this much anticipation and attention on a Thursday night comedy showdown.
Looking to establish a comedy presence on Thursday evenings, CBS has made the bold move of moving the hit comedy “The Big Bang Theory” to Thursdays at 8 p.m. EST. The show shares the lead-off hour with the William Shatner-led, Twitter-feed inspired sitcom “$#*! My Dad Says”
Long a favorite of Slice of SciFi, “Big Bang” is coming off an Emmy win for Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper and a season that saw its ratings grow on Monday. It’s will go up against NBC’s comedy block of “Community” (another fan favorite, though with a lower audience than “Big Bang”) and the Emmy winning “30 Rock.”
Many in Hollywood are watching the showdown and some have dubbed it “Must Tweet TV” since both “Community” and “Big Bang” are popular with the on-line community.
The showdown is being watched intently not to see who wins, but by how much CBS wins the hour. Hollywood insiders have already predicted a “Big Bang” win, but if or how that will affect the “Community” audience remains to be seen. Some industry analysts foresee CBS as working toward a two-hour comedy block on Thursdays should “Bang” and “Dad” work well. That would mean that long-time 9 p.m. winner “CSI” could be moved or shifted to a later time slot.
It’s similar to the bold move Fox made in the early 90s when they shifted the top ten hit “The Simpsons” from Sunday nights to Thursday to take on the-then number one show, “The Cosby Show.”
NBC isn’t throwing in the towel, though. “Community” has fandom-favorite Betty White as a guest star for its premiere. The network is also airing a pre-telecast “Twittersode,” an 80-tweet scene acted out on the Twitter feeds devoted to the show’s characters, just before air.
And “$#*! My Dad Says” may have an issue when it comes to DVR numbers. Earlier this week, it was reported that finding the show on DVRs was proving difficult because of the symbols used to bleep out the word “S***.”
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