mcewen_girl haha ur right but they will probably change it back once they realize what a dumb-ass move that was!!

amazondebs thank the lord the bbc and itv have sense over hear, lol should this be in the tv spot?

Cinders It's not a dumb move, it's the networks competing. Thursday is actually their biggest night (Grey's on ABC, the Office on NBC and CSI on CBS are some flagship shows of their respective networks). They figure if they play their show at the same time as another popular show, they can force people to choose their network over the other one, during a popular time slot. This HAS been going on for a while-- years, decades, as long as TV has been around, really. For those who do not have Tivo or Fanpop, my condolences. But such is the Facts of Life (ooh, what a classic show that turned out to be!) EDIT: Debs, do you happen to know who owns BBC and ITV?

adwbuffy hey blisslikethis, great article and right a lot of favorite tv shows are coming back on television. And glad that Bones, House, and Smallville are back on with brand new epsiodes. But thank you for letting us know.

Snerkie It's all for the ratings competition. Like Cinders said they gotta compete like this to hope people will watch their show instead of another. Oh and what happened to the poor VCR in the U.S?? lol, or recordable DVD's...silly americans

maybeastarbucks Notice how every other network is afraid to go against Fox's Old Faithful - The Simpsons. They took down Cosby. They took down Touched By an Angel. Come on- Bring it on!

blisslikethis Snerkie - i'm not from the US, but i don't think my DVD player has a record button... maybe i've just never looked for it, who knows? anyway, i'm not going to pay for DVDs to record shows when i already pay for cable and i can just watch them online for free. i feel a bit silly about this now. i'm not sure how i made it through the last 22 and a half years never noticing this phenomenon.. but judging from the ratings i'm getting on this soapbox, apparently everyone else already knew.

HannaK I don't understand why they put all the (in my opinion) great tv shows on thursday, but I'm stuck in the Netherlands so it doesn't really matter for me, fortunately, I have my laptop, fanpop, and a great video site, so the first thing that I'm gonna do, Friday, when I get home, watch the Office, Scrubs and Lost!

scififan I must admit...as long as Smallville, Supernatural and Gossip Girl aren't at the same time...I'm good :) So sorry for all you other peeps though...this has to be tough

waterlilybarb I've had this problem for years, but none of my conflicts made your list. I'm just grateful to still have a VCR (I know - so old school, but hey, it works). I also have the option of watching shows online at my leisure, so it's not as bad as it used to be. :-)

harold Just to expand on what others have said: * DVD players don't have a record button, but DVD [i]recorders[/i] do. They're not very popular, though, in comparison to DVRs like TiVo and the like, so there aren't that many on the market. * More to the topic (sorry about that): TV in the states is all commercial enterprise; it's not government run like the BBC. So they all feel the need to compete with one another to get the advertising money (which is what makes all broadcast network TV run in the US - as well as many cable networks). Being tangentially connected to "the biz" (through film, though, not TV), I used to subscribe to the "Hollywood Reporter", which is one of the big trade magazines. Among other things, the magazine reports on the TV ratings results for each day of the week. These statistics show that more people watch TV on Thursday nights during "prime time" than any other night of the week, so that's the big slot for advertising competition. Of course, being statistics, you need to take them with a salt lick - after more than 20 years of high ratings shows aired on Thursday nights, an entire generation has grown up with the expectation that Thursday is "TV night", so you have to wonder "which came first: the current shows, or the audience?" I wouldn't take the ratings on this article to necessarily indicate that people didn't find it useful; I think some people rated before it was moved to the TV spot rather than wait. I don't know if that's encouraging to you or not, but I hoped it would be. I like your article.

lemaly Thanks so much for this soapbox. I thought I was the only one frustrated with having all my favorite shows on Mondays and Thursdays. All the reality shows are Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so they really should smarten up and even out the distribution. It's ridiculous that this compitition to see whos show is going to be watched most is now more important that the consumers. Again, thanks for the enlightful soapbox. =)

TheCountess a lot of good points and info here (and good soapbox, too)... I guess a lot of it is a matter of taste. Sometimes it seems like years can go by before you find shows you really get addicted to, and in the US there is that big competition (dumb as we may think it is). I think there may be some overlaps with shows I like, but thank goodness I still have two functional VCR's, and the ability to zip past the commercials while watching the shows I taped.

Elize34 I can see why this is a problem for you, and I feel sympathie for everyone in the USA! Still I am in The Netherlands so just as HannaK said, it's not a problem for me.

ricko That must cause a lot of stress, i am so happy i live in Holland because here the big shows are planned a lot better, so i almost ever have to make a choise between 2. And if i want to see a more recent episode i just go fanpopping.

Lila856 BLISS GET TIVO- you`ll LOVE it!

_lina_ I know what you mean! I had my TV watching schedule all worked out at the beginning of the year, and now they screwed it up. One day I'm watching TV the whole afternoon, the next there's nothing on but reality shows that have gone from amusing to just plain ridiculous.

amazondebs lol cinders, well maybe a tiny bit of shread and harold bbc not compete? saturday night tv has been competing gameshows off one another since the itv was created (i don't really watch gameshows so i don't care) they especially should be competing at the moment as there is a lot of debate over weather tv licenses are necessary and weather the bcc should be private or not, however the bbc and itv don't compete as much over shows that seem to be way more popular in the us they compete against each other's soaps, games shows, breakfast programs and the kids slots so the shows mentioned above arn't really a issue

harold I didn't say that the BBC didn't compete, just that it is a government-run/sponsored enterprise.

ineedcoffee I agree bliss but I have a trusty VCR that works wonderfully.

DrDevience I sympathize. They just began my long-awaited season of Desperate Housewives here in Sweden - and put the damned thing directly opposite House. Man that burned me.

ollythedolly Thursdays suck now. Ugly Betty, Survivor, Grey's, 30 Rock, Scrubs, the Office. Yikes! Good article, bliss.

ay3 lol my uhoh is bones/gossip girl and (now) office/supernatural