On second thought, maybe it's not the 8 o'clock hour that ails 30 Rock.
In its 9 p.m.-ish debut Thursday, the Tina Fey comedy bombed like a 12:53 a.m. Saturday Night Live sketch, playing to a sparse crowd of 5.2 million, per the latest Nielsen Media Research numbers.
The show, which aired from 9:20-10 p.m., was a non-factor in the weekly CSI-Grey's Anatomy bout, the latest round of which went in a big way to CBS' forensic drama, hitting with a season-high 24.1 million. The ABC medical series made due with 20.9 million.
NBC imported 30 Rock to Thursdays from Wednesdays, where the comedy was averaging 6.3 million viewers at 8 p.m. To the network, 30 Rock's struggles in the once-upon-a-time family hour were evidence that today's audiences are not interested in scripted comedies and dramas, at least not until 9 p.m.
Now, it appears they're just not interested in 30 Rock.
The comedy, a behind-the-scenes look at an SNL-like show, is scheduled to make its regular time slot debut on Nov. 30. The Thursday-night series is to air after the returning Scrubs at 9:30 p.m.
If that doesn't work, there's always 10 o'clock.
In other TV news:
- Vanished, gone from Fox's lineup after averaging 6.5 million on Mondays and Fridays, isn't really gone, after all—it's concluding its run online. The first of four never-aired episodes debuted Friday on the network's MySpace page. CBS is performing a similar public service on its official Website for fans of its canceled drama, Smith.
- CBS has ordered more episodes of The Class (averaging 8.5 million), while Fox has ordered more episodes of Standoff (8.9 million) and the won't-say-die 'Til Death (6.1 million). And E! Online columnist Kristin Veitch reported Friday that the CW has requested more Veronica Mars (3.1 million) and One Tree Hill (3.3 million).
- ABC's Six Degrees hasn't aired during the November sweeps—and it won't. The JJ Abrams show, averaging 9.6 million viewers but committing a greater sin by losing much of its Grey's Anatomy lead-in on Thursdays, is now on hiatus until January.
- It was a great week to be Emmitt Smith, not a premiering drama series. CBS' 3 lbs. (9.8 million) did worse on Tuesday than Smith (10.1 million) before Smith went into exile on the Internet. ABC's Day Break (10.2 million) did much, much worse on Wednesday than Lost (17.6 million) before Lost went into hibernation for the rest of the fall.