‘The Blacklist’ season 4: Will moving to later timeslot have tremendous impact?

At the moment, we are in the midst of a rather-lengthy hiatus when it comes to “The Blacklist,” one that was made an hour longer thanks to the decision by NBC to wait to premiere the fourth season until 10:00 p.m. Eastern time on Thursdays.

Why the move? It seems that there is really one rather simple reason  behind it from the network point of view: Desperation to shore up a timeslot that has been miserable for longer than we can recall. Just look at shows like “The Player,” “Game of Silence,” and so many more than we can count or remember. “Shades of Blue” was renewed in this timeslot earlier this year, but that is the exception more so than the norm.

With “The Blacklist” in this spot, NBC can breathe a little easier, given that they know they have a solid performer that will not struggle here. After all, we really do think the show will do just fine. As a matter of fact, it even has a strong lead-in to boot now in “Chicago Med,” and also it does not have to worry about airing against “Scandal” anymore. This show caters to a crowd that will still be engaged to watch it at 10:00, which is why when the dust settles, we’re really not as concerned about this change in timeslot as we are with many other shows that are going to be swapping times around in the upcoming fall season.

Ultimately, the finale test will be the ratings, and we’ll get a chance to see that in full come September or October.

(Photo: NBC.)