NBC schedules ’30 Rock’ series finale, moves ‘Rock Center with Brian Williams’

Has NBC given up on “Rock Center with Brian Williams” having trying it out for a solid yet? Not entirely, though they have at least decided they have wasted enough time giving the low-rated news magazine prime real estate that once belonged to one of their most-popular shows on TV in “ER.”

Here’s how the new schedule is set to shake down. On Thursday, January 31, the network is set to air the one-hour “30 Rock” series finale at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, which may be a move to actually give the show some good ratings for a change rather than have to square off against “The Big Bang Theory.” It will be followed by ambitious new series “Do No Harm,” which is all about a neurosurgeon who sees both himself and his personality change on an hourly basis. It is a bit of a strange premise, and the show itself is going to face some major hurdles straight out of the gate in that the network’s two last drama series in the timeslot, “Prime Suspect” and “Awake,” were each canceled after just a small handful of episodes. Then again, NBC was able to turn around another tough timeslot in Mondays at 10 with “Revolution,” so anything could really happen.

As for “Rock Center,” Williams’ show will be pushed to Fridays at 10 starting on February 8, whereas “Dateline” will be airing an hour earlier at 9. In theory, we like the idea of having “Rock Center” on at this time since more viewers are accustomed to watching news then. However, we do not want to see any move that could take the attention of “Grimm,” the most-recorded show on network TV, during its winter hiatus.

Do you think that these are good moves, and do you think NBC is doing the right thing in airing the “30 Rock” finale right before the start of February sweeps? If you want to see our most-recent “30 Rock” news, you can do so here.

Photo: NBC