'The Apprentice' Moves To Thursday Nights Opposite 'CSI'

After being solidly beat by Fox's American Idol in the ratings on Wednesday night, NBC has decided to move The Apprentice permanently into the Thursday at 9pm Eastern time slot, directly opposite CSI: Crime Scene Investigations.

According to Variety, NBC decided to move the show after The Apprentice's ratings dipped significantly for its first Wednesday night episode. The first two episodes aired on Thursday night, but The Apprentice was scheduled to air regularly on Wednesdays following those two episodes.

Zap2It's fast nationals revealed that American Idol scored a 16.2 rating/24 share for Wednesday evening, beating The Apprentice's 7.9/12. The rating for the Wednesday night airing of The Apprentice was way down from its Thurday night airings, where it scored 15.7/22 (8:30-9pm) and 12.6/18 (9-10pm against CSI) in its first week (story) and 14.0/20 in its second week (story). Though CSI finished well ahead of The Apprentice both weeks, The Apprentice still fared better against CSI than it did against Idol, which began its third season this week.

The Apprentice's move to Thursdays is just the latest shift for the show. It debuted on Thursday, January 8th from 8:30-10pm. It was scheduled to move to Wednesday the following week for its second episode. CBS then decided to air a new episode of CSI on Wednesday, January 14th against The Apprentice. Then, both shows shifted to Thursday--CSI to its normal timeslot, and The Apprentice to the 8:30-9:30 slot (story).

NBC touted the move heavily last night during Must-See TV, which featured back to back reruns of Friends followed by new episodes of Will & Grace and Scrubs. Once The Apprentice takes over the Thursday at 9pm slot, Will & Grace will move to the 8:30 slot, following Friends, and Scrubs will be shifted to Tuesday nights at 9:30pm. The network will air reruns of The Apprentice in the Wednesday at 8pm timeslot.

For more on this story, check out Variety (subscription required) and Zap2It.

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