ABC is making some changes to its very successful lineup.
And the alphabet network's moves seem aimed directly at struggling CBS.The biggest change involves one of ABC's biggest stars - Roseanne. Her self-titled sitcom will be moving from Wednesdays at 8 p.m. to Wednesdays at 7 p.m. as of March 29.
Which would seem to be a bit early. "Roseanne" has consistently maintained its quality and its sense of humor, but it has also consistently been laced with adult themes - themes that are a bit strong for the 7 p.m. time slot.
(Not to mention the 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. time slots in which KJZZ-Ch. 14 airs syndicated reruns of the show.)
Of course, ABC can easily make the case that it is only doing what others have done before. After all, Fox airs the steamy soap opera "Melrose Place" on Mondays at 7 p.m. - and when this move was questioned by critics, Fox execs pointed to NBC airing "Mad About You" (another very good sitcom frequently full of adult situations) on Thursdays at 7 p.m.
At any rate, "Roseanne" is moving to 7 p.m., where it will be followed by "Ellen" at 7:30 p.m.
"Grace Under Fire" moves from Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. - in the cushy slot after "Home Improvement" - to Wednesdays at 8 p.m., also on March 29. It will be followed by a new half hour, "Bringing Up Jack," at 8:30 p.m., which will debut on Tuesday, March 28 at 8:30 p.m. before moving to its regular time slot a night later.
"Jack" is headlined by stand-up comedian Jack Gallagher, who plays a new father and radio sports talk show host. That will give ABC's Wednesday comedy a distinctly stand-up comedian flavor - four shows in a row headlined by four former stand-ups: Roseanne, Ellen DeGeneres, Brett Butler and Gallagher.
Although ABC did not make an official announcement about what will replace "Grace" on Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m., it's expected that a "Home Improvement" spinoff series titled "Buddies" will fill the time slot.
Comics Dave Chappelle and Jim Breuer star in "Buddies" as a pair of best friends and next-door neighbors. Their characters will be introduced on an upcoming episode of "Improvement."
(Rumor is that the producers of both shows got the comfortable slot after "Home Improvement" to try to make up for the fact that ABC moved "Improvement" opposite the formidable "Frasier" last fall.)
The move seems certain to strengthen ABC's Wednesday ratings, and isn't likely to do much damage to its strong Tuesday lineup.
And that's bad news for CBS, which has been struggling mightily to build a Wednesday comedy lineup of its own. That floundering lineup seems certain to flounder even more in the face of strengthened competition from ABC.
In a related move, "Sister, Sister" will move from Wednesdays at 7 p.m. to Fridays at 7:30 p.m. as of March 24, displacing "Boy Meets World." "Boy" will return to that Friday time slot with new episodes in May.
And the other displaced Wednesday show, "All-American Girl," will have completed its full-season run of 19 episodes before it goes off the air.
"Sister," "Boy" and "Girl" are all candidates to return in the fall, but none are sure things.
TROUBLE ON TUESDAY? ABC may have solved its Wednesday at 7 p.m. problems, but it may be in for some trouble on Tuesdays at 7 p.m.
The network has not yet reached an agreement with Warner Bros. on the renewal of "Full House" for a ninth season. Reportedly, Warners wants a ton of money and ABC is pointing out that the show is fading in the ratings.
There have even been some unconfirmed rumors that Warners is shopping the show to CBS.
Meanwhile, "Me and the Boys" has not exactly caught fire on Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. for ABC, and it will soon be replaced by "Thunder Alley," the fantastically flawed failure from last fall that will be back for another try shortly.
WHAT WAS HE THINKING? So, was "Seinfeld" star Jason Alexander nervous or just stupid on Saturday's broadcast of the first Screen Actors Guild Awards?
Alexander came on stage as a presenter just after Raul Julia's widow accepted her late husband's award for outstanding performance in a TV movie or miniseries. And, with a smile on his face, he joked about how he had followed the announcement of Jessica Tandy's death at last year's Emmys, adding that he seemed to be in some sort of "a groove."
This tasteless, idiotic quip was met by the dead silence that it deserved from those in attendance.
Maybe Alexander has been reading too many stories about what a funny guy he is and figured he could get away with anything.
He won two awards on Saturday - for best actor in a comedy series and as a member of the best ensemble cast in a comedy series - but Alexander still managed to walk away a loser.
Maybe he's more like the character he plays on "Seinfeld" than we thought.
NOT QUITE: An appearance by Ted Danson on last week's episode of "Frasier" almost but not quite gave that NBC series its first-ever win over "Home Improvement."
Danson reprised his role of Sam Malone from "Cheers," the show that spawned "Frasier," and helped the show grab an 18.8 rating and a 27 share - just a tenth of a rating point behind "Home Improvement's" 18.9/27.
(Each rating point represents 954,000 homes, and a share point equals 1 percent of the homes actually watching television.)
For the record, the battle between the two hit shows has cost "Home Improvement" 3 share points from its average last season, while "Frasier" is down 5 share points.