Oprah Gives Peace -- and Letterman -- a Chance

But last night, Oprah had an expensive Broadway production to hawk, and so, to wrap their kiss-and-make-up session, Letterman escorted her to the premiere of "The Color Purple," with cameras rolling. Oprah's victory was complete, and Letterman had become that which he once mocked. An Opraholic.

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NBC, not Fox, has made the risky midseason scheduling move.

One day after those pantywaists at Fox wimped out on moving "American Idol" to Thursday night, NBC announced that it's moving this season's biggest freshman success, "My Name Is Earl," to Thursday night and reintroducing the four-comedy block that made NBC great for almost two decades.

Best of all, "Joey" is off NBC's schedule. See, someone is listening to our prayers.

As of Jan. 5, NBC's Must See TV lineup will start with "Will & Grace," followed by the new guy-com "Four Kings," then "My Name Is Earl" at 9 and "The Office." "Earl" is the No. 1 comedy on any network among the 18-to-49-year-olds advertisers pay a premium to reach.

Replacing it and "Office" on Tuesday night are "Scrubs" and "Scrubs." Yes, NBC will air back-to-back original episodes because if there's one thing we've learned this season from, say, Fox's "Prison Break," it's that oftentimes the best lead-in for a show is the same show. "Scrubs" debuts on Jan. 3 and the plan is to run two episodes each week until the start of the Winter Olympics on Feb. 10.

The four-comedy block on Thursday "has been a big part of our history," NBC's daring entertainment division chief Kevin Reilly told The TV Column.

"We know viewers like watching comedy in blocks, and they really liked watching it on NBC on Thursday for a long time."

He noted that the current broadcast TV landscape is short on comedy and very short on four-comedy blocks -- the only other one being CBS's on Monday night because, technically, "King of Queens" is a comedy.

NBC has 24 episodes of "Scrubs" and, what with Olympics preemptions coming up in February, the network could almost get through the season with the back-to-back "Scrubs" play pattern, if it wanted to. On the other hand, unless we get really lucky, "Joey" might become "Scrubs's" partner on Tuesdays after the Games because Reilly said "Joey" would be back, but not on Thursdays.

Also not on this schedule is "The Apprentice" with The Donald, though NBC has promised it will rev up again after the Games. Replacing Martha Stewart's "The Apprentice" on Wednesdays at 9 will be "The Biggest Loser." Fill in your own joke here.

That hole on Friday at 10 left by the cancellation of NBC's fertility clinic drama "Inconceivable" will be plugged by a new drama, "The Book of Daniel," in which Aidan Quinn plays a pill-popping Episcopalian minister who sees and talks to Jesus.