‘Seinfeld’ Prime for TBS
NEW YORK (Variety) – TBS will experiment for the first time ever with a sitcom in primetime, scheduling reruns of “Seinfeld” Wednesdays at 8 and 8:30 ET.
The cable network has chosen Wednesday, said senior VP of programming Bill Cox, because “it’s the one night of the week we don’t have any sports. ‘Seinfeld’ will run consistently, without interruption.”
TBS’ original deal with “Seinfeld” distributor Sony Pictures TV allows the network to play two half-hours in primetime. But up until now, TBS has filled the 8-10 slot on Wednesday with two firstrun reality hours from Sony, “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” at 8 and “Worst Case Scenario” at 9.
Under the new schedule, “Ripley’s” shifts to 9, the two-hour Wednesday movie continues at 10 and “Worst Case” gets pushed back to midnight.
But Cox said the midnight slot doesn’t mean TBS is planning to cancel “Worst Case.” TBS, unlike most cable networks, has not set up a dual feed, so cable subscribers on the West Coast will get “Worst Case” at 9 p.m. The final nine episodes of the 22-hour rookie season of “Worst Case” begin this month, and TBS will scrutinize the show’s West Coast ratings.
Reruns of “Seinfeld” continue on TBS twice every weeknight, at 6:30 and 7:30, sandwiched around “Friends” reruns at 7.
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