'Earl,' 'Office' locked in

PASADENA, Calif. — "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office" are going to be on NBC for a while. "Joey," on the other hand, looks like it's all but dead and buried.

NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly announced the early pick-ups of "Earl" and "Office" for next season. Both shows are showing signs of life on Thursday, which is what the network needs these days. (Although, truth be told, at the height of NBC's now-fallen Thursday-night empire, the numbers the two are getting now would have quickly gotten them canceled.)

So "Office" fans shouldn't worry when it airs its season finale rather early — March 30 — and is then replaced by a new sitcom, "Teachers." According to Reilly, that's at least in part because "The Office's" star is so in-demand at NBC Universal.

"We've got to spring Steve Carell to go shoot his next Universal feature, 'Evan Almighty,' " he said.

"JOEY " IS NOTICEABLY ABSENT from NBC's schedule now and in the future (at least through March), and it looks like the last of the "Friends" is at the end of his rope.

"We don't have any plans for 'Joey' right now," said Reilly, who said he's happy with his current Thursday-night line-up and with double-running "Scrubs" on Tuesdays.

"So we're going to get into March, see how the schedule settles in, and then we'll reassess as to where 'Joey' can come back on," Reilly said.

When, exactly, we'll see the 12 episodes of "Joey" that are sitting on the shelf is one question; the bigger question is whether any more will be produced — will it return for a third season?

And, while the answer isn't a definitive "no," it certainly sounds like "probably not."

"I think we've got to see when it comes back on the air," Reilly said. Whenever that is.

It's a measure of just how far the show has fallen that Reilly defended it by pointing out that "Joey" has done better than a show on (gasp!) UPN, "Everybody Hates Chris."

HOW COMMITTED TO "SCRUBS" is NBC? Pretty committed, Reilly insists — despite the fact that series star Zach Braff has speculated publicly that ABC might be interested in the sitcom.

"Well, it's still occupying an hour on the schedule. I think that's a pretty good commitment," the NBC exec said. "That was a very tough thing leaving a quality comedy off the air (last fall). I actually feel it was the right thing to do now."