NBC gives 'Joey' one last chance

It's a measure of how far "Joey" has fallen that the sitcom's impending return to the NBC schedule was almost an afterthought in a network programming announcement.

The headline? "NBC keeps 'The Office' lights burning."

Item No. 2? The premiere of the new sitcom "Teachers" has been pushed up a week.

Oh, and, by the way, "Joey" returns to the lineup on Tuesday, March 7, at 7 p.m.

This is really all about "The Office" and not so much about "Joey." NBC programmers have perhaps realized that taking "The Office" off the Thursday schedule after March 30 isn't the best way to build an audience for the show. Duh.

So instead of airing the season finale on March 30, the network is going to stretch out the schedule through May 11 by inserting a bunch of repeats and "an extra original episode."

NBC is certainly working mightily to make "The Office" a hit. It hasn't been an entirely successful effort, but the network has already renewed the show (and "My Name is Earl") for next season.

And the network is taking advantage of the fact that "Dancing With the Stars" airs its season finale on Feb. 23. The week before the Olympics, NBC's sitcoms went up against CBS ratings powerhouse "Survivor" and "Dancing," the latter dominated the ratings, the former held onto its audience and the sitcoms suffered.

What with the decision to leave Thursdays alone, here's what NBC is doing to Tuesdays:

• "Joey" returns with original episodes on Tuesday, March 7, at 7 p.m. (A dozen new episodes of the sitcom remain in this, its second season.) "Joey" repeats will air Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. on March 7, 14 and 21, and then . . .

• On March 28, "Scrubs" repeats move from 8:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Original episodes of what has become perhaps TV's funniest half hour will continue to air Tuesdays at 8 p.m.

• Also on March 28, "Teachers" moves into the Tuesday-at-8:30 p.m. timeslot. (I've only seen a few clips of that show — and they weren't particularly promising.)

NBC execs long maintained that "Joey" was suffering in comparison to "Friends" — that if it wasn't a spinoff of that hit and was judged on its own merits, "Joey" would be fine.

There's some truth to that, but "Joey" has also been wildly inconsistent. There have been laughs in every episode, but nearly every episode also falls down in spots.