Viewers may not be that confused about NBC's schedule, since it is able to promote its programs relentlessly during the Olympics. Its rivals don't have that luxury. Fox, for instance, is buying more billboard space and radio ads because it can't count on many viewers during the Olympics weeks, Beckman said. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire debuted in August 1999 and didn't join ABC's regular schedule until the following January. Midseason can often be a launching pad for hits, such as Providence and Malcolm in the Middle .
Networks are more apt to try new shows at any point in the year now.
Some producers of new programs actually prefer to start anytime but the fall, since it's easier in autumn for their shows to get lost in the avalanche of new things and be overlooked by viewers. Increasingly influential cable networks don't live by the same schedule. HBO's Sex and the City is a summer series, and The Sopranos won't start up again until next March. Still, Beckman isn't ready to give up the old way of doing things. Even though the odds of a new fall series becoming a hit are long, they are historically better than shows that start at other times of the year, he said.