‘American Idol’ Trumps ‘The Apprentice’

Real estate mogul Donald Trump is moving in with “Friends.”

Afraid of watching its newest hit flattened by the ratings steamroller of Fox Broadcasting Co.’s “American Idol,” NBC on Thursday scrambled its prime-time schedule and moved its new unscripted show starring The Donald from Wednesday to Thursday nights, beginning next week.

Moving “The Apprentice” to Thursdays effectively ends the network’s two-decade-long tradition of running a lucrative block of comedies on Thursday nights.

NBC withdrew “The Apprentice” -- which follows 16 young entrepreneurs competing to become Trump’s $250,000-a-year assistant -- from Wednesday to avoid competing head-to-head against “American Idol.”

The talent competition on Fox, a unit of News Corp., began its third season this week with its highest ratings ever. On Wednesday night, nearly 30 million people watched “American Idol.” That included 16.4 million viewers aged 18 to 49, the category that advertisers pay the most to reach.

“American Idol” clobbered its competition Wednesday night, including “The Apprentice.” Last week, NBC aired the second episode of “The Apprentice” on Thursday, where it attracted about 20 million viewers, including 13 million in the 18-to-49 age group. But when the network moved the show to its new home on Wednesday, it mustered only half of its previous audience.

“ ‘The Apprentice’ is a burgeoning hit and it would be unfair to the show to run it against ‘American Idol,’ ” said Mitch Metcalf, NBC senior vice president for program scheduling. “We’ve seen that it performs well in that Thursday night time slot, and this is the best way to maximize its audience.”

The network, which is owned by General Electric Co., now will run repeats of “The Apprentice” at 8 p.m. Wednesday and original episodes at 9 p.m. Thursday. The comedy “Will & Grace” will move up to 8:30 p.m. Thursday to follow “Friends,” which stays in its 8 p.m. perch. The network’s stalwart drama “ER” will remain at 10 p.m.

NBC also shuffled its Tuesday lineup, placing “Whoopi” at 8 p.m. and “Happy Family” at 8:30 p.m. “Frasier,” which is in its final season, will stay at 9 p.m. The offbeat hospital comedy “Scrubs” will move from Thursday and return to its original spot at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“Advertisers like stability with a schedule, but if this helps NBC in the long run it will be hard to fight against,” said Andrew Donchin, a director of the advertising buyer Carat USA. “I understand why NBC is doing this -- they are protecting their bottom line.”