NBC cancels Earl, reprieves Chuck, delays 30 Rock, pushes Friday Night Lights to summer in Phase 2 rollout of new season (updated)

By ED BARK
Chuck and Law & Order have been reprieved, but My Name Is Earl and Life are goners, NBC officially announced Tuesday.

Medium also is missing in action, but there are reports that CBS might rescue the series.

The network also provided specific nights and times for its fall and midseason schedule after unveiling six new series earlier this month as part of a two-ply rollout strategy. For the first time in its history, NBC will have more unscripted than scripted programming this fall.

Chuck is set to return on Mondays in January in partnership with Subway, which will have "significant integration into the show," NBC says. Maybe Chuck can be a hero by saving a hero sandwich? The possibilities are endless.

Law & Order will get a fall startup, on Fridays, for its 20th season. That will tie it with Gunsmoke as the longest running prime-time drama series ever. Under the current plan, 30 Rock won't return until after a "multi-week" run of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday.

Also, made-in-Austin Friday Night Lights for now is waylaid until summer 2010 rather than midseason. But its DirecTV run is scheduled to start in the fall under the second year of that joint agreement.

NBC is touting a "shared time period strategy" that will enable it to show "all-new content" year-around. That's in large part because its prime-time window has been significantly reduced on weeknights with the Monday-Friday 9 p.m. (central) presence of The Jay Leno Show. The Peacock also will have the Winter Olympics from Feb. 12-28.

Here's NBC's night-by-night fall schedule, with all times central. (Note: Leno will be at 9 p.m each weeknight, so we're not going to keep typing that in).

MONDAY

7 p.m. -- Heroes
8 p.m. -- Trauma

TUESDAY

7 to 9 p.m. -- The Biggest Loser

WEDNESDAY

7 p.m. -- Parenthood
8 p.m. -- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

THURSDAY

7 p.m. -- SNL Weekend Update Thursday
7:30 p.m. -- Parks and Recreation
8 p.m. -- The Office
8:30 p.m. -- Community

FRIDAY

7 p.m. -- Law & Order
8 p.m. -- Southland

SATURDAY

7 p.m. -- Dateline NBC
8 p.m. -- Trauma repeat
9 p.m. -- Law & Order: SVU repeat

SUNDAY

6 p.m. -- Football Night in America
7:20 p.m. -- NBC Sunday Night Football

Here's NBC's night-by-night midseason schedule:

MONDAY

7 p.m. -- Chuck
8 p.m. -- Day One

TUESDAY

7 p.m. -- The Biggest Loser
8:30 p.m. -- 100 Questions

WEDNESDAY

7 p.m. -- Mercy
8 p.m. -- Law & Order: SVU

THURSDAY

7 p.m. -- Community
7:30 p.m. -- Parks and Recreation
8 p.m. -- The Office
8:30 p.m. -- 30 Rock

FRIDAY

7 p.m. -- Law & Order
7:30 p.m. -- Southland

SATURDAY

7 p.m. -- Dateline NBC
8 p.m. -- Southland repeat
9 p.m. -- Law & Order: SVU repeat

SUNDAY

6 p.m. -- Dateline NBC
7 p.m. -- The Marriage Ref
8 p.m. -- The Celebrity Apprentice