Tuning In

NBC revamps sked

NBC unveiled its midseason scheduling strategy Wednesday, including a entirely new lineup for Sunday night.

With its top-rated “Sunday Night Football” departing in January, the network needs to find a new Sunday lineup that won’t result in steep viewership drains, TVWeek.com notes.

To fill out the night, NBC will run its stalwart newsmagazine “Dateline” in the 7 p.m. hour, followed by its new talent search reality series “Grease: You’re the One That I Want.” The return of “The Apprentice” (at 9 p.m.) and “Crossing Jordan” (10 p.m.) will round out the night.

NBC’s Wednesday prime-time lineup also will be shuffled, reports TVWeek.com, with the hit game show “Deal or No Deal,” hosted by Howie Mandel, moving to the 9 p.m. slot. “Friday Night Lights,” which recently received a full-season pickup despite low ratings, will move to 8 p.m.

“30 Rock,” another new series, is still slated for Thursdays at 9:30 for now — despite its ratings struggle in the time period.

On Fridays, the freshman game show “1 vs. 100” will occupy the 8 p.m. slot. In recent weeks, the network has experimented with running “100” and “Deal” in various time periods on Friday nights.

Two new midseason dramas — “Raines” and “The Black Donnellys” — will join the NBC schedule in the spring, but dates and time periods have not yet been announced.

A special ’Life’

One less ratings worry on NBC’s plate is the Dec. 16 telecast (from 8 to 11 p.m.) of Frank Capra’s beloved holiday classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” on its 60th anniversary.

The film, which earned Oscar nominations for best picture, director (Mr. Capra) and actor (Jimmy Stewart) follows the life of George Bailey (Mr. Stewart) in the fictional town of Bedford Falls. His greatest challenge, of course, comes on Christmas Eve when — on the brink of financial ruin and possible jail — Bailey contemplates suicide. But an angel named Clarence (played by Henry Travers) demonstrates the importance of life by showing how different Bedford Falls would be had he not been born.

’Grey’ matters

Starting next month, the doctors at Seattle Grace Hospital will be making weekly house calls at Lifetime Television each Sunday night when the first season of ABC’s popular “Grey’s Anatomy” arrives at the cable network.

According to futoncritic.com, episodes will begin airing Jan. 7 at 11 p.m.

The show — which focuses on the lives and loves among the hospital’s young medical interns — stars Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey, Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd, James Pickens Jr. as Dr. Richard Webber, T.R. Knight as Dr. George O’Malley, Sandra Oh as Dr. Cristina Yang, Katherine Heigl as Dr. Isobel Stevens, Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey, Isaiah Washington as Dr. Preston Burke, Justin Chambers as Dr. Alex Karev, Kate Walsh as Dr. Addison Montgomery, Sara Ramirez as Dr. Callie Torres and Eric Dane as Dr. Mark Sloan.

New additions

Christopher Gorham will become a recurring player on the new hit “Ugly Betty” after filming two guest spots, Zap2it.com reports.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, he’ll continue his “Ugly Betty” role as Henry, a buttoned-up accountant for Meade Publications who takes an interest in Betty (America Ferrera). Last year, Mr. Gorham starred in the CBS sitcom “Out of Practice.” His other credits include “Jake 2.0,” “Popular” and “Odyssey 5.”

Elsewhere at ABC, Nia Long (“Soul Food” the movie and “Big Momma’s House 2”) has signed on to do a guest stint on “Boston Legal,” reports Zap2it.com. Miss Long will play Vanessa Walker, a meticulous associate from the New York office of Crane, Poole & Schmidt who seeks Alan Shore’s (James Spader) help on “Boston Legal.” She’ll appear in three episodes of the David E. Kelley-produced series, although the date of her first episode hasn’t been set.

Miss Long was also a regular on “Third Watch” for the NBC show’s final three seasons and has had recurring roles on “Judging Amy” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”

Compiled by Robyn-Denise Yourse from Web and wire reports.