NBC gets its toes stepped on

NBC has hatched a scheme to return to world dominance, or at least to regain control of Americans’ TV remotes on Thursday nights.

But first it must cope with an insidious threat: George Hamilton doing the cha-cha.

NBC has started the new year with a fresh Thursday lineup that sidelines “Joey” and Donald Trump, and serves up four comedies, including the acclaimed “My Name Is Earl,” an import from Tuesdays; and the new “Four Kings,” about young guys sharing a New York apartment. The idea is to get back to the network’s “must-see” glory days, when NBC sitcoms such as “Seinfeld” and “Friends” ruled the roost, especially among affluent young city dwellers. (“Joey” and Trump’s “The Apprentice” will return to the NBC schedule later.)

But NBC’s coming-out party was dampened somewhat by the two-hour premiere of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” last summer’s surprise hit that now features Hamilton and other aging celebrities shimmying with dance champions.

While the NBC series held their own, the crowd-pleasing “Dancing” actually beat the sitcoms not just among total viewers but also among ages 18 to 49, the demographic advertisers care about most. At 9 p.m., for example, “Earl” drew 11.2 million viewers compared with 17.3 million for “Dancing,” according to early figures from Nielsen Media Research. And of course, both networks saw their ratings dwarfed by CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” (27.3 million), the night’s No. 1 show.

Still, long-suffering NBC -- tied with Fox for No. 3 among young adults this season -- took solace from its performance. The quirky “The Office” with Steve Carell, for instance, hit its highest rating ever (8.8 million total viewers). Early Friday morning, when the first ratings trickled in, NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly and his old Cornell classmate and counterpart at ABC, Stephen McPherson, traded e-mails congratulating each other for a battle in which both networks won a bit of ground.

Noting that the e-mails weren’t unusual (“We’re always either consoling one another or busting one another’s chops,” he joked of McPherson), Reilly was clearly relieved that his Thursday strategy delivered some promising results -- and specifically, that “Earl,” NBC’s No. 1 new show, was down only slightly from its average rating on Tuesdays. Reilly said he’s pleased his young-skewing comedies found an audience opposite the older-skewing “Dancing” and “CSI.”

“We’re in a rebuilding time right now, [and young viewers are] kind of what I’d want to build on,” Reilly said, adding: “It’s virtually impossible to recruit an older audience” and attract younger viewers later.

ABC had plenty to feel good about as well, given that “Dancing” nearly tripled its customary ratings on Thursday nights this season, a night the low-rated “Alias” and “Night Stalker” have not generated much traction.

“We are thrilled,” McPherson said of “Dancing.” “It did unbelievably well considering the competition and how we usually do on Thursday nights.” Plus, he added, “you never know how a summer show will do when you bring it back.”

But ABC and NBC executives won’t have long to relax. The TV landscape is about to get shaken up again on Jan. 17, when Fox’s smash “American Idol” returns for its fifth incarnation.