By Andrew Wallenstein

    Not since "Seinfeld" has NBC assembled as strong a Thursday lineup as the one it presented at yesterday's upfront presentation. But while NBC's aggressive schedule shuffle nicely bolsters its best night, the rest of the week is in one sorry state.
     After years of insulting the intelligence of its audience by wedging woeful sitcoms between "Friends," "Frasier" and "ER," NBC has ditched the "hammock" approach.
     The transfer of Tuesday twosome "Will & Grace" and "Just Shoot Me" should beef up ratings in a 9-10 p.m. slot badly impacted by ABC's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"
      The fading "Frasier" will continue its descent on Tuesday.
    The Tuesday-Thursday switch would have been suicide had NBC not been able to re-sign the six stars on "Friends." Exorbitant as the deal seems, they're worth every penny; "Friends" is the top-rated sitcom among the 18-49 set and will likely stay that way for its final two years because it has lost little steam creatively.
    However, NBC's reluctance to dole out top dollar is understandable because they've been burned before.
     After Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt demanded $1 million per episode for the final "Mad About You" season in 1998-99, the series plummeted. 
    Still, you've got to wonder if there will be a chilling effect on developing shows for ensemble casts, given how costly they get.
     Look for "Grace" to really come into its own on Thursday, along with the dependable "Shoot." Even the aging "ER" can gain a step with better support in the 9-10 p.m. hour. Once "Millionaire" begins its inevitable fade, NBC Thursday will shine like it once did before the arrival of hammock hobos like "Jesse," "Stark Raving Mad," and "Veronica's Closet" (all blessedly canceled).
      But stocking the stalwarts on Thursday comes at the expense of the rest of the week. 
    Absurdly, midseason replacement "Daddio" will anchor Monday; that series is so green you can mow it. At the very least they could have given it the 8:30 p.m. slot, which has been a weak spot for CBS. Instead of giving this promising family comedy a slot where it can grow, it will end up facing the formidable "King of Queens."
     Tuesday is a bigger head-scratcher. If ABC keeps "Millionaire" at 8 p.m., two new NBC sitcoms will face it, ripe for the slaughter. CBS' "Touched By An Angel" will also do quick work of the new hour "Ed" on Sunday.
     Dick Wolf will try to go three for three on NBC with his new drama "Deadline," which may look like toast Mondays at 9 p.m., but his last hour, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" started there and did OK before moving to Friday. 
    NBC didn't touch that night, which is unusual given that 9 p.m. would be perfect for a female-skewing drama following "Providence."
    NBC also looked to its competitors for inspiration. The new sitcom "Tucker" is a blatant rip-off of Fox's "Malcolm in the Middle." Three Saturday sci-fi series were deep-sixed in favor of a three-hour movie rerun block, which ABC also installed when it couldn't get original programming to work on that night. 
   The movie will basically warm the slot for the midseason addition of Vince McMahon's new football league, which will be a most interesting venture.
     As far as the pilots, only the soap throwback "Titans" has hit potential; Fox's "90210" fans will now have something equally cheesy to watch on Wednesday.
    Former "Seinfeld" star Michael Richards is wasted in a zany Inspector Clouseau-ish update.
 Strangely, although NBC entertainment president Garth Ancier has vowed to bring down the median age of NBC's audience, none of the new shows look like they would appeal to teens. The Peacock also wisely gave up on game shows, canceling "Twenty One," and thankfully dropped the "Dateline" dose to three per week.

-Andrew Wallenstein is the TV critic for Media Life.

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