The black art of scheduling

The schedulers claim that their job is a black art. To me it just looks blind guesswork. How else can you explain BBC1 scheduling 3lbs at 10.15pm on a Sunday night. They paid a lot for it, but CBS aired only three episodes of the Stanley Tucci show while only five were ever made. So why show it in primetime in the UK when the acclaimed Medium is banished after 11 o' clock??

Even more bizarre is the return of Seven Days, screening at half past midnight!! Worth catching if you have not seen it, if only to see how a hit show can become spectacularly derailed by the cast falling out and the writers running clean out of ideas........

Also what sense Channel Five holding back Greys Anatomy from Thursday nights because they were concerned over the competition - and then pitching it into the already overcrowded Sunday. Airing it opposite 24 on SKY One and ER on E4 (although that has other showings) will prevent it ever becoming a hit this side of the Atlantic.

Better news on More4. The new season of Without A Trace and the second series of the The Closer air back to back on Friday nights from 9pm next week.