FOX 'The O.C.' moves to Thursday

If the popular show starts to slip in the ratings, the network plans to move it.
ZAP2IT.COM
There's a storm brewing in Newport Beach, and the photogenic teens of Orange County and their equally fetching parents are just hoping to wait out the gale winds.
Fox has moved its popular freshman soap, "The O.C.," to a new Thursday home, and some fans are nervous that show may get steamrolled in its new home.
With the departure of NBC's 8 p.m. EDT stalwart comedy "Friends," the night is looking a tiny bit weaker, but CBS' "Survivor" franchise will return and NBC's "Joey" and "Will & amp; Grace" aren't likely to be slouches.
Fox Entertainment President Gail Berman tells reporters that she's confident about throwing "The O.C." into the 8 p.m. mix.
"While we believe that NBC will remain competitive on Thursday night, we also believe that they will be down significantly from where they were with 'Friends,'" Berman says. "That leaves an opening for the No. 1 new show with teens."
The network had originally intended to shift "The O.C." to Thursdays after its marginally successful run late last summer. Instead, Fox blinked and shifted the drama to a cushy time period where it benefited from the January arrival of an "American Idol" lead-in.
Here's the plan
Berman promises that "The O.C." will join Thursdays as part of the network's November roll-out, but if its ratings take too big a hit, it will find a new home.
"We have no intention of throwing an asset that we've built, literally week-by-week, up," she says. "We have no interest in seeing it be destroyed. If it doesn't work, we've move it. We'd like to believe that it's going to work."
Fox's dismal recent history on Thursday nights suggests that success on the night will be relative. Over the past four years, the network has averaged a five share for the night, a number that "The O.C." should beat with ease.
"I think what the history of television tells us is that when there's an opportunity, you must seize the moment." says Berman. "We cannot let this one pass us by."