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HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Call NBC's new midseason comedy "AUSA" the show so nice, the network might air it twice.
Network executives have already decided to launch the Scott Foley (news) starrer Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 9:30 in the slot following "Frasier." What's more intriguing is the very real possibility that NBC might double-pump "AUSA" for several weeks by airing another original episode on Thursday nights, probably at 8:30 p.m.
The goal would be to give "AUSA" the maximum amount of exposure in the network's two best comedy time slots. Fox is trying a similar plan with "Andy Richter (news) Controls the Universe."
During a press conference last month, NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker indicated that he was mulling a unique way of rolling out "AUSA," but declined to give details. Zucker on Tuesday confirmed the Tuesday scheduling but declined to elaborate on any other possible stunts planned to hype "AUSA."
"AUSA" started out as a single-camera comedy but didn't get a pickup until it was reshot as a more traditional multicamera half-hour. Zucker has made no secret of his disdain for the single camera format; indeed, it's unlikely NBC will produce more than one or two (if any) single-camera half-hour pilots this spring.
To that end, NBC has also convinced Julia Louis-Dreyfus (news) to reconfigure her sophomore series "Watching Ellie" as a multicamera show when it returns in March. The real-time concept will also be dropped, as will the on-screen clock.
Finally, in other scheduling news, ABC has decided to schedule the newly-titled "Veritas: The Quest" Mondays at 8 p.m. It will premiere Jan. 27 -- the day after the Super Bowl and the same night as bows of "Dragnet" and "Miracles."