Medium is missing, Law & Order has been Kidnapped, and Matthew Perry's new drama has been dealt to Mondays. Has NBC gone mad?!

Probably not. What's more likely is that network execs started seeing shades of Grey.

Figuring that the nine o'clock hour on Thursday was getting a little crowded, NBC announced Thursday that it was moving the much-ballyhooed Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip to Mondays at 10 p.m., removing it from the crossfire that now includes Grey's Anatomy and the hour's perennial winner to date, CSI. Deal or No Deal, which was headed for Fridays, will now occupy the slot vacated by Studio 60.

With us so far?

"We've enjoyed an extremely successful development season and are going to do what it takes to give each new series the strongest launch we can," NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly said in a statement. "Now that we've assessed the competitive landscape, we've scheduled our new shows in time periods where we believe they'll succeed and will be supporting them with robust marketing campaigns and the full resources of the network."

That's all fine and dandy, but giving Aaron Sorkin's latest effort a new home left Patricia Arquette without a place to metaphysically fight crime. Medium, whose solid ratings (about 11 million or so viewers a week) earned it an early renewal, will hibernate along with Scrubs and then take over Sundays at 10 p.m. after football is over.

Once the stakes were raised, however, NBC went all in, leaving us with a 2006-07 schedule that looks more than a little different from the one announced just last week at the network upfronts. NBC, which has fallen to fourth in the primetime ratings in the last couple years, was the first of the major networks to present its lineup.

"Adjustments are always made," Reilly told Television Week. "We are normally in the dark by going first."

To begin, get ready for a double dose of major cases and special victims now that Law & Order: Criminal Intent is set to join Law & Order: SVU on Tuesdays. While NBC's original decision to move Criminal Intent to Friday, aka ratings no man's land, was strange, Tuesdays at 9 p.m. are pretty dicey, as well. Vincent D'Onofrio is great, but now instead of turned-off television sets he's going up against House.

Which leads us to the even odder choice of moving Dick Wolf's mothership--the original Law & Order--to Fridays at 10 p.m. after Crossing Jordan (which was going to sit out 2006 and pop up in '07) and Las Vegas. Jack McCoy's gonna be mad?

The new drama Kidnapped (we think it's about a missing person) will take over the Wednesday 10 p.m. slot, where Law & Order has resided since the dawn of time. Everything else lined up for Wednesday between 8 and 10 p.m.--The Biggest Loser and freshmen sitcoms 30 Rock and 20 Good Years--was given a different start time.

"Unusual circumstances lead to unusual measures," Reilly told the Associated Press, perhaps referring to the fact that NBC has gotten hammered both in total viewership and in key demographics for the past two years. The once mighty Peacock Network's 2005-06 primetime schedule averaged 9.72 million viewers per night, down slightly from its 9.78 million in 2004-05.

Fox was next with 10.1 million total viewers, then ABC with 10.8 and then resident butt-kicker CBS with 12.6 million.

Here's a night-by-night look at NBC's revamped fall schedule:

Sunday: Football Night in America; Sunday Night Football Monday: Deal or No Deal; Heroes; Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip Tuesday: Friday Night Lights; Law & Order: Criminal Intent; Law & Order: SVU Wednesday: 20 Good Years; 30 Rock; The Biggest Loser; Kidnapped Thursday: My Name Is Earl; The Office; Deal or No Deal; ER/The Black Donnellys (January) Friday: Crossing Jordan; Las Vegas; Law & Order Saturday: Dateline NBC; drama series repeats