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With CBS's Without a Trace finally prying apart ERs cold, dead grip on the 18-49 demo on Thursday nights, it seems that we can officially declare NBC's onetime "Must See TV" juggernaut dead. Joey, Will & Grace, and a flagging Apprentice are nobody's idea of a programming Murderer's Row (we picture something closer to a group of autistic five year-olds clutching inflatable bats), so fourth-place president Kevin Reilly is forced to consider drastic measures to reclaim his network's former Nielsen glory:

For NBC, this ultimate defeat on Thursday may be the spur to action. Its executives have been thrashing over possible changes on the night, including a return to a Thursday comedy block. That would almost certainly involve the risky move of transferring the comedy "My Name Is Earl," NBC's bright spot this season, from Tuesday to Thursday, perhaps as early as January. Kevin Reilly, the president of NBC Entertainment, asked about moving "Earl," said, "Anything is possible at this point."

Moving Earl is certainly one way to shake things up, but is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic moments before it's hit by a meteor the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that Reilly professes to treasure? In desperate times, a bold course of action is required: the assassination of Les Moonves. Some might uncharitably view the move as cutting corners, but it's simultaneously less time-consuming and more cost-effective than trying to develop a whole new slate of shows that people might actually want to watch. And you can bet his successor will think twice before trying to plant another Survivor or CSI knockoff on NBC's precious Thursday night turf.

BONUS: The NY Times also has a pretty chart illustrating NBC's decline.