Looks like Joey has finally run out of friends at NBC. The struggling sitcom has been benched along with Donald Trump’s Apprentice until after the Olympics as the slumping peacock network attempts to shore up its once-dominant Thursday night schedule.

Rookie hit My Name Is Earl and The Office move to Thursdays starting Jan. 5 in a two-hour comedy block that will include Will & Grace and the mid-season comedy Four Kings (featuring Seth Green). The new drama The Book Of Daniel - starring Aidan Quinn as a man of the cloth who talks to Jesus - debuts Friday Jan. 5 on NBC in a two-hour block. NBC has also announced that The Biggest Loser: Special Edition will return Jan. 4 with a jumbo family arc (nearly 16 million Americans watched the finale) and that Scrubs will return on Tuesdays with back-to-back episodes in January. NBC’s Winter Olympic coverage begins Feb. 10.

CUP RUNNETH OVER: According to BBM Canada, Sunday’s Grey Cup game on CBC was the second-most-watched show of the week, scoring close to 2.9 million viewers and edging timeslot rival CTV’s Desperate Housewives (5th overall with 2.5 million). Both lost to Canada’s No. 1 show CSI, which nabbed over 3 million viewers.

Too bad for CBC that the Toronto Argos didn’t make the Cup final. The Grey Cup dropped to No. 17 overall in Toronto last week with just 341,000 viewers, a huge fall off from last year.

IDOL MUSINGS: Fox has announced that American Idol will return with a two-hour episode on Tuesday Jan. 17. There had been rumours of Fox shifting the series to new days of the week, but it is staying put on Tuesdays and Wednesdays - much to CTV’s relief.

Fox has also inked Prison Break in for a March 13 return (when it will replace Skating With Celebrities. I swear I’m not making this up).

LIFE STINKS: Although the last few episodes will still air, those heartless @#!$%*! at CBS have cancelled Threshold, the sci-fi drama starring TNMB*, Carla Gugino. There will now be a moment’s silence. Also ditched is ABC’s Hot Properties and Fox’s Reunion, which will go out of production after 13 episodes. So how will they wrap up that year-at-a-time storyline? The producers are still working on that.

HO-HO-NO! Rescue Me firestarter Denis Leary’s U.S. cable special Merry F#%$In’ Christmas has been picked up by The Comedy Network, running here Dec. 17. Look for Leary to dish on family fights, boozing and other awkward holiday moments.

JUNO BACK TO SASKATOON: CARAS and CTV have announced that Saskatoon will be the host city for the 2007 JUNO Awards, clearing the way for fiddle capitol Flesherton, Ont., in 2008.

LAST LAUGH: The season finale of Just For laughs airs tonight at 9 p.m. on CBC with Saturday Night Live’s Finesse Mitchell, Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood and Canadian one-liner queen Heidi Foss among the headliners.

CH, TURN IN YOUR SHIELD: Last week, CH outraged fans of The Shield by skipping a new 90-minute episode and throwing in an old 60-minute one that fit. This week they went right back on schedule like nothing ever happened. Thanks, boneheads.