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The Friday night premiere of NBC's new game show Amnesia was the network's best performance in the time period in nearly a year.

The series, hosted by Dennis Miller, drew a 2.4 preliminary rating among adults 18-49 (7.6 million viewers/7 share), outperforming the October debut of Friday Night Lights in the time period by 14%.

Still, Amnesia came in second place to a repeat of House on Fox for the 9 p.m. hour and was down 17% when compared with the premiere of Identity in the time period last year.

Also on Friday, CBS' presentation of "The Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular" (9.4 million, 2.5/8) at 8 p.m. bested the season finale of 1 vs. 100 (7.6 million, 2.1/6) in the 8 p.m. hour. Price was up 19% from its last Friday night special in June.

NBC on Thursday put the final touches on its strike-affected schedule for first-quarter 2008, setting premiere dates for the midseason drama Medium and the new reality series The Baby Borrowers.

The two series join the network's other midseason series -- American Gladiators, 1 vs. 100, The Celebrity Apprentice, Lipstick Jungle, Law & Order and the repurposed Law & Order: Criminal Intent -- for a reality-heavy schedule that will feature as many as 11 hours of unscripted programming, specials or movies a week.

The fourth season of Medium, which will feature Anjelica Huston in a six-episode arc, will premiere in the show's original 10 p.m. Monday slot on Jan. 7, exactly three years after the supernatural drama starring Patricia Arquette emerged as a breakout hit for NBC in its Jan. 3, 2005, debut.

This is the same scheduling strategy NBC is using for The Apprentice, which also is returning to the Thursday time period where it exploded in the ratings four years ago. Both shows have lost some of their luster since, hurt in part by frequent scheduling moves.

In another comeback, Deal or No Deal returns to Mondays where it was a staple at 8 p.m. This time, it will air at 9 p.m.

With its scripted series running out of original episodes because of the writers strike, NBC is adding three more hours of reality programming in January for a schedule that will include at least six hours of unscripted fare.

The network's updated version of American Gladiators will launch with a two-hour premiere Jan. 6 before moving into its regular Monday 8 p.m. time slot the next day.

Gladiators, hosted by Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali, will replace freshman dramedy Chuck, which recently was picked up for a full season but only has a few more episodes in the can because of the strike. Chuck is scheduled to air original episodes through Dec. 3. No decision has been made when and where the show's remaining couple of new segments will run.

Quiz show 1 vs. 100 will return Jan. 4 and will air in its old Friday 8 p.m. slot, replacing Deal or No Deal. (Deal will continue to run on Wednesdays.) The game show hosted by Bob Saget will kick off its second season with a "battle of the sexes" premiere episode that will feature one woman competing against 100 men and one man versus 100 women and a contestant winning the show's top prize of $1 million for the first time.

NBC's Christmas wish was granted Monday night as the Peacock led all broadcast primetime with a strong Deal or No Deal following the network's coverage of the Philadelphia Eagles' drubbing of the Dallas Cowboys earlier in the day.

NBC was the only network to carry original programming Monday night, and it showed. two-hour Deal or No Deal and 1 vs. 100 far outpaced its rivals with an average 14.9 million viewers and a 4.9/14, according to preliminary estimates released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. Only ABC could muster anything close to a challenge against the game shows with a repeat of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl."

Deal or No Deal dominated the night with 16.4 million viewers and a 5.3 rating/16 share in the adults 18-49 demographic. Another NBC game show, 1 vs. 100 (11.9 million, 4.1/12) didn't do as well but it was enough to beat a repeat of CSI: Miami and the last hour of Pirates of the Caribbean. ABC's Pirates averaged 8.6 million viewers and a 3.2/9 in the demo.

Lifetime has greenlighted Gay, Straight or Taken? a dating game show from Endemol USA.

The network has given an 18-episode order to the half-hour project, which will premiere at 8 p.m. Jan. 8 with two back-to-back episodes.

Every episode of "Gay" features a single woman meeting three men: one who is in a relationship, one who is gay and one who is single. After interacting with each man in group and one-on-one settings, the woman must determine who is the single straight guy among the three. If she chooses correctly, she wins an exotic trip for two with him. If she chooses wrong, the man she selects wins the trip with their significant other.

"I'm excited that we've found a new take on the popular reality dating show genre with 'Gay, Straight or Taken?' " Lifetime Networks entertainment president Susanne Daniels said. "And for the record, I couldn't tell who was gay, straight or taken myself in the pilot."

Endemol USA, the company behind Big Brother and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, spurred the current popularity of the game show genre on primetime television with NBC's Deal or No Deal and 1 vs. 100.

NBC has picked up 10 additional episodes of its promising new game show 1 vs. 100. The network also has ordered six more scripts from its critically praised but low-rated new drama Friday Night Lights. Meanwhile, CBS has pulled the plug on the midseason drama series Waterfront. The 10-episode pickup for "100" brings the order for the Endemol USA quiz show to 15 episodes. In its premiere last week, the show, hosted by Bob Saget, dominated the competition with 12.6 million viewers and a 4.1 rating/13 share among adults 18-49, NBC's best demo delivery with non-Olympics programming in the Friday 9 p.m. hour in nearly four years. "100" originally was scheduled to move to its regular Friday 8 p.m. slot this week, leading in to the season premiere of Las Vegas. NBC has decided to keep the game show in the 9 p.m. period behind Deal or No Deal for another week, pushing the season debut of Las Vegas to Oct. 27.

After moving Runaway from Monday to Sunday, the CW has put the struggling freshman drama out of its misery effective immediately. Season to-date, Runaway ranks dead-last among all primetime series with 1.9 million viewers and a 0.7 rating/ 1 share, according to Nielsen Media Research data. NBC, meanwhile, will delay the fourth-season premiere of drama Las Vegas until Friday, Oct. 27, giving temporary 9 p.m. occupant 1 vs. 100 a chance to benefit from lead-in Deal or No Deal.

NBC is doubling down on game shows, bringing new Endemol USA format 1 vs. 100 to primetime next month. Hosted by Bob Saget, "100" will begin its five-week run Oct. 13 at 9 p.m., with an episode of the peacock's reigning game show, Deal or No Deal serving as its lead-in. In the remaining four weeks it will then take over the Friday 8 p.m. slot. "100" will replace drama Crossing Jordan, which will get a new time slot to be determined later in the season. Jordan originally was designated for midseason but then was added to the schedule in place of Deal as part of a broad schedule shuffle NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly instituted a week after the initial upfront slate was announced (HR 5/26).

Former Full House dad and America's Funniest Home Videos host is staging a comeback. Per Variety, Bob Saget will host NBC's upcoming game show "1 vs. 100" from the producers of "Deal or No Deal". Contestants on the show face off against an audience of 100 people, trying to knock out their rivals in order to nab the $3 million prize. The network ordered five episodes of the show, which is currently in production for broadcast next season. Saget recently signed a deal to develop an untitled pilot for NBC and is currently completing his feature film mockumentary Farce of the Penguins.