CHICAGO (thefutoncritic.com) -- The future of NBC's much-hyped comedy "Coupling" continued to get murkier yesterday as the Peacock announced it will pull the freshman series this Thursday in favor of a repeat of fellow struggling comedy "Whoopi."
The news comes on the heels of yesterday's announcement "Coupling" will be bumped on October 30 in favor of "super-size" episodes of "Friends," "Scrubs" and "Will & Grace." In total, "Coupling" will be absent from the Peacock's schedule for two of the next three weeks. NBC executives insist however that no decision has been made about the future of the series.
Last week's episode of "Coupling" drew 10.7 million viewers, a drop of 27% from lead-in "Will & Grace" (14.6 million) and 30% from its debut on September 25 (15.3 million).
As for "Whoopi," NBC will encore last night's episode ("The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy") which featured actor Steve Bridges playing President Bush tomorrow at 9:30/8:30c. The Peacock will also repeat two additonal episodes of the freshman comedy ("Shout," "Once Bitten") next Saturday starting at 8:00/7:00c.
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