ABC Spells Ad Fight for Disney

Other buyers said that NBC has taken a safe approach that won't put it back on top but also will not see it in fourth place.

"We feel good about where the schedule is," Zucker said. "Anyone who refers to it as safe is seeing it through the prism of us not making any changes on Thursday night."

Zucker and Reilly say they need one red-hot show to put them back on top. When asked which new show has the best shot, Zucker said "they're all important."

NBC will certainly have its work cut out for it if Disney's ABC has anything to say about it. Maintaining a hammerlock on the obvious, Disney-ABC television group president Anne Sweeney pointed out in a presentation Tuesday that "everything in our business starts and ends with our programming." Later in the show comedian Jimmy Kimmel said simply that "it's better when people watch," a reference to the network's successes this past year and struggles previously.

The once-hurting network has improved dramatically with hit series that include Desperate Housewives, Lost and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Its presentation Tuesday included a hefty slate of promising comedies and dramas including Geena Davis as the first female president in Commander in Chief. Leave it to ABC to understand that Hillary can't be president until there's a TV show about Hillary being president.

Meanwhile, NBC will bank on Jerry Bruckheimer's E-Ring, a Pentagon drama starring Benjamin Bratt, and an un-NBC like show called My Name Is Earl starring a hillbilly who tries to correct his various misdeeds.

Sounds like the Winter Olympics couldn't have come at a better time for NBC.