'L&O' returning to its familiar home

After two weeks of ratings that didn't do either show much good, NBC is flipping the time periods for new series "Heist" and the venerable "Law & Order."

Starting next week, "Law & Order" will return to its long-time home of 10 p.m. ET Wednesdays. "Heist" will move up an hour, into the brutally competitive 9 p.m. slot opposite FOX's "American Idol" and ABC's "Lost."

The change comes two weeks after the premiere of "Heist," which despite heavy promotion by NBC hasn't caught fire in the ratings. Its first two episodes have averaged a little better than 8 million viewers, well below the 11.4 million "L&O" was drawing in the time period earlier in the season.

At the same time, "Law & Order" was itself struggling in the earlier timeslot. The long-running series drew about 9.2 million viewers on average at 9 p.m., a loss of more than 2 million people from its season average. On both occasions it finished fourth in its timeslot, behind "Idol," "Lost" and CBS' "Criminal Minds."

If "Heist" can manage to maintain its ratings -- hardly a sure thing given the competition -- it will at least be a small improvement over NBC's average in the time period this season with "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart" and "The Biggest Loser: Special Edition."