sibling ESPN (TV's most-lucrative property, achieving a projected $10 billion in ad revenue in 2013), leaving ABC the lone broadcaster unable to capitalize on the booming NFL ratings. With sports taken out of the equation, ABC actually would have topped the Big Four among adults 18-to-49 during the recent November sweep.

Still, ABC's successes are becoming few and far between. The play to reinvigorate Dancing With the Stars by cutting it down to a single two-hour weekly broadcast failed to curb declining ratings. It closed its 17th cycle down 5 percent, with its average viewer a not-so-ad-friendly 62.1 years old. Worse off are two of the network's boldest scripted names: Sunday duo Once Upon a Time and Revenge. Halfway into their third seasons, the former darlings are pacing afeats.

It's that creation of a viable new time slot that many consider integral to NBC passing its pariah status on to somebody else. And while the network readies more attempts at a success that can't be chalked up to The Voice or football, its competitors will play hot potato, hoping not to be next. "As long as Thursday night is as bad a problem as it is, it's going to be hard for NBC to turn perception," says one insider. "NBC was built on Thursday night."