With the show now settled on a new network, and with a timeslot of Saturdays at 8:30 on the coasts also settled; the cast and crew could finally get back to business. For NBC itself, however, the process of absorbing a show after the schedule had largely been settled proved to be a headache. It was decided that Amen, whose season premiere had been pegged for midseason, would now premiere in September. Despite its sinking ratings, it was thought to be a more effective lead-in for Ten than what was to be in the 8pm slot, a serialized version of the hit movie Parenthood. That and a new Jane Curtin vehicle would end up waiting until midseason, instead.

As difficult as schedule shuffling may be, it would prove to be worth the trouble if NBC could win the timeslot. At first, that didn’t happen. Ten opened the season with some of its lowest ratings ever, not cracking the top-50 shows that week. It didn’t help that Amen, its lead-in, performed equally poorly. Perhaps it was the fact it went up against the newly relocated Hogan Family on CBS, and the salacious Cops on Fox; but seeing how those shows weren’t doing much better ratings-wise, the truth of the matter seemed bleak. It seemed Brandon Tartikoff had saved a show that was already dead, on a night of television that was starting to die in general.

All was not as it seemed at first, however. In the ensuing weeks, Just the Ten of Us would zoom back into the top-40, where it had generally been the previous season on ABC; despite the fact that its lead-in, Amen, remained anemic. It appeared the promotional blitz NBC was lavishing on the show was starting to pay off, but not in the way they were thinking. The hope was that by having The Lubbock Babes appear as a unit on Late Night with David Letterman, and by having Deborah Harmon co-host the King Orange Jamboree in Miami (which NBC aired nationally); they would woo over viewers who were already loyal the show. However, while some did move over, the network was surprised to find a plurality of viewers watching Ten on NBC had not watched it regularly when it was on ABC. That was partly due to some viewers being in markets where NBC was much stronger than ABC (in Montgomery, AL, for example; Ten’s viewership increased a staggering 700% after moving to NBC affiliate WSFA). For the most part, though, it was because they were simply attracting new fans. With a big chunk of the show’s old fans still apparently unaware of its new channel and timeslot, there was some big upside for Just the Ten of Us going forward. That was good news for the cast and crew, considering storms were starting to brew at 30 Rock. Eerily familiar storms that threatened to knock the show off course.