The peacock network made a couple surprise changes to their schedule today. Most interesting is that new episodes of Smash will now air on Saturdays.

The move from Tuesday to a weak spot in the weekly release schedule suggests NBC is accepting the show’s fate without canceling it. Beginning April 6, Smash moves to Saturdays at 9 PM. They say in a statement that they will air all 17 episodes. Smash’s move to Saturday is in light of low ratings since the second season premiered last month.

NBC made the following other changes:
– The Celebrity Apprentice will expand to two hours beginning April 14 (9 – 11 PM ET) through the end of May.
– The Voice will air encore episodes on Sunday, March 31 and Sunday, April 7 (7 – 10 PM ET).
– The New Normal will air its one-hour season finale Tuesday, April 2 (9 PM ET) following The Voice.
– Ready For Love will take Smash’s place beginning April 9, airing from 9 – 11 PM ET following The Voice.
– Whitney’s one-hour season finale will air Wednesday, March 27 (8 – 9 PM ET).
– Go On moves to Thursdays on April 4 and April 11 (9:30 – 10 PM ET). The latter episode is the season finale.

At this point, it’s safe to assume Smash is cancelled. The major changes they made in between seasons 1 and 2 were effectively not enough to save the show despite a strong promotional campaign.