CHICAGO (thefutoncritic.com) -- Just one day after announcing its November sweeps schedule, the Peacock has already revised its plans, opting yesterday to drop its freshman drama "The Lyon's Den" during the period.

Repeats of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" will take the place of "Den" for three of the next four weeks. NBC's telefilm "Saving Jessica Lynch" was already scheduled to pre-empt the Rob Lowe-led drama on November 9. NBC executives stress however that "Den" isn't canceled and is expected to return in December. The series joins fellow freshman "Coupling" and sophomore drama "Boomtown" on NBC's bench.

For its five airings this season, "Den" has averaged 10.1 million viewers, down slightly from "Boomtown's" average during the same period last season (10.7 million). Last Sunday, "Den" snagged 8.8 million viewers, down more than 28% from its debut numbers (12.3 million).