Turner Entertainment prez Steve Koonin told the L.A. Times Wednesday that Atlanta-based TBS might consider saving “My Name is Earl,” an NBC show that was axed this week after four seasons due to sinking ratings.

“We like the show very much; we’d definitely look,” Koonin told [the L.A. Times blog] Company Town at the Turner upfront in New York.

The blog entry noted that the show is owned by 20th Century Fox, which also oversees the Fox TV network. But Fox probably wouldn’t be interested given the show’s recent performance. It was averaging about 5 million viewers toward the end of its run, not terribly good even for fourth-place NBC, much less Fox.

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Although TBS airs “My Name is Earl” repeats Monday nights and generates a fair amount of cash flow for Turner, cable networks tend to be much tighter in the wallet than broadcast TV when it comes to paying production companies. Could they possibly meet the budgets of a show like “Earl”?

“Earl” reruns get respectable ratings, relatively speaking, on Monday nights on TBS. Last week, two episodes at 10 p.m. May 11 averaged 1.3 million viewers (down from 1.8 million for “Family Guy” at 9:30 p.m.) “Seinfeld” at 11 got 1.1 mllion viewers.

Last year, ABC picked up “Scrubs” from NBC and just this morning, CBS grabbed “Medium” from NBC.

But there aren’t a huge number of examples of first-run broadcast shows moving to cable or somewhere else other than another broadcast network. And I’m not saying just repeats but actual new shows. There are four I can think of off the top of my head: “Law & Order: CI” from NBC to USA Network (with NBC airing repeats.). There’s “Friday Night Lights,” which now airs first on DirectTV before NBC airs the repeats. Comedy Central revived the animated show “Futurama.” And ESPN picked up NBC’s failed reality show “The Contender.”

Top 10 shows in primetime in Atlanta the week of May 11, according to Nielsen
1. American Idol results, Fox, 5/13, 589,000
2. American Idol performance, Fox 5/12, 504,000 (that’s really low for Atlanta. “Biggest Loser” definitely cut in on the audience.)
3. Grey’s Anatomy, ABC, 5/14, 442,000
4. House, Fox, 5/11, 360,000
5. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 5/17, 347,000
6. Fringe, Fox, 5/12 326,000
7. 24, Fox, 5/11 324,000
8. Mentalist, CBS, 5/12, 313,000
9. NBA playoffs, TNT 5/17, 295,000
10. Dancing With the Stars performance, ABC, 5/11, 290,000 (way down from the norm)
The “Lost” finale didn’t do all that well either, finishing at 194,000, ranked 28 for the week.

Last night, the “Dancing With the Stars” finale drew 393,000 viewers while the final “Idol” performance show drew 618,000 (which is typical).

Top 5 songs on V-103, courtesy of yes.com
1- Keri Hilson (w/ Ne-Yo and Kanye West) “Knock You Down”
2- Kid Cudi – “Day ‘N’ Nite”
3- Pleasure P – “Boyfriend #2″
4- Rick Ross (w/ John Legend) – “Magnificant”
5- Birdman (w/ Lil Wayne) – “Always Strapped”

Top 5 songs on Hot 107.9
1- Birdman (w/ Lil Wayne) – “Always Strapped”
2- Drake (w/ Lil Wayne) – “Every Girl in The World”
3- Keri Hilson (w/ Ne-Yo and Kanye West) “Knock You Down”
4- Jamie Foxx (w/ Young Jeezy) – “Blame It”
5- Ciara (w/ Young Jeezy) – “Never Ever”

Top 5 songs on 95.5/The Beat
1- Flo-Rida (w/ Kesha) – “Right Round”
2- Soulja Boy (w/ Sammie) – “Kiss Me Thru The Phone”
3- T.I. (w/ Justin Timberlake) – “Dead and Gone”
4- Keri Hilson (w/ Lil Wayne) – “Turn Off”
5- Lady Gaga – “Poker Face”