New timeslot for 'Nikita' pays off

 Maggie Q's starring vehicle 'Nikita,' based on the 1990 film 'La Femme Nikita,' as been flagging in the ratings throughout its third season. This past episode, the CW network moved the spy drama from 9:00pm ET up to 8:00pm--and the move paid dividends, providing the series with the highest rated episode of the season.

The action-packed show delivered 1.2 million viewers this week; nothing to write home about, but a good number for its network. The move to 8pm takes 'Nikita' out of the competition between 'Fringe' and 'Grimm' at 9pm--a fight that the beautiful spy was losing rapidly.

'Nikita' is about a trained assassin gone rogue trying to stop a secret U.S. agency known only as Division from recruiting deeply troubled teenagers and training them to be assassins themselves. The series stars Maggie Q ('Live Free or Die Hard,' 'Mission: Impossible III') as the latest incarnation of the eponymous spy, following in the footsteps of actors Anne Parillaud ('La Femme Nikita' 1990), Bridget Fonda ('Point of No Return' 1993), and Peta Wilson ('La Femme Nikita' 1997) who each played Nikita over the past two decades.

'Nikita' airs on CW Fridays at 8:00pm ET.