The good news: "Alias" will air entirely without repeats next season.

The bad news: It won't premiere until January.

ABC announced Tuesday (May 18) that the fourth season of its cult-hit spy series is being held back until midseason as way to solve the on-this-week, off-the-next-two-weeks scheduling that has plagued the show. The network will also air "NYPD Blue" consecutively beginning in the fall, meaning its season will end earlier than normal.

New drama "Desperate Housewives" will fill "Alias'" 9 p.m. ET Sunday slot in the fall. "Blue" will be replaced by "Blind Justice," a new cop show from Steven Bochco, in the spring.

The no-rerun strategy has worked for numerous cable series, from "The Sopranos" to "The Shield." ABC has used it with "Blue" in past seasons as well, holding the show back until January in 2000 and '01.

Stephen McPherson, ABC's president of primetime entertainment, says "Blue" has "hit an incredible stride" going into its 12th and final season, and the network wants to give it a strong send-off by airing only original episodes.

With "Alias," McPherson -- the former head of Touchstone TV, which produces the series -- says the show's location-heavy shooting schedule made it difficult to deliver a large number of consecutive episodes. Delaying the show will help solve that problem. Viewers won't have to worry as much about repeats and pre-emptions either

"I felt like it made a lot of sense to come on in January and run consecutive episodes without repeats from start to finish of the season, and to really get some momentum," McPherson says.

McPherson also says "Alias" creator J.J. Abrams came to him at the end of this season and said he wanted to "get back to some of the stuff that first inspired [Abrams] about the show."

"I think he saw ['Alias' star Jennifer Garner] in '13 Going on 30,' and there was such joy and happiness in her face," McPherson says. "I think we really want to get some of that infused back into the show, and we want to have a good running start to be able to do that."

"Alias" ends its third season on Sunday, May 23 at 9 p.m. ET.