What did happen to tonight's episode of The West Wing? (1 Viewer)

[Don Black]

Someone posted a thread (163923) that got deleted asking what happend to tonight's episode of TWW? But does anyone know why NBC yanked it? Was it because of the ferry accident? Thanks.

 

[Patrick Sun]

More likely it was Game 7 of the NLCS (Cubs vs. Marlins).

 

[Rob T]

and it looks like it's a re-run next week. :frowning:

 

[DaveMcS]

Yah...we were all settled in only to get a rerun of a L&O SVU....
And the Marlins/Cubs game was on simultaneously elsewhere on the dial..

 

[DaveMcS]

duplicate post deleted

 

[RobertW]

i was bumming too. but law and order after it was a repeat too, so i'm assuming they didn't feel like airing new episodes up against baseball.

 

[Tony Whalen]

So it wasn't just here then. I was rather disappointed myself...as was my wife. *sigh* Glad it wasn't just my local broadcaster though. Thought I'd be reading all kinds of spoilers this morning.

As for next week...three episodes in, and we're already into reruns? WTF?

 

[DaveBB]

I would like to hear from NBC the reason for the sudden change and removing two new shows.

 

[Brian Kleinke]

It's just odd since in the middle of Ed it advertised All new West Wing next....

 

[Kenshiro]

Did this actually air in some areas?

All I got was a message from the local affliate to call NBC HQ if you had an issue with the change in schedule.

 

[LarryDavenport]

I think NBC is imploding. They are canelling shows left and right and filling the slots with reruns of the Law & Order franchise and (gasp) Whoopi.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Well, is there anything better to do fill-in duty than Law & Order? Its reruns get decent ratings and it's so beautifully self-contained that it drives no-one away because it's impenetrable.

And NBC's just being NBC. Every year, they come out with a few shows that have big-name talent attached, and every year, a few of them don't connect with an audience. Their success rate is probably no different from any other network's; their tendancy to go with big stars just makes their failures more visible.

 

[Lew Crippen]

More likely it was Game 7 of the NLCS (Cubs vs. Marlins).

That is what I thought last night. The reruns gave me a perfect reason to concentrate on baseball. I think that it does say something that NBC is trying to protect their ‘heavy hitters’. From baseball? And even before the series?

 

[Chad R]

Thank God that's all it was. For a second I was convinced that NBC had bitten the bullet and completely converted its schedule to nothing but Law and Order spin offs. At least it will be a little longer until that happens.

 

[Henry Gale]

My local station had a crawl on the screen saying that, "The network made the decision not to run West Wing" and that it would air that episode on October 29th.

 

[DaveBB]

Here is an article from the 10/16 St. Louis Post Dispatch

NBC pulling new episodes of 'Friends,' 'ER' off tonight's schedule
By Gail Pennington
Post-Dispatch
10/16/2003

Caving in to the long-running baseball playoffs, NBC is pulling new episodes of "Friends," "ER" and other Thursday night hits off tonight's schedule in favor of reruns.

On Wednesday, the network did the same thing, yanking scheduled new episodes of "The West Wing" and "Law & Order." Fans upset not to find "The West Wing" in its usual time slot (where a rerun of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" aired instead) pelted KSDK (Channel 5) and the Post-Dispatch with angry questions. The last-minute decision was made long after TV listings were printed.

Both the National League and American League championship series went to pivotal seventh games, with the Florida Marlins defeating the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday and the New York Yankees taking on the Boston Red Sox tonight.

Networks typically make just 22 episodes of each series per season and are reluctant to waste them when viewership might be low. "We felt it was in the best interest to hold the original episodes for a later date," NBC said in a statement printed on KSDK's Web site. "Your viewers are not missing anything, and the story lines they have been following this season will continue."

Next week's "West Wing" had already been scheduled as a repeat. Game 4 of the World Series will air that night on Fox.

In addition, NBC will air repeats next Thursday. November sweeps start Oct. 30, so new episodes of all shows will certainly be seen for four weeks after that.

 

[Jennifer^^W]

I guess I can understand where they are coming from with that decision, but I think making it in the 11th hour is pretty tacky.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Also a sign of panic—or perhaps desperation.

 

[Ken Chan]

Fox has been the most shameless with regards to the actual show content (e.g. When Reality Shows Attack), but in terms of promotion and scheduling, NBC wins the weasel award.

//Ken