NBC has announced that their new fall TV lineup — originally scheduled to launch on Monday — will be postponed by one week, due to the terrorist attacks of this week.
“In light of the recent tragic events in our country, NBC has decided to postpone the premieres of the network’s fall primetime programs. Further developments could alter this plan,” the network said in a statement.
Other networks’ schedules are also up in the air, due to this weeks’ events.
CBS had planned to launch an early premiere of its show “Wolf Lake” on Wednesday, but opted to continue non-stop coverage of the terrorist events of Tuesday and the aftermath that followed. The network also postponed the Emmy Awards, scheduled to air on Sunday.
“Clearly, right now it’s hard to think about entertainment programming,” Leslie Moonves, CBS Television president and CEO said. “Nobody wants to watch a sitcom today, and that’s the primary reason why we didn’t want the Emmys to take place this week. It just doesn’t fit with how everyone is feeling. But there comes a certain point where you do have to look at moving on. At the moment, things are minute by minute and subject to change, but we’re thinking about putting on our schedule as planned on Monday.”
The WB Network has said that it plans to move forward with it’s new Friday lineup of family-oriented comedy shows including “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and “Reba” — Reba McIntyre’s new sitcom. Jordan Levin, WB Network entertainment president explained the decision, saying: “What we’re looking to do is to offer those who want to return to a sense of normalcy the opportunity to watch TV together as a family and to allow younger viewers the opportunity to have something different than the catastrophic images that are repeating on multiple channels.”
FOX TV has pulled advertisements for its new show “24” reportedly because the premiere episode’s storyline includes scenes of an assassin blowing up an airplane. Executives have the responsibility of trying to figure out where to draw the line, given the extreme circumstances facing America this week. Dana Walden, president of 20th Century Fox TV comments, “Our responsibility is to try and be sensitive to what’s going on in the world without censoring our writers to the point where they feel like they’re no longer able to write the shows they’ve created. Each of our creators feels a responsibility to be sensitive and to do whatever possible not to be disrespectful.”
