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Why NBC Pre-empted ‘Revolution’ for Boston Bombing Coverage

Apr 16, 2013  •  Post A Comment

NBC was the only broadcast network to pre-empt its regular prime-time lineup to cover the deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon, and part of the reason had to do with the subject matter on "Revolution," Deadline.com reports.

An anchored news special with Brian Williams aired at 10 p.m. instead of the drama, which had been slated for the time slot. One issue that influenced the decision was that the plot of the "Revolution" episode was about efforts to find a nuclear bomb, which executives decided wasn’t appropriate after the tragedy, the story adds.

"The pre-emption has serious repercussions for ‘Revolution,’ sending NBC’s scheduling team scrambling for solutions,” the story reports. “The problem is that, because of the drama’s late return to the schedule to coincide with the spring cycle of ‘The Voice,’ ‘Revolution’ was slated to air all 10 remaining new episodes with no interruption."

Without the pre-emption, the show would have ended past the finish of the season, with a finale airing May 27. But now "Revolution" may need to air its finale even later into the summer, a move that’s frowned upon for top drama series, the story notes.

Another option is for NBC to air two originals in one week, keeping the May 27 finale date.

5 Comments

  1. NBC are such loosers it don’t matter waht they try they just never learn they have 1 hit and the perempt it!!

  2. “Looser”? Yes, NBC is definitely the LOSER here.

  3. The only network to cancel primetime? The question shouldn’t be, “Why did NBC do this?” The question should be why didn’t everyone else preempt primetime as well?.
    Gotta give NBC credit for the right move. This wasn’t some local story — this was an attach on one of our great cities. Worth a little of our nation’s airtime, don’t you think?

  4. David Lefforge is a loser at all spelling bees. Do you really want to eat the crap that his Boss Catering in Detroit makes? Yech.

  5. The Boss Catering in Michigan sucks. The owner, David Lefforge, is a loser!!

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