CBS Cancels 'CSI: Miami,' 'Rob' & 'NYC 22,' Renews 'CSI:NY'
Is Chevy Chase Quitting 'Community'?
Law & Order episodes could be pulled if Thompson runs for president
Here's an interesting twist to the already-exploding 2008 presidential campaign: If former U.S. Senator and current Law & Order star Fred Thompson decides to run for president, all episodes of L&O with him in it will be pulled from the air for the duration of his stay in the race.Why? Because of the FCC's equal time rules, says The Washington Post. It's a fairness policy that the governing body has had for decades; it ensures that every candidate in a political race has an equal opportunity to promote themselves. The rule doesn't apply to newscasts, interview shows, and news-oriented events (like debates, I'd imagine), but it definitely applies to entertainment shows like L&O. This isn't a unique circumstance; the article cites Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan as two candidates whose movies were pulled from TV during their political campaigns.
Cable stations like TNT, which airs L&O reruns, are also exempt, but they tend to comply with equal time rules, anyway. You'd think that, with seventeen years worth of episodes to choose from, this wouldn't make for much of a hardship for these cable networks. But Thompson has appeared as D.A. Arthur Branch in 109 episodes, according to IMDb, all of which have been from the last five years. TNT may balk if they can't show the most recent episodes just because of the two minutes per episode that Thompson's usually on. NBC has a case, though, if the equal time rule kicks in while they're still showing new episodes with Thompson in them. But, given the timing of the rule -- it doesn't apply until the candidate shows up on state primary ballots -- they may not have to worry about that.
5 Comments