THEY'RE ALL COMING BACK
'The Jeff Probst Show' Has Been Canceled
Networks want Barack Obama to butt out
by Danny Gallagher, posted Mar 21st 2009 9:02AM
President Barack Obama wants to make another primetime address to the nation, but the networks are puking in their soup over it. The White House has another address scheduled for Tuesday, and the networks are raising holy hell over having to shift their schedules to make room for him.
Tuesday is a prime choice cut for the four major networks (five if you count the CW) and shows like American Idol, Bones and The Biggest Loser are having to play musical chairs because of his address.
One unidentified insider told TV Week that the bigger issue to the networks is (wait for it) money. He or she claims every time the President interrupts their programming, they lose at least a couple of million dollars in advertising revenue that they claim can't be replaced.
So what's stopping the networks from just not airing the President's message? They've done it before under President Bush's term. Fox once refused to interrupt their programming, so they could air meaningless tripe like Trading Spouses at a time when the whole country thought the world was one "Bring it on" away from meeting the business end of the evildoer's Swiffer.
This is very disappointing news. Money and business are important to keep the lights on, but when did the networks altogether stop seeing themselves as a public trust? I've got an uneasy feeling that if aliens attacked and started laying waste to humanity, the networks wouldn't let the Emergency Broadcast System interrupt their programming for fear that the Dinty Moore people would never speak to them again.
As a compromise, the White House is considering having shorter 10-minute "fireside chats" instead of a whole address. That's assuming that the White House hasn't yet sold their fireplace to cover the deficit.
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