TV shifts for president’s news conference
On Monday President Bush scheduled a news conference for Tuesday at 8:30 pm Eastern that is scrambling prime-time TV schedules ó most dramatically that of Fox, whose No. 1 hit, American Idol, must move to make room.
Bush will take questions for about an hour from the East Room at the White House in his first formal news conference this year. The situation in Iraq is expected to dominate. The four major networks, plus cable news channels, will carry it live.
Idol’s eight remaining singers will still perform today in Los Angeles, but the normally live broadcast ó which draws more than 25 million viewers on a typical Tuesday ó will be tape-delayed, airing Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Fans will vote afterward; the results show, usually shown Wednesday, will move to Thursday at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The results shows normally draw upwards of 20 million viewers. (Another Tuesday show, the drama 24, shifts to Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT.)
Instead, Fox will air repeats of the sitcom That ’70s Show at 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ET and at 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. PT.
Other networks are making Tuesday changes, too:
ï NBC will postpone the season finale of the sitcom Happy Family until April 20 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT. Tonight, Frasier moves to 9:30 p.m. ET, a half-hour later than usual, and will run twice in the West, at 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. PT.
ï CBS postpones a new episode of The Guardian.Navy NCIS, usually at 8 p.m., won’t run in the East. Instead, reruns will air of comedies Still Standing at 8 p.m. ET and King of Queens at 9:30 p.m. ET; in the West, Queens runs at 9 p.m., Standing at 9:30 p.m. PT.
ï ABC will run 8 Simple Rules … at 8 p.m. ET and According to Jim at 9:30 p.m. ET; in the West, two episodes of Rules will run at 8 p.m. PT followed by two Jims at 9 p.m. PT.
UPN and WB plan to stick to their normal schedules.
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