God Friended Me, NCIS: Los Angeles, Madam Secretary delayed (again)
So why are they being delayed? Well, stop us when this one sounds familiar: It’s due to NFL programming coming in and mucking things up, much to the surprise of no one. God Friended Me is now starting at 8:40 p.m. Eastern time rather than 8:30, and NCIS: Los Angeles will be on an hour later at 9:40. Finally, Madam Secretary is going to be coming on the air at 10:40 p.m. Eastern, which is not great news when it comes to the series’ ratings. This is a show with a largely older viewership, and it is not going to be wrapping up on the air now until close to midnight — when many people have to get up early the next day for work, that’s a problem.
Yet, as we have said many times in the past, we don’t foresee CBS ever changing things up when it comes to their schedule. There’s no reason to when NFL games bring in the sort of ratings that they do. They are far more successful that the primetime shows are and that seems to strongly influence their programming strategy.
(For those on the West Coast, rest assured that all of these shows are still set to air at their normal time.)
Are there benefits that come along with the series being delayed because of football? Maybe a small one in that the NFL overrun does tend to produce a rather nice ratings bump for at least some of the earlier shows on the night. Alas, by the time you get around to Madam Secretary most of that ends up fading away. It’s a trade off that you get with the way in which the schedule works out for the fall — it brings in new viewers, but it’s also frustrating for longtime viewers who just want to be able to come back and check out some of the shows that they want to check out.
Next week, here’s to hoping that there are fewer delays. As of right now, the plan does seem to be for these shows to start closer to their normal time sans football … though that can change and it almost always does. At least for now there are no indications that they are going to be running a good 30-40 minutes later. (There may only be a handful of episodes to go, as well, until the shows embark on their typical hiatus for the earlier part of the new year — CBS doesn’t even want to begin to mess with awards season.)
Related News – Check out some other information when it comes to God Friended Me!
What do you want to see on these three shows when they do come on the air? Be sure to share in the attached comments. (Photo: CBS.)