‘Private Practice’ season 6 debate: Why the back-to-back episodes?

If there is one thing that is relatively easy to forget at the moment, it is that ABC is choosing to air one of its final “Private Practice” episodes on a Wednesday night … in particular the night before Thanksgiving. So why is the network doing this? There is one easy answer for it: it is a necessarily evil when it comes to scheduling.

First of all, anyone who loves “Private Practice” already knows one thing: the ratings are not great. As a matter of fact, last week’s installment posted a meager 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which is a new series low. The network wants to give the Kate Walsh series a proper send-off, but it also does not want to keep it on the air forever thanks in part to some of what they would like to do with this 10:00 p.m. timeslot on Tuesdays in the spring.

Another issue here? All of the preemptions that have caused numerous delays already. First, there was debate during the election that slowed things down … and there was also the election itself. ABC was prepared to deal with these, but they also had to preempt an episode thanks to their coverage in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. So it’s safe to say that they are behind a little bit.

Luckily, there is some great “Private Practice” coverage coming your way, especially the episode Wednesday night that is going to focus on Jake in the same way that last week’s focused on Sam. We also have an Addison-centric hour coming up, in addition to the grand send-off otherwise known as the series finale.

Are you angry that ABC is airing an episode a day before a major holiday, especially when so many people are traveling during this time? We want to hear your thoughts on this story below!