CBS preempts ‘Vegas’ for Scott Pelley report on Dzhokar Tsarnaev manhunt

For the second time this week, we are seeing a preemption for a primetime network show to cover the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing on Monday; however, this one does not appear to be due to content as much as when NBC chose to push back a new episode of “Revolution,” which was planning to showcase a bomb-related storyline.

CBS has announced that there will be no new episode of “Vegas” this week, and they will instead air a special report from Evening News anchor Scott Pelley on the aftermath to the case, including the manhunt that is currently underway for one of the suspects in Dzhokar Tsarnaev. As of this writing he is still at large, though his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev has already been found dead. Much of the city is currently on lockdown, and this is after a night of violence erupted that led to the death of at least one officer.

It is assumed that the next new episode of “Vegas” will be the one originally set to air on Friday, and the reason to preempt this show over “Undercover Boss” or “Blue Bloods” seems to be mostly ratings-based. The Michael Chiklis drama has suffered since its move to Friday, and will likely not be picked up for a second season.

There have already been some changes made the next week’s broadcast schedule in light of the events in Boston. Rather than air an episode of “Castle” Monday night that revolves around a plate triggered with explosives, ABC decided late Wednesday to swap that episode out with a different one, and the two will thus air out of order as a measure of sensitivity.

We are a television news site, so we will not be offering much more in the way of coverage on the manhunt. However, our thoughts are with the victims and the city at this time.

Photo: CBS