‘The Blacklist’ episode 9 preempted for a week, replaced with ‘Voice’ recap show

What in the world is NBC doing when it comes to “The Blacklist”? This is a worthy question right now, at least unless they are just trying to hold on to the show’s fall run a little bit longer than they previously were.

According to TV Guide, the ninth episode of the season, which is meant to be the first of an epic two-parter dealing with man so dangerous that even Red is afraid of him, has been delayed a week. It will now air on Monday, November 25, which is just a few days before Thanksgiving. As for what will air in its place, “The Voice” is going to be pushed back an hour on the night, and will start at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time rather than 8:00.

There are only two possible scenarios we can think of as to why the peacock network would even consider this in the first place.

1. Fears over competition – For whatever reason, maybe NBC is worried about Fox’s new show “Almost Human” taking a chunk out of their own lineup’s ratings, and they are just sacrificing their 8:00 p.m. timeslot (which will be a “Voice” recap show) just to ensure that most of their big ratings winners are safe.

2. Spacing things out – Maybe they want episode 10 to be the end of “The Blacklist” this fall, and this allows them to have some quality programming in December to better promote the launch of “The Sing-Off” again. This is a show that has already shown that it has an enormous audience. Not only that, but its own DVR viewership is through the roof compared to almost everything else on network TV. There really are few other theories that make sense, at least for the time being.

What obviously has us worried here is that NBC really had a good think going with “The Blacklist.” They have a show here that is pretty heavily embraced on all forms of media, and is doing really well behind their most-popular show. Why mess with the formula, or your teasers that already suggested that there would be some more of the show coming up soon? The entire thing almost seems as baffling as who Raymond Reddington really is to Elizabeth Keen.

Photo: NBC