‘The Blacklist’: Words from Megan Boone, and why episode 9 is delayed

Tonight’s episode of “The Blacklist” should be titled “The Void,” since that is really what it is: Nothingness. There is no new episode tonight thanks to a last-second decision from NBC, and instead “The Voice” is going to start an hour later at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time and run until 11. The drama will be back next week with the first of an epic two-parter.

But why delay the show tonight? This is still a decision that, for whatever reason, still makes no sense to us. It’s not like President Obama is going to be addressing the nation, and you needed a security blanket. This is November, one of the most-important television months of the year. This is the time to run your series as much as you can. We ultimately think that the reason behind the delay was to try and capitalize more on the end of “The Voice” this year to boost ratings, but personally, we would have much rather seen stability, even if that means having to go on a longer hiatus in between. So long as you have a good show, people will wait for you. Heck, in the case of “Breaking Bad,” you can potentially increase your numbers dramatically.

But enough of our complaining about episode 9, since we’re not going to get to watch it tonight, anyway. So with that in mind, let’s just instead share something new from series star Megan Boone. Speaking to Parade (which is a pretty nice achievement for the star of a new show), Boone explains that she actually tries to stay in the dark almost as long as everyone at home can, that way her reactions as Liz Keen to events are all the more natural:

“I don’t want to know anything she doesn’t know. It helps bring a scene to life. It’s nice not to have to pretend to be in the dark.”

Liz is someone who is definitely in the dark about at least a few things at the moment, including who Raymond Reddington really is, and whether or not Tom is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Red insists that there is something more than meets the eye with (in a scary “Transformers” sort of way), but she’s not buying it.

Photo: NBC