Where is Whiskey Cavalier? ABC’s post-Oscars launch causes chaos
The new series, which stars Scott Foley alongside Lauren Cohan, found itself the subject of a tremendous amount of promotion throughout the Academy Awards telecast. Yet, for many, the presumption was that the pilot would be airing immediately after the show, only for the local news to air instead. We’ve also heard reports from some people that they were seeing a continuous batch of commercials, or even a repeat of an old episode of Wipeout. (Wipeout is basically the biggest thing in contrast to the Oscars of anything to ever air.)
What’s going on here? For starters, it seems as though there was some mass confusion on the part of some local ABC affiliates — this is not a group of networks used to something like this, as they don’t often air a new, scripted show after the Oscars. They’ve aired a post-show comedy special before, but this is different. (We’d say the real failure was in the advertising making most viewers think that “after the Oscars” meant directly after the show, rather than following some other broadcast.)
The premiere episode, eventually, did start airing at about midnight Eastern time … though that’s not particularly beneficial to the show’s ratings. How many people still are up watching scripted programming at midnight Eastern time? The launch certainly could have been better, but we hope that it doesn’t cause too many viewers to look away. Whiskey Cavalier is a fun show! We’ve seen the premiere, and it feels very much like a White Collar, a Chuck, or any other show that combines action, comedy, and unique, quirky characters. (Ironically, Lauren Cohan previously had a major recurring role on Chuck.) This show’s got a sleek presentation, but the presence of the always-great Bill Lawrence behind the scenes.
(For those of you on the West Coast, you can check out the premiere at 10:00 p.m. Pacific — that’s at least according to the local ABC affiliate out of Los Angeles. A lot of people in the LA area have a red carpet special playing now.)
Where is your silver lining?
The series will be airing the premiere episode in full Wednesday night at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time, otherwise known as its regular timeslot. If you do end up missing it tonight, it is not the end of the world and there will be another chance to see it down the line.
If you’re one of those people who obsessively follow ratings — in other words, if you’re like the very writer composing this story — don’t take stock in the numbers either tonight or on Wednesday. The audience is going to be SO divided up that it’ll be hard for anyone to really determine the audience. A more accurate assessment is going to come next week after the second episode airs.
If you are lucky enough to be able to see the Whiskey Cavalier premiere tonight, be sure to let us know some of your thoughts in the comments. (Photo: ABC.)