A TV network's schedule can be altered by a lot of things, from national disasters to crazy sports championships, and all manner of other causes. Last month, for instance, NBC delayed one episode of Law & Order: SVU for several weeks, and then pushed it back a second time, and now the network recently decided the third choice for an air date won't cut it, either, and the episode has now been pushed back to some unannounced date. The reason? Donald Trump won the U.S. Presidency.
The episode, titled "Unstoppable," was originally meant to air on October 12, but got delayed for two weeks before receiving its seemingly final post-election airing on Wednesday, November 16. And now that America has chosen its arguably surprising next President, NBC is putting quite a bit of distance between the Trump-inspired episode and the business mogul's big night, which nobody will likely wonder about since the episode in question involved a political candidate accused of rape.
In the episode, actor Gary Cole plays a POTUS hopeful who shares obvious similarities with Donald Trump, including massive wealth and a boorish attitude. The campaign trail, as you might have guessed, is thrown into an uproar when a woman accuses the character of rape. The first air date would have been just after the notorious Access Hollywood recording, in which Trump spoke of using his fame to make sexual advances on women, and just before the third and finale debate. The second back-pedaling for the episode came after numerous sexual assault allegations against Trump surfaced.
Now that he's going to be our next leader, NBC likely doesn't want to stir the pot, so the network now won't air the episode until some point in 2017. According to Deadline, NBC is putting Blindspot together with a two-hour episode of Chicago P.D., and so we possibly won't be seeing any new episodes for quite a bit. There's no way they'll put this episode out in January so close to the inauguration, right?
Fun fact: this isn't the first time in 2016 that Gary Cole has seen one of his TV shows affected by Donald Trump. Veep showrunner Dave Mandel said not too long ago that the HBO comedy made some changes following that Access Hollywood tape's release.
Stay tuned to see when Law & Order: SVU will air "Unstoppable," or any of its other episodes. In the meantime, head to our fall schedule and our midseason schedule to see what's still coming to your televisions.
