Election coverage pre-empting TV series

[vchimpanzee]

I looked at the TV listings on my TiVo and the entire night on my ABC station will be devoted to the election.

I looked at the newspaper TV listings and "Selfie", the one show I would want to watch on ABC, is new (which is a bad idea; won't people be watching election coverage)?

I haven't checked my TiVo to see if my ABC affiliate is airing "Selfie" at a different time. I have an over-the-air affiliate which doesn't even have its own news department and rarely pre-empts anything, but I have to remember to watch because I currently have no way to tape over-the-air TV. Plus I have a hard time watching TV these days without being able to go back and see what I missed.

I can't recall if "About a Boy" is on but I have only one NBC affiliate. The other one is too far away with the antennas I have.

"The Flash" is the only other series I watch and that's on The CW, though the affiliate could have election coverage. They have news since they were Fox before.

 

[mvcg66b3r]

What market are you in?

 

[vchimpanzee]

Charlotte. The N.C. Senate race is one of the nastiest in the country and I guess that means something. If Thom Tillis wins the Republicans could take over.

 

[nathannah]

In most cases outside of 8/7c, all the networks (except Fox and NBC, which I don't know why they're bothering with new sitcoms at 9) have already called Tuesday a wash and built in that they know political coverage is going to pre-empt near everything. 8/7 is still getting polls closed so it's safe to get in new shows then, and outside of the most obvious races which are called within moments, most everything else happens between 9-11. CBS is going all-repeat that night to protect NCIS, ABC is throwing on a Marvel clip-show after 9, and at 10, all the networks are going into easily pre-emptable national election coverage.

Also; we're in 2014, where on-demand and Hulu/network portals exist. Since we pretty much know Selfie is running out the string to it's expected cancellation, ABC is pretty confident that those who watch the show will find it somehow. Same with the other shows on NBC and Fox.

 

[FredLeonard]

ABC, CBS and NBC are running election coverage at 10pm. They are feeding regular programming before that, although some stations may do cut-ins at the start of shows.

If you have a Season Pass for "Selfie," it should record the re-scheduled show automatically. If your station is not running Tuesday night shows at some other time, you should be able to watch them online or on-demand.

 

[newsmark]

It's interesting, vchimpanzee, that your TiVo shows Selfie being pre-empted in Charlotte. Both Zap2It (which gets its listings from Tribune Media, same as TiVo), and Titan TV (which appears on WSOC's site) show WSOC running the ABC election update at 8:00, followed by 2 new episodes of Selfie.

Maybe, for some reason, TiVo didn't recognize that the election update was only a few minutes at the top of the hour.

 

[Avid Listener]

It disgusts me as an American to hear people whine and kvetch because their local TV station was using the public airwaves to air coverage of local elections and they're missing some half-assed sitcom. It's that sort of head-in-the-sand mentality and misplaced priorities that has this nation in the sad and sorry state that it's in. Anyone who considers some lame sitcom as more important than information about the upcoming election should hand his head in shame. Such people are beneath contempt.

 

[landtuna]

It disgusts me as an American to hear people whine and kvetch because their local TV station was using the public airwaves to air coverage of local elections and they're missing some half-assed sitcom. It's that sort of head-in-the-sand mentality and misplaced priorities that has this nation in the sad and sorry state that it's in. Anyone who considers some lame sitcom as more important than information about the upcoming election should hand his head in shame. Such people are beneath contempt.

The problem isn't election coverage itself, it is the non-stop blabbering about "if this" and "if that" which does not give anyone except political junkies anything of value. All I need to know are the results and then a summary of the affect upon my local area, my state and the nation at large. That could be accomplished easily within the span of one hour the morning/afternoon/evening of election day +1. I do not need 8-10 solid hours of talking heads saying pretty much nothing.

One more thing.....for the past month (or more) we have been subjected to non-stop political ads the vast majority of which are negative. According to the various advertisers we have nobody but crooks, pedophiles, mental incompetents, and shysters running for public office. Nothing irritates me as much as having to watch a string of 5-6 political ads back to back which repeat endlessly, do not provide any useful information and are financed by dark money. It has virtually turned me off to our political system entirely.

 

[anotherguyTN]

There are times I wish we had a choice of None of the Above. Anybody who has seen the Richard Pryor version of Brewster's Millions will understand what I mean.

 

[FredLeonard]

It disgusts me as an American to hear people whine and kvetch because their local TV station was using the public airwaves to air coverage of local elections and they're missing some half-assed sitcom. It's that sort of head-in-the-sand mentality and misplaced priorities that has this nation in the sad and sorry state that it's in. Anyone who considers some lame sitcom as more important than information about the upcoming election should hand his head in shame. Such people are beneath contempt.

Nothing is more lame than bloviating talking heads on election night. You can get election results online. Of course, you'd have to read them yourself and not have them read to you.

 

[TheBigA]

Nothing irritates me as much as having to watch a string of 5-6 political ads back to back which repeat endlessly, do not provide any useful information and are financed by dark money. It has virtually turned me off to our political system entirely.

The good news for you is that the majority of the political money seems to be spent on TV, not radio. So if the political ads irritate you, you can escape them on the radio.

 

[FredLeonard]

The good news for you is that the majority of the political money seems to be spent on TV, not radio. So if the political ads irritate you, you can escape them on the radio.

Well, a TV spot costs a lot more than a radio spot. But if even politicians and those anonymous donor groups are bailing out on radio, it really is all over. Then again, why buy radio? Right-wing talk is just throwing away money to either preach to the choir (or to try to convert the heathen, who have already made up their minds). Maybe all news, where it exists, could be a valid buy. Music radio is people who would just as soon avoid politics in the first place (and your ad gets stuck in one of those interminable stop-sets).

 

[ixnay]

The good news for you is that the majority of the political money seems to be spent on TV, not radio. So if the political ads irritate you, you can escape them on the radio.

Not on WCBS-AM or KYW. I assume that is the case on most all-newsers or news-talkers.

ixnay

 

[landtuna]

The good news for you is that the majority of the political money seems to be spent on TV, not radio. So if the political ads irritate you, you can escape them on the radio.

You're correct. However then I get to listen to long sets of music I detest interspersed with almost as long sets of commercials.

The answer to TV is to download virtually everything I watch except live sports. The answer to radio is to just turn it off and listen to my own library. Problem(s) solved.

 

[vchimpanzee]

It's interesting, vchimpanzee, that your TiVo shows Selfie being pre-empted in Charlotte. Both Zap2It (which gets its listings from Tribune Media, same as TiVo), and Titan TV (which appears on WSOC's site) show WSOC running the ABC election update at 8:00, followed by 2 new episodes of Selfie.

Maybe, for some reason, TiVo didn't recognize that the election update was only a few minutes at the top of the hour.

I figured out what was going on. When the November 11 episodes of "Selfie" showed up in my listings, I looked at "upcoming episodes". The problem is that I didn't bother to look at 8:02. And the same thing happens at 9 with a Marvel comics special.

This is a real problem with shows that don't start on the hour. People looking at listings the way I do might never realize a show is on.

 

[vchimpanzee]

It disgusts me as an American to hear people whine and kvetch because their local TV station was using the public airwaves to air coverage of local elections and they're missing some half-assed sitcom. It's that sort of head-in-the-sand mentality and misplaced priorities that has this nation in the sad and sorry state that it's in. Anyone who considers some lame sitcom as more important than information about the upcoming election should hand his head in shame. Such people are beneath contempt.

I want to watch my lame sitcoms. I can read about the election in the newspaper. Although this becomes a challenge in that I have to go to the college library, which gets its Charlotte Observer mailed and therefore gets a late edition. I end up getting a Charlotte Observer home delivered in the middle of the night which says everyone is likely to win but no one has actually won.

When Obama won in '08 I got this big scary front page. The final edition had a nice photo with his wife and children.

 

[nathannah]

Just saw that even The CW is going all-repeat for the night despite the vast majority of their stations not being news-carrying...but they don't want to annoy both their show fans and the big stations like WPIX, WGN and KTLA which will pre-empt for sure anyways and not hassle with the weekend bumpover for the crazy Supernatural fanbase.

And just as I thought, my local NBC is bumping the 9pm sitcoms to 1:05am (allegedly, of course) so they can bloviate about the Wisconsin governor's race at the poll-close (inevitably, their AM news/talk personalities will be on to provide analysis); it seems the only reason they did so was ego to attempt to beat the ABC affili's actual attempt at good election coverage. The good thing about all this; on Wednesday morning all these political ads go away and we can rest for awhile (though you know the newschannels are onto 2016 mode as of that moment).

 

[Unregistered]

I want to watch my lame sitcoms. I can read about the election in the newspaper. Although this becomes a challenge in that I have to go to the college library, which gets its Charlotte Observer mailed and therefore gets a late edition. I end up getting a Charlotte Observer home delivered in the middle of the night which says everyone is likely to win but no one has actually won.

When Obama won in '08 I got this big scary front page. The final edition had a nice photo with his wife and children.

If you're on this board, you have Internet access. If you have Internet access, you can read the newspaper's website online. Home delivery editions of newspapers typically go to press around 3am, so it should be able to tell you who won.

But I agree. I'd rather watch lame sitcoms and cop shows, too. Most of the election coverage it talking heads talking, not actual results. The percentage of time devoted to actual results is about equal to the percentage of time in a football game devoted to actual play.

News people get all self-righteous about how everybody SHOULD care more about their stuff than anything else. They are like somebody's mother telling you what's good for you and eat your veggies and because I said so. Apparently the networks are realizing people don't want an entire evening to talking head. The news people only get one hour, instead of going all night like in the past. They are not even preempting the late night shows.

 

[Avid Listener]

Iews people get all self-righteous about how everybody SHOULD care more about their stuff than anything else. They are like somebody's mother telling you what's good for you and eat your veggies and because I said so. Apparently the networks are realizing people don't want an entire evening to talking head. The news people only get one hour, instead of going all night like in the past. They are not even preempting the late night shows.

There's one big difference. If you don't eat your vegetables, that only hurts you. But if the people elect some incompetent "community organizer" who hasn't a clue how to be President because they're too damn lazy to learn the truth, then that hurts everyone.

 

[JeffM]

There's one big difference. If you don't eat your vegetables, that only hurts you. But if the people elect some incompetent "community organizer" who hasn't a clue how to be President because they're too damn lazy to learn the truth, then that hurts everyone.

Obviously the poor stupid unwashed masses don't get all their info from Faux News Channel, like you.