President Bush has succeeded in doing what rival networks have been trying to do for months -- knock FOX's top-rated American Idol series off the airwaves.
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The White House announced this afternoon that President George W. Bush will hold a televised press conference on Tuesday, April 13, beginning at 8:30 PM ET, a move that sent Fox programmers scrambling to reschedule Tuesday's planned American Idol and created new head-to-head programming aftershocks for the other networks -- most notably CBS and its hit Survivor series.
Not willing to lose broadcasts of two of its most popular shows, FOX has announced that Tuesday's American Idol and 24 episodes have been rescheduled for later in the week, with Idol's Tuesday and Wednesday broadcasts shifting to Wednesday and Thursday and 24 moving to next Sunday evening.
Instead of airing live, this week's American Idol performance show will be taped on Tuesday night before the normal studio audience and will air Wednesday, April 14 at 8 PM ET/PT, with voting lines opening at the end of the show as usual. The voting outcome will then be revealed in a special one-hour American Idol results show airing live on Thursday, April 15 at 8 PM ET/PT -- a move that will pit it directly against CBS' hit Survivor series and no doubt damage the ratings performance of both shows. Following Idol's results show, FOX will air the program previously scheduled for broadcast in the 8PM time period taken over by Idol -- a new episode of the network's Tru Calling series featuring guest star Tamyra Gray, one of the finalists from American Idol's first season.
The episode of 24 that was originally scheduled for Tuesday night will air Sunday, April 18 at 9 PM ET/PT.
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Below is a listing of the updated FOX primetime schedules for April 13, 14, 15 and 18. The Tuesday, April 13 schedule will vary by time zone. All changes are detailed below.
TUESDAY, APRIL 13:
East Coast:
8:00 PM ET THAT '70s SHOW (TSS-606) "We're Not Gonna Take It"
8:30-9:30 PM ET FOX NEWS SPECIAL: PRESIDENTIAL PRESS CONFERENCE
9:30 PM ET THAT '70s SHOW (TSS-608) "I'm A Boy"
Central Time Zone:
7:00 PM CT THAT '70s SHOW (TSS-606) "We're Not Gonna Take It"
7:30-8:30 PM CT FOX NEWS SPECIAL: PRESIDENTIAL PRESS CONFERENCE
8:30 PM CT THAT '70s SHOW (TSS-608) "I'm A Boy"
Mountain Time Zone:
6:30-7:30 PM MT FOX NEWS SPECIAL: PRESIDENTIAL PRESS CONFERENCE
7:30 PM MT THAT '70s SHOW (TSS-608) "I'm A Boy"
8:00 PM MT THAT '70s SHOW (TSS-606) "We're Not Gonna Take It"
8:30 PM MT LOCAL PROGRAMMING
Pacific Coast:
5:30-6:30 PM PT FOX NEWS SPECIAL: PRESIDENTIAL PRESS CONFERENCE
8:00 PM PT THAT '70s SHOW (TSS-606) "We're Not Gonna Take It"
8:30 PM PT THAT '70s SHOW (TSS-608) "I'm A Boy"
9:00 PM PT LOCAL PROGRAMMING
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14:
8:00 PM ET/PT AMERICAN IDOL (ID-317) "8 Finalists Compete" (Phone lines open after show for voting)
9:00 PM ET/PT THE O.C. (OC-124) "The Proposal"
THURSDAY, APRIL 15:
8:00 PM 1-HOUR AMERICAN IDOL RESULTS SHOW (ID2-317A) "1 of 8 Voted Off"
9:00 PM TRU CALLING (TRU-116) "Death Becomes Her" (with guest star Tamyra Gray)
SUNDAY, APRIL 18:
7:00 PM KING OF THE HILL (KH-804) "Incredible Hank"
7:30 PM KING OF THE HILL (KH-814) "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Alamo"
8:00 PM THE SIMPSONS (SI-1512) "My Big Fat Geek Wedding"
8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS (SI-1420) "The President Wore Pearls"
9:00 PM "24" (TWF-318) "Day 3: 6:00 AM-7:00 AM"