News of the Day Gets in Networks' Way

Collapsing Wall Street is wreaking havoc on the broadcast networks during Premiere Week.

First, President Bush decided to address the country last night -- the first Wednesday of the new TV season -- interrupting several networks' program-debut plans.

Then, Republican presidential candidate John McCain bailed from David Letterman's show only about two hours before it was to tape, calling the late-night host personally to tell him the economy was in such a state of crisis he was suspending his campaign and had to leave immediately to get back to Washington., Letterman got word that McCain -- who had announced his candidacy on "The Late Show" way back when -- did not, in fact, rush back to the capital. Instead, he plugged his decision to suspend his campaign, bail on Friday night's debate with Democratic nominee Barack Obama and race back to Washington over on CBS's evening newscast. He was, in fact, taping an interview with Katie Couric.

Letterman had his producers throw up the CBS in-house video feed, showing McCain getting makeup applied to his face before the interview taping. "Now, he doesn't seem to be racing back to the airport, does he?" Letterman asked Olbermann. "This just gets uglier and uglier," he said.

"Let's punch up Katie Couric's interview and . . . let's see what he has to say here. I wonder if he'll mention me. Hey, John! I've got a question -- you need a ride to the airport?" Letterman said. "This stinks," he said, adding, "It's like we caught him getting a manicure."

A few minutes later, he joked to his audience: "We're now told the senator has concluded his interview with Katie Couric and is now on Rachael Ray's show making veal piccata."

"Good evening, I'm afraid I have some bad news; we had a guest who was scheduled to appear on our show but had to cancel," CBS late-night host Craig Ferguson told his audience last night in a cold open immediately after Letterman's show wrapped.

"Keith Olbermann . . . was meant to be here, then suddenly he got a better offer! Curse you, Olbermann, and your -- availability to David Letterman!"

Last night, the broadcast networks had to shuffle their schedules to make room for Bush's address to the nation about the crisis on Wall Street.

The president decided early yesterday afternoon to deliver the speech at 9 p.m., which even the White House knows is when the number of Homes Using Television is at its highest. It's also when CBS had hoped to unveil the bang-up season debut of "Criminal Minds," followed by the action-packed season start of "CSI: New York."

ABC had hoped viewers would flock to its two-hour "Dive of Death" -- and, no, it's not a newsmag special on Wall Street, it's the latest foisting of David Blaine on an unsuspecting public. NBC was all set to air the five finalists on "America's Got Talent," followed by the debut of "Lipstick Jungle." Fox, well, Fox had " 'Til Death" and another episode of its new "Do Not Disturb." The less said about them the better.

And, of course, CW figures its audience doesn't much care. CW gave the speech a pass in favor of a "90210" rerun.

ABC, CBS and Fox simply slid their 9 o'clock shows to 9:15 p.m.-ish after Bush wrapped things up, and ran prime time about 15 minutes late. NBC joined "America's Got Talent" in progress, but aired the five contestants' performances in their entirety.

Still to be resolved is the question of the possibly-to-be-aborted Friday presidential debate. Many new and returning series are scheduled to be unveiled on Friday next week because the networks all had cleared the first Friday of the TV season for this first presidential debate. According to most navel-gazers, the McCain-Obama face-off was shaping up to become possibly the most watched event in TV history. News reports and talking heads on cable news programs were slinging around estimates exceeding 100 million viewers across the many networks intending to cover the debate. As of late last night, the plug had not been pulled on the debate, but McCain was saying he would be a no-show unless Congress had reached an agreement with the White House on a bailout plan. Obama was saying he wanted to debate McCain as scheduled because now, more than ever, American voters need to hear what the candidates have to say.

But, instead of that historic showdown, the night could be a sea of "Don't Forget the Lyrics" and "America's Funniest Home Videos" reruns, with no network planning to move up its Friday premieres by one week should the debate be scrubbed.