I just checked my cable service's interactive program guide to plan the
evening's TV watching, and, despite the fact that it's a sweeps month, I
was completely unable to find Law and Order, L&O:SVU, *or* L&O: Organized
Crime at their usual times (oranywhere near them) on their usual channel.

No new episode, no rerun, no nothing. They're just *gone*!

What the hell happened? Did they finally cancel them? All at once?! Why no
fanfare?

I wish to hell the networks would actually tell viewers what the hell is
going on. For the past few years I've noticed more and more often shows
just jumping around, disappearing for weeks at a time, or even
disappearing and never coming back without any announcements or messages
telling people what to expect and why. Is it gone forever? Is it back in a
week or two? After Christmas? Did it move to another night or a different
time? Who knows! The only way to find out is to check the guide every day
and see if it reappears.

Is it too much to ask to a) stick to a regular schedule for months at a
time rather than only a week or two and b) when for some stupid reason you
really can't, put a blasted message at the end of the episode just before
the move/gap/whatever telling people where/when to find the next one? They
do do that *occasionally* -- "Next week's episode airs at a special time"
or similarly -- but all too often they just silently move stuff around...

Of course, whenever they screw around like this it plays hell with
programmed DVRs too, and no amount of alert messages would help with that.
The thing will record whatever is on at 10 pm, come hell or high water,
and if they yanked your show and replaced it with some stupid half-baked
movie or event or something instead, you'll get a chunk of that instead of
what you wanted.

Needless to say, people not getting what they want leads to people taking
their money (or their ad-viewing) elsewhere, so I have to question the
intelligence or motives of any businessman at a network that thinks
rearranging the schedule every three weeks is better than rearranging it
just once in May, once in September, and once in January like in the good
old days.

--
Rhino