Would NBC have been best keeping its scripted offerings until January?
The Blacklist is the latest scripted series that the network is putting on hiatus after airing just two episodes.
The series returned Friday, November 13, and fans were left stunned when a promo after The Blacklist Season 8 Episode 2 revealed a January 22 air date for The Blacklist Season 8 Episode 3.
The news is understandably surprising, especially. considering The Blacklist Season 7 was cut short, and The Blacklist Season 8 premiered later than planned.
If you watch The Blacklist online, you know the fall finale was deadly, sending the battle battle between Red and Liz into overdrive.
As a result, fans will be waiting almost nine weeks to find out what happens next, with The Blacklist joining One Chicago and This Is Us as the shows placed on hiatus.
NBC previously revealed January return dates following the second episodes of the new seasons of Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago PD.
This Is Us, however, aired four episodes before entering a hiatus until January. Still, it seems like the best course of action would have been to hold all five shows until January and run them with less breaks.
COVID-19 is making production of TV shows more difficult due to the protocols in place to prevent the spread of the virus.
We’ve already witness Chicago Med and Fire being shut down due to positive tests on the set of each series.
Any sort of delay in production will have a knock-on effect when it comes to scheduling.
Maybe NBC would have been wise to emulate FOX and The CW by holding the bulk of scripted originals until January.
ABC is running originals of The Good Doctor, Station 19, and Grey’s Anatomy for another few weeks yet.
What are your thoughts on this latest break for the show?
Hit the comments below.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.