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'Move over, elves,
it's the president'

ABC bumps its holiday special 'Prep & Landing'

By Diego Vasquez
Dec 1, 2009

If kids ages 2-11 could vote, President Barack Obama might be facing serious approval issues. Tonight's primetime address by the president is forcing ABC to preempt its much-hyped new Christmas special "Prep & Landing," which was supposed to air at 8:30.

Instead Obama will address the nation at 8 on all of the Big Four networks, as well as the cable news networks, forcing all of them to rearrange their schedules for the sixth time since he took office in January.

ABC promoted "Prep's" Dec. 1 airdate extensively during the "Dancing with the Stars" finale last week, and it had scheduled a re-airing of the show next week. Now it's left scrambling to inform all those families that "Prep," an animated special about an elite unit of elves, will be airing next Tuesday night instead.

It's not the first scheduling snafu the president has caused for the networks, who have protested that each Obama primetime speech, which airs commercial-less, costs them millions in lost ad revenue.

Fox went so far as to skip Obama's past three addresses, airing regular programming instead and winning the slot in adults 18-49 all three times.

But with Obama expected to address his plans in Afghanistan, all of the networks decided to air this speech. It probably doesn't hurt that sweeps are over and CBS had reruns planned while NBC and Fox have two-hour reality shows that can easily be pushed back.

Obama's most recent presidential address, in September, drew 32.1 million total viewers across 11 networks, up 30 percent from the 24.7 million who tuned into July’s press conference.

A look at this week’s top TV draws
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 a.m.	NBC	“Today” (N)	Be sure to call your mother—or grandmother, for that matter: Barry Manilow performs.
7 p.m.	ESPN	“College Basketball” (S)	Wake Forest takes on Purdue in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
8 p.m.	NBC	“The Biggest Loser” (R)	The contestants are forced to run a full marathon.
8 p.m.	Fox	“So You Think You Can Dance” (R)	The final 10 dancers perform.
9 p.m.	ABC	“Scrubs” (C)	Season premiere. J.D., Turk, Cox, Kelso and Denise take medical school teaching jobs.
10 p.m.	CBS	“Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show” (A)	Heidi Klum hosts and the Black Eyes Peas perform.
10 p.m.	FX	“Sons of Anarchy” (D)	Season finale. SAMCRO tries to finish of Ethan and his crew.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2
Time	Network	Program	Description
8 p.m.	CBS	“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (A)	The beloved 1964 special makes its annual return.
8 p.m.	Fox	“So You Think You Can Dance” (R)	The final 10 turn into the final eight after two are bounced.
8 p.m.	Versus	“Boxing” (S)	Bernard Hopkins takes on Enrique Ornelas in Philadelphia.
9 p.m.	CBS	“Grammy Nominations Concert Live!” (A)	LL Cool J hosts the Grammy nomination celebration.
9 p.m.	Fox	“Glee” (C)	A tight budget at school means no yearbook photo for the glee club.
9:30 p.m.	ESPN	“College Basketball” (S)	Duke versus Wisconsin in more Big Ten/ACC play.
10 p.m.	FX	“Nip/Tuck” (D)	Christian consults with a friend of Liz's, then rethinks his relationship with Kimber.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3
Time	Network	Program	Description
8 p.m.	ABC	“FlashForward” (D)	Mark and Demetri head to Hong Kong to find a woman who may know the fate of Demetri.
8 p.m.	Fox	“Bones” (D)	Brennan and Booth look into the killing of a competitive gamer.
9 p.m.	NBC	“The Office” (C)	Jim tries to start an employee-of-the-month program.
9 p.m.	ABC	“Private Practice” (D)	The first of back-to-back episodes has Addison impressing her dad after a tough surgery.
9 p.m.	Comedy Central	“The Jeff Dunham Show” (C)	Peanut wants to hire a dance crew for the show.
9 p.m.	ESPN	“College Football” (S)	The annual Civil War game between Oregon and Oregon State.
10 p.m.	Bravo	“The Real Housewives of Orange County” (R)	Vicki tries to find someone for her daughter to date.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 a.m.	NBC	“Today” (N)	Acting legend Robert De Niro guests.
8 p.m.	CBS	“Ghost Whisperer” (D)	A high-school-aged ghost tells Melinda a policeman murdered him.
8 p.m.	Fox	“Dollhouse” (D)	Two hours of the show can only mean one thing: burnoff time.
9 p.m.	ABC	“Ugly Betty” (D)	Shakira guests as the Mode staff heads to the Bahamas.
9 p.m.	USA	“Monk” (D)	Series finale. Monk tries to finally find Trudy’s killer.
10 p.m.	CBS	“Numb3rs” (D)	Henry Winkler guests as an FBI agent.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5
Time	Network	Program	Description
12:30 p.m.	CBS	“College Basketball” (S)	Good early-season game between North Carolina and Kentucky.
4 p.m.	CBS	“College Football” (S)	Alabama versus Florida for the SEC title, with the winner likely headed to the BCS championship game.
8 p.m.	Fox	“Cops” (R)	Cops in Vegas deal with a man who thinks the police are out to get him.
8 p.m.	ABC	“College Football” (S)	The Big 12 championship game between Nebraska and Texas.
9 p.m.	Food Network	“Guy’s Disney Holiday” (A)	Guy Fieri takes a look at Disneyland during the holidays.
10 p.m.	CBS	“48 Hours Mystery” (N)	The case of a young father who went missing in a small town.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6
Time	Network	Program	Description
8 p.m.	Fox	“BCS Selection Show” (S)	The participants in the BCS title game and Sugar, Fiesta, Orange and Rose Bowls are revealed.
8:15 p.m.	NBC	“NFL Football” (S)	A battle between to aging quarterbacks: Favre and the Vikings and Warner and the Cardinals.
9 p.m.	ABC	“Desperate Housewives” (D)	A plane crashes and endangers lives on Wisteria Lane. (Wait, isn't sweeps over?)
9 p.m.	Showtime	“Dexter” (D)	Debra is close to breaking open the Trinity Killer case.
10 p.m.	ABC	“Brothers & Sisters” (D)	Justin and Rebecca’s wedding plans are still up in the air.
10 p.m.	Biography	“Shatner’s Raw Nerve” (T)	Season premiere Shatner welcomes Rush Limbaugh.
10 p.m.	E!	“The Girls Next Door” (R)	Hef’s new girls throw a baby shower for Kendra.
A = awards show or special, C = comedy, D = drama, DD = daytime drama, G = game show, K = kids, M = movie, N = news/documentary, R = reality, S = sports, T = talk/variety show.