Alec Baldwin’s ABC Talk Show Bumped To Saturdays Due To Low Ratings
It has been a bad week for actor and TV host Alec Baldwin. First, on Friday, November 2, he was arrested in New York City after getting into a physical altercation over a parking spot. Now, his ABC talk show has been moved from a great Sunday night spot to Saturdays, which is the lowest-rated night on television.
The Alec Baldwin Show aired in its regular time slot, Sundays at 10 p.m., this past weekend. The episode featured a great interview with actor Mike Myers and a chat with former Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards.
However, ABC is taking the program off of its schedule completely until early December. This is the first new series of the 2018 to 2019 TV season that has been bumped from its original time slot.
This upcoming Sunday, November 11, the network will air the previously announced special Country Music’s Biggest Stars: In the Spotlight with Robin Roberts at 10 p.m. Starting on November 18, repeats of Shark Tank will air in Baldwin’s former time slot.
Shark Tank will be preempted on December 2 for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Holiday Special, and on December 16 for an airing of the classic musical The Sound of Music.
The Emmy winner’s series will be back on the air with new episodes beginning Saturday, December 8, at 10 p.m. Conversations with Sarah Jessica Parker, Kerry Washington, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have yet to be shown.
Deadline noted that “Saturday is considered a graveyard for burning off shows that are destined for cancellation.”
While ABC has not yet canceled the series outright, filming for the year has already concluded, the Hollywood Reporter stated.
The Alec Baldwin Show debuted on October 14 and was unique for having one-on-one, long-form interviews. Only four episodes have aired, but the ratings have gone down each week. The most recent presentation only drew 1.47 million viewers.
When the Hollywood Reporter spoke with the 60-year-old in October, he said that he was making a “good show,” but wasn’t sure if it would last long.
“I mean, who knows if we survive. ABC’s not doing very well. We could get out there, show four or five episodes, and be dead,” he said.
Baldwin has yet to make a comment about his show being moved to Saturdays. He spent most of the day, November 6, urging people to vote on social media. On his official Instagram page, he made three posts — one was a quote from Abraham Lincoln about America; one was a close-up video of Baldwin in which he said, “There’s still time. Gotta vote”; and the last was an adorable photo of his youngest child, 5-month-old Romeo, smiling, with Baldwin writing “He reminded me to vote” as the caption.
