Trump’s Address on Primetime: Impact on ‘Masked Singer’ Finale, ‘Survivor’, ‘Chicago Fire’, ‘Chicago P.D.’, and Late Night Shows
President Donald Trump is set to deliver a primetime address regarding the ongoing war in Iran tomorrow, April 1, at 9 PM ET. This announcement has triggered significant adjustments to programming across the four major broadcast networks, which had already planned full schedules for Wednesday night. Broadcasters received just 24 hours’ notice, prompting a rapid response to accommodate the presidential address.
For viewers on the East Coast, Trump’s speech will interrupt the two-hour season finale of Fox’s The Masked Singer and CBS’ special two-hour episode of Survivor, both airing from 8 PM to 10 PM. Additionally, new episodes of NBC’s Chicago Fire and ABC’s game show The Greatest Average American at 9 PM will also be affected.
The address is slated to last approximately 20 minutes, after which The Masked Singer and Survivor will resume, completing their episodes by 10:20 PM ET, with The Masked Singer expected to announce its winner during that time.
Following the address, Fox will transition to local news coverage. CBS has planned to air an all-new episode of America’s Culinary Cup—originally scheduled for 10 PM—from 10:20 PM to 11:20 PM ET, before returning to local newscasts.
NBC will stick to its timetable, with a new episode of Chicago Med airing from 8 PM to 9 PM ET. Following Trump’s address, Chicago Fire will commence at 9:20 PM ET, succeeded by an original episode of Chicago P.D. at 10:20 PM ET, leading into local news at 11:20 PM ET.
Both CBS and NBC’s late-night programming will also be adjusted, with The Late Show and The Tonight Show, both featuring original content this week, starting later at 11:50 PM ET.
On the West Coast, Trump’s address will air at 6 PM PT, meaning there will be no disruption to primetime or late-night schedules in that time zone.
In light of the presidential address, ABC has decided to replace the scheduled original episodes of The Greatest Average American at 9 PM and Shark Tank at 10:01 PM PT with repeat broadcasts on both coasts. Viewers in the East will see Trump’s speech preempt the Greatest Average American rerun, with the network resuming the episode in progress once the news coverage concludes at 9:20 PM ET. The Shark Tank encore will begin at 10:01 PM PT ET, keeping local news and Jimmy Kimmel Live (also in reruns this week) on schedule nationwide.
