Fox Expanding Prime on Oct. 23 to Air Missed 'X Factor'

Schedule will run until 10:30 p.m. to keep comedy lineup mostly intact

By Andrea Morabito -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/19/2012 1:50:26 PM

Fox will expand its primetime lineup by 30 minutes on Tuesday, Oct. 23, in order to make up for an episode of The X Factor that didn't air on Oct. 17 because of the network's coverage of that day's NLCS game, which experienced a severe rain delay.

Tuesday will run intact from 8-9:30 p.m. with new episodes of Raising Hope, Ben and Kate and New Girl. At 9:30 p.m., Fox will pre-empt The Mindy Project to air the conclusion of the "Judges Homes" round of X Factor from 9:30-10:30 p.m.

Extending prime by half an hour was done in order to make up the missed X Factor episode while keeping the comedy lineup as consistent as possible for viewers who are still settling in to fall viewing patterns. Fox has said it will also extend prime on Nov. 1 to air a special 2.5-hour episode of X Factor from 8-10:30 p.m. for its first live show of the season. If an MLB World Series Game 7 is needed, the game will air starting at 7:30 p.m. that day instead, with the extended X Factor episode airing Sunday, Nov. 4.

The practice of extending primetime is usually a rare occurrence for Fox because of the need to get various constituencies -- affiliates, advertisers and producers -- on board with the change. For Fox affiliates in politically contested markets, the loss of local ad inventory might be tough to stomach in the lead-up to Election Day, though station sales managers seemed to understand the network's need to run a key show in its entirety.

Additional reporting by Michael Malone