Peacock's 'Camelot' won't fly until March
Exex want miniseries out of sweeps slot
"Women of Camelot" will now air on Sunday, March 4, and Monday, March 5 -- one month later than its most recent airdate and four months after it was originally skedded to premiere. The mini was to have kicked off NBC's February sweeps longform programming.
"Women of Camelot" had initially been slated to air the first weekend of November sweeps, but the Peacock moved it back to February at Sen. Edward Kennedy's request. Reps for the Massachusetts senator had made known their displeasure with the web's decision to air the project days before Kennedy stood for re-election Nov. 7.
This time around, Peacock execs said they wanted to move the mini out of the highly competitive monthlong ratings contest and into a less stressful, post-sweeps position -- even though the high-profile project was originally conceived as a player for sweeps. In its place on March 4, NBC will air the two-hour project "Semper Fi."
"Semper" was originally a pilot from DreamWorks and Steven Spielberg, but when the network and studio opted not to go ahead with a series, NBC decided to rework it as a TV movie. "Semper Fi" was to have aired in January; now it will serve to kick off NBC's roster of February sweeps events.
"Semper Fi" will air Feb. 4; in place of part two of "Women of Camelot" the following night, NBC will air "In Style: Celebrity Weddings" at 8 p.m. followed by "Dateline NBC" at 9.
