You’ve probably heard that Senator Fred Thompson is mulling a bid for the GOP presidential nomination. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, then you should definitely recognize from his movie and TV roles, one of the most high profile being his long stint as District Attorney on Law & Order. Because of this fact, TV networks face an unusual problem should he enter the race, as the Los Angeles Times reports:
If Thompson enters the campaign, his on-screen alter egos may no longer get airtime.
Because of federal equal-time provisions, broadcasters that run programs featuring Thompson would open themselves up to requests from other candidates for an equivalent platform. With at least 10 other Republican hopefuls, that could be a daunting prospect.
NBC has already decided that if Thompson runs, it will replace any Law & Order episodes he’s in with repeats that do not feature the former senator. (The network has not yet decided whether to bring the program back in the fall, but if it is renewed and Thompson launches a presidential bid, he would presumably be recast.)
“We would just have to work around it,” said NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks.
But the situation is more complicated for cable networks, on which viewers can tune into Law & Order and its two spin-offs nearly any hour of the day. TNT builds its schedule around a diet of Law & Order repeats — as many as eight episodes a day. Since Thompson is in more than 100 episodes over five seasons, excising the programs in which he’s featured could seriously erode the network’s lineup.
Didn’t a similar issue face California when Arnold Schwarzenegger was running for Governor? The difference was that it wasn’t a national race, though…
