'Law & Order: SVU' season 18 news, spoilers: Donald Trump-inspired episode moved a third time, may air in 2017
The "Law & Order: SVU" season 18 episode featuring a Donald Trump-like character has once again been postponed.
Deadline reports that "Unstoppable," which was originally slated for an Oct. 12 run, has yet to be rescheduled. The episode features Emmy-nominated guest star Gary Cole as a politician whose "campaign goes haywire when several women go public with damaging accusations." In a promo clip for "Unstoppable," the character boasts, "I'm a handsome, charming millionaire and women throw themselves at me."
According to Deadline, the episode's postponement was set in motion before the Nov. 8 presidential election took place and resulted in an arguably surprising Trump victory. Last week, NBC replaced the new episodes of its Wednesday night shows "Law & Order: SVU," "Blindspot" and "Chicago P.D." with reruns to go against Fox's airing of Game 7 of the World Series.
The swaps pushed the new episodes of these shows to subsequent weeks. As a result, "Unstoppable," along with upcoming episode "Great Expectations," are now without new air dates.
"Unstoppable" was first postponed after the infamous recording controversy in which the President-elect was caught making lewd comments about women in a 2005 conversation with then-"Access Hollywood" anchor Billy Bush. After the audio was released, several women came forward accusing Trump of sexual assault. He later tried to downplay his 2005 comments, calling it mere "locker room talk" during the second presidential debate.
After being bumped off its original Oct. 12 air date, which was just before the third and final debate, "Unstoppable" was rescheduled to air on Oct. 26. But after Trump's accusers came forward, the episode was again moved to Nov. 16, just eight days after Election Day. At the time of the second rescheduling, Deadline said that it is not ruling out another postponement given the possibility of a Trump win and of post-election turmoil.
And now that Trump has indeed become the next President, Cinema Blend suggests that NBC may be trying to put some distance between his win and "Unstoppable," which features a billionaire/politician with a boorish attitude who is accused of rape while on the campaign trail. Cinema Blend says that NBC probably doesn't want to stir the pot, which is why it has moved "Unstoppable" to an undetermined 2017 air date.
In lieu of "Unstoppable," NBC will air back-to-back episodes of "Chicago P.D." on Nov. 16.
"Law & Order: SVU" season 18 airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST on NBC.