As the reality of the mess we’ve made slowly starts to sink in, a lot of the things that we once found darkly humorous are no longer so — like the Law and Order: SVU episode inspired by the numerous sexual assault allegations lodged against Donald Trump. Great news, though: the episode’s airdate has been postponed yet again.
Deadline reports that the episode was supposed to air November 16, but has been pushed to sometime in the future due to scheduling conflicts. The episode was supposed to air October 12 and was pushed to October 26, only to be rescheduled for a week after the election, in light of the infamous Access Hollywood tape and the multiple sexual harassment and assault allegations that sprung up in its wake.
The plot of “Unstoppable” centers around a Trump-esque man making a run for the White House whose plan is potentially thwarted by a woman accusing him of rape – stomach-churning fiction given the actual events that inspired it and our current state of affairs.
Due to further shuffling of the primetime schedule at NBC, it looks like the episode won’t air until sometime in 2017. Network sources indicated to Deadline that it might air sometime in early January, but with that timing so close to the inauguration, who knows? Despite what will certainly be an enormous uproar from an American public with no interest in seeing a fictionalized version of our horrifying new reality on television, NBC still plans on airing the episode. They just don’t know when.
I’m sure they’re waiting for the right time, but let’s consider this. There is no right time. Reality has lapped fiction. The lines are blurred. There’s no need for this to air.