How DARE You Preempt My Show?

This was to be the big week of season finales for many of my favorite TV shows.  I had carefully  gone over the TV Guide and coordinated our viewing schedule with the Commander.  Where there was a conflict, he had set up our DVR to record shows so that we could watch them later.  We were all set!

Tuesday evening I was in my favorite recliner, knitting in hand, and had just settled down to watch NCIS when it happened.  Twenty-five minutes into the season finale.....in what was promising to be a real cliff-hanger, the local TV affiliate broke into the show and started giving us a severe weather warning. 

OK, it's probably a good idea to know if a tornado is headed your way.  Even Jethro Gibbs would agree with that statement.  But come on, folks!  Five minutes later, they were still showing us doppler radar and telling us the track of the storms and expected arrival times as well as giving us advice about where to head inside your house in case of an approaching tornado.  Ten minutes later.....same thing.  Fifteen minutes later......same old thing.

Who knocked my NCIS off the air?  Just let me at them!

By this point, my blood pressure was approaching the boiling point and I was practicing my sailor's vocabulary as I addressed the news station, loudly.

"They'll probably switch back to the show after the alert runs out," called the Commander from the computer room.  (He was wisely keeping out of my line of fire.....just in case.)

Thirty minutes into the weather commentary I had had enough.  I stalked upstairs, put my head in the freezer while I tried to cool off, and then decided to make myself a large plate of cheesy nachos.  Nothing says "relax" like a tasty snack.

"They've just switched over to "NCIS: LA," my husband called upstairs, "and they've promised the viewers that they will let it run in its entirety."


"Who cares," I hollered back.  "They've already ruined my entire evening."

Just then, the microwave dinged and the nachos were ready. OK, so maybe things were starting to look up.  But I'll tell you this, I will not EVER watch a local newscast voluntarily on that channel ever again.  Hell hath no fury like a viewer preempted!