Messed-up TV schedules

Stations crapping on your schedule make me mad.

Two of the shows I've been following on Thursday nights, but really shouldn't, are Joey and The O.C.

So for the past week, NBC's been showing promos for the episode of Joey with him having to deal with the temptation of Carmen Electra just after he'd decided to be in a committed relationship. Meanwhile, there have been radio spots touting the "exciting" episodes of The O.C. and The Simple Life on Fox.

Naturally, based on these promos, I assume that both stations will be showing new episodes, forgoing my typical routine of checking the schedule with TV Guide Online to determine if they'll be showing new episodes. So I had the TV on for NBC, and the tape set to record Fox... only to see a rerun of Joey on NBC (the one where Michael's sick, and Joey keeps running into another actor who sabotages Joey's auditions--"Joey and the Nemesis"). So I played games on my PSP, and when Ben came over, I let him watch His and Her Circumstances on DVD, thinking that I'll just watch The O.C. later, as I would have missed the beginning already.


After spending the day with Victoria and taking her to the airport yesterday, I got back at around 8:00pm, and eventually popped in the tape for The O.C. To my surprise, the tape did not have The O.C. on; instead, I was staring right at an episode of Family Guy. Fast-forwarding the tape, it continued on to show The Simpsons... So I thought maybe the record setting got messed up somehow, and started recording an hour early. Which is okay, since I have the timer set to record for two hours, since Fox sometimes show Tru Calling right after The O.C., and I didn't want to reset the timer each time. If the tape had started an hour early, I should be able to see the new episode of The O.C. right after The Simpsons. Yet what I find on the tape instead is some broadcast error message, followed by The Simple Life.

What the *&#@ happened to my shows? Neither NBC nor Fox's local affiliates were showing anything special that would have caused them not to show the new episodes like they were supposed to (unlike when our local WB station delayed an episode of Smallville due to a Lakers game). I was able to find both online for download, but not in their typically available HDTV formats, suggesting that the people who typically get them in HDTV and upload them were also unable to get the broadcast they were supposed to.