ABC Postpones Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Due to Riots at U.S. Capitol

Today’s riot at the U.S. Capitol has led ABC to remove three episodes of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? from the schedule in order to make time for a three-hour ABC News special centering on the day’s chaotic events. Other networks are working with their news divisions to figure out what is the best plan of action after a day of wall-to-wall coverage of the riot, which saw armed supporters of outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump break into the Capitol. A woman died after being shot, reportedly by law enforcement, and multiple explosive devices were found on the scene.

NBC’s schedule, which included new episodes of Chicago Med and Chicago Fire, will also be pre-empted for news coverage. CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is going live this evening, while other networks have yet to commit to any changes to their programming lineup. CBS has reruns of Young Sheldon, The Neighborhood, Seal Team 6, and S.W.A.T. scheduled for tonight, which would, at least in theory, be easy to pre-empt or break into if anything changes. FOX has a pair of game shows — Name That Tune and The Masked Dancer — set to air.

Today’s riots come as a joint session of Congress was meeting at the Capitol to officially certify the Electoral College votes that will officially name Joe Biden as the next President. Republicans in Congress had pledged to delay the certification by making objections to certifying the votes in several battleground states, where President Trump has alleged voting irregularities.

Despite over 50 court cases and an investigation by the Department of Justice in the two months since the November election, no evidence of widespread fraud has emerged. Republican leaders had promised to certify the votes, provided that no significant new information came out of the various objections posed by their colleagues.

The House of Representatives plans to go back into session tonight to complete certification, with the joint session having reconvened at 8 p.m. ET with an eye toward certifying the election results before the senators and representatives leave for the night. The certification is the final step in a process that will culminate with the inauguration of the election winner on January 20.

The episodes of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? which will be rescheduled featured celebrity guests including Zachary Quinto, Amanda Peet, Karamo Brown, and Ray Romano, according to Deadline, who first broke the news.