If you’re used to tuning into new episodes of Jimmy Kimmel Live on weeknights at 11:35 p.m., you’re likely going to be among the many viewers thrown off when you go to watch ABC’s late-night series on Wednesday night. This is because tonight’s new Jimmy Kimmel Live has been delayed and will be coming our way a bit later than usual on Jan. 15.
On Wednesday night, President Joe Biden will address the nation via his Farewell Address at the top of the hour at 8 p.m. on Jan. 15. All of the major broadcast networks are going to be carrying coverage of the live address including ABC which has scheduled a special ABC News report at the top of the hour which is set to consist of 20 minutes of coverage of the address from the ABC News team.
In turning over the first 20 minutes of its primetime lineup to the Farewell Address from President Biden, ABC has chosen to delay the planned broadcasts of its Wednesday night programs with Shifting Gears, Abbott Elementary, Celebrity Jeopardy!, and What Would You Do? All airing at special times this Wednesday night with a 20-minute delay to the primetime shows’ normal air times.
This delayed primetime schedule will then impact Jimmy Kimmel Live which will air at 11:55 p.m. ET this evening instead of kicking off at 11:35 p.m. as usual. This also means that tonight’s episode will run a bit later into the night which might make it hard for some regular viewers to enjoy the full episode which won’t wrap until close to 1 a.m. on the East Coast – TV Guide notes that the episode should wrap at 12:57 a.m. for reference.
Fans tuning in this evening should not expect Kimmel to react to the Farewell Address as episodes are pre-taped meaning we’ll have to wait until Thursday’s episode to see what Kimmel has to say about Biden’s address. It’ll be interesting to see what soundbites might come out of the address and how the various late-night hosts will react via their monologues which are sure to get interesting in the days ahead what with the Presidential Inauguration only days away.
One can only imagine what the upcoming days will bring or what headlines will be made during the inauguration events as Donald Trump is sworn back into office. Whatever the days ahead might bring, we know for certain Kimmel and his fellow late-night hosts are going to have plenty of materials to react to and we should be in store for an eventful stretch of late-night programming.