The Apprentice is shifting from Wednesday next week to Tuesday to make way for a football friendly, as MediaGuardian.co.uk reports.
Is nothing sacred?
I want to sympathise with the BBC, I really do.
But why oh why oh why? The switch was revealed today, prompted by a scheduling clash with an England versus USA football friendly - presumably a match planned months ago.
This comes hot on the heels of ITV1 skipping episode two of Pushing Daisies, also for footballing reasons, and a tiny bit of me feels this is the networks treating viewers with contempt.
"The show has been moved to make way for this match. It is quite usual for us to move programmes to accommodate big sporting occasions. That is the reason for this schedule change," a BBC spokesman said.
I could sympathise a bit more if it was something important, like the Champions League, but a match against the USA? A friendly? When are they playing New Zealand?
Mark my words, fans of The Apprentice will tune in next Wednesday, in complete ignorance of this change, and miss out. Or worse, will arrive at work on Wednesday morning and accidentally be told who got fired. People are going to go nuts.
Sure, the BBC has a lot of competing programmes and is in a tight spot sometimes when programmes clash. But The Apprentice on a Tuesday is a bad solution. It is not just inconvenient for millions of its viewers - it just feels wrong.
What is wrong with Britain? The trains don't run on time, you can't keep your GP when you move, to get a washing machine delivered you have to stay home all day and Doctor Who NEVER starts at the same time each Saturday evening.
And now this.
Wouldn't it be better to rest the programme for a week, or even screen in later in the week so people are not caught unawares?
Anything but this. You are the BBC1 programming department. You are not God.
