This Is The 1st Time ‘Primetime’ Has Been Left Off ABC’s Fall Schedule Since 1989

ABC has “left the newsmagazine ‘Primetime’ off its fall schedule for the first time since its introduction in 1989,” the AP’s David Bauder recaps. “But ABC News said ‘Primetime’ will remain in production for specials, limited-run series and perhaps as a replacement for a failed entertainment program.”

Earlier today, an e-mailer called David Westin‘s memo to staff “an incredible exercise in spin.” Another e-mailer has this reaction: “The folks at Primetime who were so quick to drop the dime and criticize David Westin overlook one very basic and undeniable fact. That is by being flexible, he saved their jobs and 100 or so people will continue to be on the inside looking out instead of vice versa. Anyone who has been in television for more than one week knows that prime time entertainment schedules that are basked in gold leaf in May, are left in sawdust by October. Primetime will be back.”