Showtime has joined almost every network in being forced to make scheduling changes due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused widespread production shutdowns across the globe.
The cabler has announced that season 2 of “Black Monday,” which is currently airing, and season 5 of “Billions” will be interrupted mid-flow. “Black Monday” will air through six episodes until April 12, at which point it will go on hiatus, returning with its last four episodes at an undetermined point later this year. Likewise “Billions” is still on track to premiere May 3 and air seven episodes un-interrupted, before going off the air for an as yet undecided length of time.
“Black Monday” had completed shooting, but was still in post-production when the shutdown took affect, according to sources. “Billions” was still in the process of shooting.
In addition, the season 3 premiere of “The Chi” has been moved up to Sunday, June 21 to help plug the content gap. The whole of season 3 will air without interruption.
Fortunately for “Penny Dreadful” fans, the new season “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels” looks to unaffected, as the show is still scheduled to begin airing from Sunday, April 26.
News of the scheduling changes come as networks scramble to deal with the programming nightmare caused by the production shutdowns. Showtime already had to push the premiere dates for two docuseries in the form of “Love Fraud,” which was scheduled for May 8, and “Outcry,” which was initially slated to premiere April 3.
