Impeachment Hearings: How You Can Still Watch Your Soap Operas

On Wednesday, November 13 and Thursday, November 14, networks will air the start of the live impeachment hearings held by the United States House of Representatives, leaving the question for fans–how will I also see my soap operas?

Impeachment Soap Opera

While following what is happening in Washington and staying informed via live hearings is important to the American people, the American people still need a break from this impeachment soap opera with the fiction of daytime dramas.

No networks have 100% decided how the soaps will air yet, but there is a possibility the hearings will end in some markets in time for regular soap time slots. In markets where the impeachment hearings run into soap time, there are still options.

Network Decisions
NBC has given different affiliates permission to air Days of our Lives at night if necessary, but NBC.com will also be available. Typically, when networks interrupt soaps for news, firewalls are lifted so fans can watch soaps on the network for free.

CBS also often uses its website for The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful, but the streaming app CBS All Access may also be a platform where the soaps might air during the House public impeachment hearings and probable trial in the Senate.

ABC is also playing it by ear to see whether the hearings will end before General Hospital airs and will make a decision whether to delay the show a day or put the soap on its website as network execs gauge how the timing plays out in Washington.

This isn’t the first time major real-life American events have threatened or interrupted soap watching. In the 1980s, the Iran-Contra hearings pushed soaps back a few weeks. In the 1990s, the OJ Simpson trial forced networks to air soaps at odd hours, and later in the decade, President Bill Clinton’s impeachment did the same.

Now, President Donald Trump threatens soap viewing. This time, technology has given the networks new options for getting our soaps out there.

As Soap Hub learns more about what networks finally do decide as the impeachment in D.C. plays out, we will keep you informed.

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