What's on Obama Tonight?

Presidential candidate takes over airwaves on seven broadcast and cable networks with half-hour infomercial

Barack Obama better not be relying on the votes of Knight Rider fans.

The NBC series is one of the shows that will be preempted or delayed by Barack Obama: American Stories, a half-hour infomercial airing tonight at 8 on seven broadcast and cable networks.

What's the status of your Wednesday night shows?

On CBS, Gary Unmarried won't air, while The New Adventures of Old Christine, usually seen at 8 p.m., will air at 8:30 p.m. On NBC, Knight Rider will get the night off, while BET will make do with one less movie offering this week. On MSNBC, Keith Olbermann's Countdown will be downsized to 30 minutes, at least its first time out. Olbermann will host a second, full-length Countdown at 10 p.m. ET.

On Fox, coverage of the rain-suspended World Series Game 5 will begin a half-hour later than usual, although the game action should start about the same time as ever—8:30 p.m.-ish ET.

Univision and TV One are also scheduled to air the 30-minute paid program, for which Obama's presidential campaign reputedly paid a cool $3 million to the networks.

John McCain supporters are hereby advised that ABC will offer a refuge from ObamaTV in the form of a new episode of Pushing Daisies, and that CNN wil offer an interview with their candidate on Larry King Live at 9 p.m. ET, while Malia Obama, Obama's 10-year-old daughter, is hereby reminded that Disney Channel and Nick will offer their regular programming.

The Obama infomercial is the first of its kind since 1992 when third-party candidate Ross Perot confronted a chart on the deficit with a "voodoo stick."

For as many networks as Obama will be on tonight—and don't forget, he's getting a freebie from Jon Stewart, thanks to the candidate's scheduled guest apperance on Comedy Central's The Daily Show—he might have been on more, had CNN accepted Obama's money or had a hestitant ABC accepted Obama's money earlier. (By the time ABC agreed to air the informercial, the Obama camp told the network it didn't want to buy the time anymore.)

ABC, for one, was promoting its Obama-free schedule with an ad that said, "Wednesday, America, you have a choice."

McCain, for another, was promising that if he's elected president, the World Series will never be delayed for an infomercial. (McCain could have obliged the networks to carry an infomercial for his campaign, too, but he doesn't have Obama cash.)

And, per Malia's mom, Michelle Obama, who talked up the infomercial on Monday's Tonight Show, the girl is just happy her TV isn't going to be interrupted.

"[Obama] said we didn't buy time on Disney and Nick, and [Malia] said 'Oh, good,' and she got up and walked away," Michelle Obama said.

(Originally published Oct. 29, 2008 at 3:18 p.m. PT)