Live PD to change format, air coronavirus-themed episodes
Live PD will air new episodes on A&E this weekend, but not normal Live PD season 4 episodes; instead, the show will focus on coronavirus.
With TV productions everywhere shutting down or shifting due to the coronavirus pandemic, Variety reports that the hit true crime series is undergoing some major changes. In fact, for the time being, it’s moving largely away from crime.
In the new format, dubbed Live PD: Special Edition, the series will be taking a more news-style approach as it adds its voice to the number of shows focusing on the ongoing health crisis.
So what can fans expect this Friday and Saturday?
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How Live PD is changing due to coronavirus
Live PD: Special Edition will not follow police departments live in the field, as the show usually does. Instead, the episodes will be more interview-based. According to Variety, viewers will get “interviews with medical authorities and testimonials from law enforcement and government officials.”
The show will also have reporting from hospitals and spotlight paramedics.
It will not feature studio segments. Instead, host Dan Abrams and analysts Tom Morris Jr. and Sean “Sticks” Larkin will participate in the show via videoconference from their homes.
It’s unknown if the interviews and reporting will come from the same jurisdictions that Live PD is already following. The only city mentioned in Thursday’s report is New Orleans, which the show is not currently in, but Live Rescue analysts Dan Flynn and Titus Tero are EMTs in New Orleans.
How to watch Live PD this weekend
Due to the “Special Edition” format, Live PD will not air its regular three-hour episodes this week. Instead, it will air a one-hour episode on Friday, April 3 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT, and then a two-hour installment on Saturday, April 4 at the same time.
Presumably, those episodes will repeat immediately after they air (as is normally the case for the show), but check the network schedule for the most up to date information in your area.
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When will regular Live PD episodes return?
Thursday’s report did not mention if Special Edition is a one-off format for this weekend, or will continue into subsequent weeks.
Understandably, it may be weeks or months before true crime fans see the “normal” episodes that they’re used to. It has to be safe for the A&E production crews to follow officers, and for the show staff to be able to work together in their New York studio. (A skeleton crew is being employed this weekend, while following all coronavirus-related guidelines.)
Fans can still watch reruns of prior Live PD episodes on A&E during the day; check your local listings for air times.