There’s a big change coming for Law & Order: SVU’s schedule as an upcoming episode has been pulled due to a shocking real-life celebrity crime. The Law & Order franchise has always pushed the line of stories “ripped from the headlines.” But this is an unfolding investigation directly affecting the show's 27th season.
TVLine has confirmed that the Thursday, Jan. 15 episode of Law & Order: SVU titled “Corrosive” has been pulled from NBC’s schedule. It will be replaced by another new episode, “Fidelis Ad Mortem,” which was scheduled to air the following week on Thursday, Jan. 22.
Why is Law & Order: SVU facing a schedule change?
The reason is mind-boggling. The episode was to feature Emmy Award winner Timothy Busfield (best known for thirtysomething, The West Wing, and numerous TV shows) as a judge who’s nearly killed. The investigation into his attack has the SVU team uncovering some dark secrets involving the judge's conduct on and off the bench.
However, on Friday, Jan. 9, an arrest warrant was issued for Busfield for two counts of sexual abuse on a minor. The incidents reportedly occurred in 2022 when Busfield was directing episodes of the now-canceled FOX crime drama The Cleaning Lady with two twin brothers. It becomes more concerning as Busfield was previously accused of such misconduct in 1994 and 2012, although no charges were filed.
While Busfield had denied the abuse allegations, it gets crazier as of this writing, the U.S. Marshals have been dispatched to track down the now-missing actor/director. That will only add to the charges against him and make it more difficult for Busfield to free himself from this dark cloud.
Law & Order: SVU has removed episodes before
Given all that, it’s no surprise NBC wants to avoid the horribly bad timing and remove an episode that likely would have featured Busfield playing an unsavory character. It’s not the first time such an incident has occurred, as back in 2016, NBC planned to air an SVU episode guest-starring Gary Cole as a politician caught on tape making disparaging comments about women.
This was obviously inspired by the infamous Access Hollywood tape of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump making some very lewd remarks. Due to pressure from various parties, NBC elected to delay the episode until after the election. But after Trump was elected President, the episode ended up never airing at all.
The legal complications surrounding Busfield are still ongoing, so it may well be that this episode also ends up never airing. The story is ongoing to prove that often, real life outdoes anything Law & Order can come up with.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 27 airs Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC and streams the following day on Peacock.