TVSquad

You might think it's surprising that 20/20 anchor John Stossel is leaving ABC for Fox, but it's not really much of shock. It seems to me that there have been other high profile names that were once considered liberal firebrands -- Geraldo Rivera and Dennis Miller come to mind -- who've grown older and changed their stripes, finding a home at Fox.

Stossel, whom I recall as a staunch consumer reporter and a man who liked to tear down hypocrisy at every turn, has been a regular at ABC News for nearly three decades. Now, he's moving on to Fox Business Network where he'll have a weekly show, and Fox News where he'll make frequent guest appearances.

This doesn't look good.

ABCNews.com has posted a description of a special episode of 20/20 that's "Coming Up" this Wednesday, November 29 at 10pm. That's when the new drama The Nine usually airs, and I've checked three TV schedules online and they all say that The Nine is supposed to air as usual. And the episode last week had coming attractions of the November 29th episode, with no mention that it was going to be pre-empted for a week. There's been no official press release from ABC about it, and even the schedule at the network's site still lists The Nine as airing on that night, but the description of the 20/20 episode is on there too, so maybe they just haven't changed the grid yet.

This is not a good sign at all. Sometimes the networks pull low rated shows during sweeps, but this November sweeps period is about to end. Maybe ABC wasn't happy with last week's ratings of the show and have decided to shift gears and take it off the air for now? Or for good? I have a feeling this might be one of the "let's put the remaining episodes on the web" kind of deals, like Kidnapped. Or maybe this is a temporary thing and the show will be back in December.

(Thanks to Tom for the tip)