CNN is once again preempting the next installment of Have I Got News For You amid its continuing coverage of the Iran War, the series’ production company, Hat Trick, announced online. CNN also refrained from airing the comedic TV panel show last Saturday to allow for its extensive reporting.
The show, which typically airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, will instead continue with a digital release, debuting on the CNN app and streaming on HBO Max tomorrow. A U.S. version of the popular British format, with host Roy Wood Jr. and team captains Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black, this week’s installment is set to feature guest comedians Gianmarco Soresi and Jenny Hagel.
Similarly, CNN’s rerun of Real Time With Bill Maher, which usually precedes Have I Got News For You, is also being forgoed.
First premiering in September 2024, the cable news network renewed Have I Got News For You for a fourth season last year, which debuted in late January. The top ratings performer for CNN was preempted during its Season 4 premiere, to make room for cable’s wall-to-wall coverage of Alex Pretti’s killing at the hands of ICE agents in Minneapolis.
Just days ago, CNN announced it was the first U.S. network to enter the country since the outset of the war, begun by the U.S. and Israel when the allied nations launched a joint coordinated missile attack that killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Since then, Iran has retaliated by striking U.S. military bases across the SWANA region, including in the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Qatar and Bahrain. Senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen and his team will be reporting from capital Tehran.
Per CNN, President Donald Trump signaled that attacks on Iran will intensify this weekend as the network’s team reported a series of major explosions triggered by a new Israeli attack. Iran’s top security official, Ali Larijani, said Trump “must pay the price” for the war it provoked and the U.S. is now “stuck in the quagmire of its own miscalculations.” As reported, Trump did not seek congressional approval ahead of the initial attack last weekend, and since then, both Republican-controlled chambers have blocked war powers resolution bids.
