Friday, Dec. 29 [Pacific Time]

12:20 p.m., President Ford's casket arrives at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Palm Desert, Calif. Mrs. Ford and the family will have a private prayer service.

1:15 p.m., close friends and guests will arrive at St. Margaret's for private visitation. The Ford family will return to their residence.

4:20 p.m., public repose begins at St. Margaret's. The church will remain open until 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. on Saturday.

Funeral plans for President Ford next week...

Tuesday, January 2 [Not sure of time zone, guess is ET as the casket arrives in Michigan]

8:30 a.m., the casket is moved from the Rotunda to the U.S. Senate door for a period of repose.

9:15 a.m., departure ceremony on the east steps of the U.S. Senate.

10 a.m., Ford's casket arrives at Washington National Cathedral.

10:30 a.m., funeral service will begin.

12:15 p.m., casket will leave the cathedral for trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan.

2:15 p.m., body will arrive in Michigan.

3:30 p.m., casket will arrive at the presidential museum in Grand Rapids. An arrival ceremony for Betty Ford and guests will follow. The body will lie in public repose through the night.

Wednesday, January 3

2 p.m., funeral service at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids. The president will be interred in a hillside tomb north of the museum.

So, from looking at this, while Friday may have breaks...Tuesday and Wednesday COULD BE pushed back completely, giving the soaps a two day gap/behind those two days.

Edited December 28, 200619 yr by Wendy

Why must they make death so much more painful than it already is?

I was reading somewhere that the media might not make a big deal about this like they did with President Reagan back in 2004 however I imagine that some of the soaps will be interupted during this time of mourning.

Jesus, I just hope Katie Couric is still on vacation during all of this. I may forgive B&B and GL being pre-empted!

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

At least it's Pacific time.

I don't think they are going to make as big a deal out of this as Reagan.

With Reagan, there was wall to wall coverage from the day he died until his burial. So far, with Ford, they only broke in last night when news broke of his death ( I was watching Leno and they broke in for a bit and that was it). They didn't really cover it that much today either. I think soaps will be ok Friday for the most part but I guess what happens all depends. Based on the coverage so far, I don't think this will be as big as Reagan but I'm not sure. I think it should be handled with respect but to me it is more painful when they cover every moment of the funeral and all and comment on every little thing. It makes it seem too public.

I think it's best left up to the news stations like CNN and all but that's just me.

*sigh* I understand that he's a former president, but do we really need to cover 3 days of death? Is that really necessary. I don't mean that there shouldn't be 3 days to mourn the president. Have services on 3 different days, but I see no need to pre-empt television for it on three different days. It's ridiculous.

Yeah I agree.

Plus, these presidents would want us to move on. We can mourn but the world shouldn't stop. Part of the world is television and a 3 day event and constant preemptions is a bit much and I have always thought it was an invasion of privacy. They can jump in with news coverage every hour and then start the regular program right after like they sometimes do but there is no need for wall to wall 3 day to coverage. That is overdoing it IMO.

all that is needed is a blurb on the network news those nights. But, you can expect the soaps to be interrupted with non-important non-events during this entire thing.

I think the coverage should just be done by the all cable news networks. The affiliates shouldn't interrupt regular daytime programming for it, but I'm sure they will.

It's no biggie. I dont mind the soaps being interrupted. Considering how crappy ATWT is right nwo. You wouldn't have heard me say that 2 years ago or even a year ago about interruptions. How sad is that?

Well, you know the business side will be taken into consideration. And honestly, more people would watch news coverage of President Ford than the soaps.

CBS already was running a limited schedule on Friday because of New Year's weekend. Here it is:

Friday, December 29: ATWT and GL will be full pre-empted. Y&R will air on both coasts. B&B will be pre-empted on the West Coast, with a possible weekend or latenight airing (TBA).

What about New Year's Day? What will be shown? Why am I asking? Soaps are terrible and I am asking.

I understand if its going to be one day for the funeral, but not 3 days? lol