FOX has finally figured out how it will air the rest of The X Factor episode that was partially unseen Wednesday night due to a baseball rain delay, and it's almost as confusing as the rain delay itself.

Despite initially saying the X Factor episode would be shown in its entirety on Tuesday, October 23, that is no long the case. Instead, a special one-hour episode of The X Factor, finishing up announcing the 16 finalists, will air from 9:30pm-10:30pm.

The special one-hour X Factor will follow regularly scheduled new episodes of Raising Hope, Ben and Kate and New Girl. A new episode of The Mindy Project, originally slated for 9:30pm, will be pushed back until a later date.

The move might be because it keeps The X Factor out of the line of fire of The Voice and Dancing with the Stars at 8pm.

The whole thing is a bit of a mess thanks to the unreliability of live sporting events. Sadly, the best way to handle scheduling around baseball might be the Glee approach, where a show literally takes a one-month hiatus during October to avoid any off-weeks or delays.

Following the reveal of the Top 16 on The X Factor, the show will take off until Thursday, November 1 when it begins the wild card round (unless the World Series lasts seven games, in which case it will be preempted yet again).


(Image courtesy of FOX)