Why 60 Minutes is not airing tonight, January 26

60 Minutes' in-depth reporting is once again being placed on the bench, as the news program is not airing a new episode on Sunday, January 26. In fact there will be no episode at all of 60 Minutes this week, and the reason is a familiar one: the NFL playoffs.

Specifically, the AFC Championship game. The game, which will decide who represents the conference in Super Bowl LIX on February 9, is being played between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs, with kickoff set to take place at 6:30 pm ET/3:30 pm PT.

Coverage of the game is not expected to conclude until 10 pm ET/7 pm PT, but rather than squeeze in a late edition of 60 Minutes, CBS is instead going to use the chance to preview one of its new shows, Watson, a medical drama that stars Morris Chestnut as Sherlock Holmes’ famous counterpart, airing at 10 pm ET/7 pm PT. Local news will follow Watson but then CBS has also announced they are going to air a special live episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35 pm ET/8:35 pm PT on January 26.

60 Minutes has only had one new episode in January, which aired on January 12. Otherwise, the news program has been preempted for other programming; first by the Golden Globes on January 5 and last week for an NFL Divisional Round game.

It is not clear at this time if 60 Minutes is going to be back with a new episode on Sunday, February 2. There are no more NFL games airing on CBS after this week, but the network is the broadcast home of the Grammys on February 2. That awards ceremony is taking place at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT, which may impact the network’s decision to air a new episode of 60 Minutes.

Of course you can still watch previous episodes of 60 Minutes in place of the show not being on CBS this week. The last 14 seasons of 60 Minutes are available to stream right now on Paramount Plus (subscription required).