Anyone want to tell me what is wrong with going back to the schedule with LFs?
Sure, I will. The answer is simple - ad obligations. If there was long-form scheduled, which I think there was, then they have to follow the contracts with the advertisers, stating when a commercial will air, how often it will air, etc, meaning they can only insert a LF every so often.
And honestly, its not that big of a deal to not get a LF on the eights during severe coverage at 1AM.