CBS Schedule Thoughts

Last year CBS cancelled a lot of its shows, old or new, but this time around they kept their underperforming veterans (CSI: New York & Miami) and cancelled a lot of freshman shows (Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, The Defenders, Sh!t My Dad Says, Mad Love, Chaos). My "fantasy schedule" for CBS matched some slots and while over all CBS schedule is conservative compared to last year they did make some aggressive moves which I'll get to later on as I do my day by day analysis. Here's CBS schedule for the next TV season (2011-2012)

CBS TELEVISION NETWORK

2011-2012 PRIMETIME SCHEDULE

(N=New, NT=New Time, all times ET/PT)

MONDAY

8:00-8:30 PM HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER

8:30-9:00 PM 2 BROKE GIRLS (N)

9:00-9:30 PM TWO AND A HALF MEN

9:30-10:00 PM MIKE & MOLLY

10:00-11:00 PM HAWAII FIVE-0

Pretty much stable, the fate of this night rest on how the reformatted 2.5 Men with Ashton Kutcher will work out since high rated 2.5 Men will be good news to Mike & Molly and Hawaiit 5-0. Two Broke has promise, it seems more compatible with HIMYM than 2.5 Men althought 2.5 Men is the better sitcom launch pad

TUESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM NCIS

9:00-10:00 PM NCIS: LOS ANGELES

10:00-11:00 PM UNFORGETTABLE (N)

The way The Good Wife bled a lot of 18-49 viewers from NCIS: LA it was obvious CBS will move it. NCIS duo is still strong and CBS needs NCIS LA to help launch a new show at 10pm

WEDNESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM SURVIVOR: SOUTH PACIFIC

9:00-10:00 PM CRIMINAL MINDS

10:00-11:00 PM CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION (NT)

Color me surprised, I didn't expected CSI moving here. I thought CBS will try to launch new show instead but on second thought this makes more sense as SVU at NBC is 10pm ratings force it will be hard for a new show to gain traction so might as well have a veteran show compete with SVU. Anyway, CSI had that Thursday, 9pm slot for 10 years! I wonder if the remaining viewers will follow it on a new night

THURSDAY

8:00-8:30 PM THE BIG BANG THEORY

8:30-9:00 PM HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN (N)

9:00-10:00 PM PERSON OF INTEREST (N)

10:00-11:00 PM THE MENTALIST

For the first time ever The Big Bang Theory will keep its timeslot. TBBT started at Mondays at 8pm then moved to 8:30pm on its second, enjoyed its highest ratings ever in Season 3 when it had the cushy post 2.5 Men slot at 9:30pm and of course last season it became the anchor of a new comedy night. It's a big risk to launch a new show at 9pm (especially having a new show to as a lead in) but "Persons of Interest" has the most promising of all the shows they picked up so who knows this could work. While Grey’s, Bones & Office are tough competitor they are all pretty much vulnerable and a CBS saw this as an opportunity to launch a show that has breakout potential

FRIDAY

8:00-9:00 PM A GIFTED MAN (N)

9:00-10:00 PM CSI: NY

10:00-11:00 PM BLUE BLOODS

Good for CBS for being patient with CSI NY and Blue Bloods. Fridays at 8pm has been difficult time to for all networks, will A Gifted Man change that? If A Gifted Man pull good numbers it will likely have a riffle effect to CSI: New York and Blue Bloods

SATURDAY

8:00-8:30 PM RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (NT)

8:30-9:00 PM COMEDYTIME SATURDAY

9:00-10:00 PM CRIMETIME SATURDAY

10:00-11:00 PM 48 HOURS MYSTERY

Shocker of the season! Sony and CBS had a deal last season that if they renew Rules it should be on for a full season after 3 seasons of being a midseason player and I’m sure this is the same case too. Rules ratings are mediocre whether it was after HIMYM or TBBT but I guess CBS still wants to have that show around as back up but since they can't have it for midseason only anymore they just shipped this to Saturdays. Well Sony too probably offered Rules so cheap so they can reach syndication numbers already and that wouldn’t be the first time they did it? Remember Til Death?

SUNDAY

7:00-8:00 PM 60 MINUTES

8:00-9:00 PM THE AMAZING RACE

9:00-10:00 PM THE GOOD WIFE (NT)

10:00-11:00 PM CSI: MIAMI

I was expecting The Good Wife will move to Sundays but I was thinking 10 pm with CSI Miami going to Fridays (I thought CSI NY will be cancelled) so I was surprised they slotted this at 9pm, tough time slot! But let’s see if this will have better flow with The Amazing Race. But woah The Good Wife will battle it out with the Desperate Housewives!

CBS held new drama "The 2-2 "(what an awful title for TV show, CBS change it quick) and reality show "Undercover Boss". Overall CBS schedule is pretty much steady but taking two major risks with launching Persons of Interest at a very competitive timeslot and moving ratings-troubled but critically acclaimed "The Good Wife" on Sundays. Of course they still have the fate of 2.5 Men up in the air with Ashton Kutcher replacing Charlie Sheen. It will be interesting to see how this play out. (Personally, I'm looking forward how "Rules of Engagement" perform on Saturday, maybe, just maybe, it could offer some hope on this dead nigh on Broadcast TV? Let's see)