Thursday, April 30, 2015

UPFRONTS 2015: What CBS Should Do

And finally, we are on to CBS. Check back next week for my schedule predictions!

Past CBS suggestions: 2014   2013   2012   2011

For a list of CBS pilots, click here

MONDAYS
8:00 (Sep) The Big Bang Theory/(Nov) 2 Broke Girls

8:30 UNTITLED TOMMY JOHNAGIN PROJECT
9:00 Scorpion
10:00 CODE BLACK
The question CBS has to figure out is do they want to shuffle The Big Bang Theory back and forth again with football taking up Thursdays until November. On the one hand, I think it has weakened the show a bit, but that also might be age. I think they need to in order to launch new comedies but maybe not air as many new episodes before it heads to Thursdays. I don't love any of the CBS comedy pilot premises but the Tommy Johnagin Project sounds decent and they could easily bring back Mike & Molly again if it fails. Scorpion was a surprise success and I think it can be used to launch a new drama. My vote would be for the medical drama Code Black in an hour that might have new dramas on ABC and NBC.

TUESDAYS
8:00 NCIS
9:00 NCIS: New Orleans
10:00 Person of Interest
I would leave Tuesdays alone for this season. They finally moved NCIS: Los Angeles and had a mostly seamless transition to NCIS: New Orleans. Person of Interest has been slipping but there are some other underperformers (Elementary) that need to be addressed first.

WEDNESDAYS
8:00 Survivor
9:00 CRIMINAL MINDS: BEYOND BORDERS
10:00 Criminal Minds
I was so-so on the backdoor pilot to the Criminal Minds spinoff, but I like the idea of solving international crimes and Criminal Minds is getting pretty old. Survivor has been remarkably steady so this might be the time to launch the spinoff and move the mothership to 10pm. Doing it the other way around and launching the spinoff at 10pm seems like a bad idea.

THURSDAYS
(Sep) 8:00 Thursday Night Football

(Nov)
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
8:30 ANGEL FROM HELL
9:00 Mom
9:30 The Odd Couple
10:00 NCIS: Los Angeles
We know football will be on until the last week of October. I think the most promising CBS comedy pilot is Angel From Hell starring Jane Lynch. I think it could be a strong entry between The Big Bang Theory and Mom, which is more than ready to be the 9pm anchor. At 9:30pm, I would put The Odd Couple. It deserves a second season but not a second season with a Big Bang lead-in. Time to see if this show can make it on its own (I'm skeptical about that). I know NCIS: Los Angeles just moved nights but I think the 10pm Monday slot is a more attractive place to launch a new drama than 10pm Thursday so I would move Los Angeles again.

FRIDAYS
8:00 The Amazing Race
9:00 Hawaii Five-0
10:00 Blue Bloods
I would leave Friday nights alone. The Amazing Race did OK while the dramas continue to do well by Friday standards. I would once again have Undercover Boss take over in-between the two editions of Race.

SATURDAYS
8:00 Encores
10:00 48 Hours
As usual.

SUNDAYS
7:00 60 Minutes
8:00 Madam Secretary
9:00 FOR JUSTICE
10:00 The Good Wife
CBS Sundays were solid in the fall when they had football lead-ins, but it's fallen apart at midseason. There's probably little CBS can do to fix that but one thing that needs to happen is The Good Wife needs to go to 10pm. I would recommend a 13 episode final season and have it share a timeslot with a 13 episode final season for CSI. Madam Secretary can stay at 8pm while I would launch For Justice, which could also get an upscale audience, at 9pm.

MIDSEASON: DOUBT, RUSH HOUR, SUPERGIRL, CSI, Elementary, Mike & Molly, Undercover Boss
As usual, CBS doesn't need a ton on deck for midseason. I already mentioned CSI and Undercover Boss. Mike & Molly can be the first show off the bench on either Mondays or Thursdays for The Odd Couple or one of the newbies. Same goes for Elementary with dramas. They have already ordered Supergirl but I'm not sold on it, maybe it could be a summer option. Rush Hour could be an interesting midseason push (post-Super Bowl premiere maybe?) Doubt sounds promising for a midseason launch.

CANCELLED/ENDED: Battle Creek, CSI: Cyber, The McCarthys, The Mentalist, The Millers, Stalker, Two and a Half Men

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