UPFRONTS 2019: CBS's Official Fall Schedule

Here is the CBS schedule!

Past CBS Upfronts: 2018   2017   2016   2015   2014   2013   2012   2011

MONDAYS
8:00 The Neighborhood (2nd season)
8:30 BOB HEARTS ABISHOLA
9:00 ALL RISE
10:00 Bull (4th season)

There are two nights of revamps for CBS on their fall schedule and one of them is Mondays. The Neighborhood was a surprisingly decent performer in the 8pm slot all year long and it will continue there but will now be followed by the new Chuck Lorre sitcom Bob Hearts Abishola, which I guess has a little bit of the culture clash theme of The Neighborhood? It is followed by the new legal drama All Rise. This was a slot that was very tough on Magnum P.I. and The Code this season and we'll have to see if All Rise can offer something those two dramas couldn't. I'm not convinced it can, but it does seem like it will be a better companion to Bull with its comedy-laced trailer. Bull continues at 10pm despite the allegations against star Michael Weatherly that surfaced this season.

TUESDAYS
8:00 NCIS (17th season)
9:00 FBI (2nd season)
10:00 NCIS: New Orleans (6th season)

Many anticipated that the FBI spinoff would land on this night and it might eventually, but it won't be in the fall. CBS is keeping the status quo on Tuesday nights with the original FBI landing in between two of the three NCIS shows. This seems reminiscent of the Chicago franchise on NBC where they rushed a spinoff into development before the mothership really even proved its worth. But then they held it until midseason of the original's second year. Whether it turns out as well for the FBI franchise as it did for the Chicago franchise remains to be seen. For now, this solid lineup (especially in total viewers) will return in tact.

WEDNESDAYS
8:00 Survivor (39th edition)
9:00 SEAL Team (3rd season)
10:00 S.W.A.T. (3rd season)

Wednesdays are perhaps the most perplexing in the CBS lineup. Of course the venerable Survivor returns at 8pm and it will be celebrating its 40th edition with the spring run. But the next two hours make less sense. SEAL Team returns to 9pm for no real good reason. After airing to underwhelming ratings for a year and a half in this slot, it finally got bumped to 10pm at midseason this year. Even less interest was shown at 10pm so it certainly didn't seem deserving of a timeslot upgrade when it could have just as easily deserved cancellation. A little bit head-scratching although far less egregious is S.W.A.T. moving over a night to Wednesdays. It is not much of a timeslot upgrade, but I don't really understand why they didn't just leave SEAL and S.W.A.T. where they were and put the new Evil at 9pm Wednesdays. Seems like the much more obvious and better move.

THURSDAYS
8:00 Young Sheldon (3rd season)
8:30 THE UNICORN
9:00 Mom (7th season)
9:30 CAROL'S SECOND ACT
10:00 EVIL

CBS is premiering five new shows in the fall and three of them are on a very revamped Thursday night after the departure of The Big Bang Theory. As expected, Young Sheldon assumes the 8pm slot and will be paired with a new single camera comedy, The Unicorn. This is going to be a rough hour for CBS in year to year comparisons and they have to hope that Sheldon can hold its own without Big Bang. I'm not convinced it can and even if it does, The Unicorn doesn't seem like a worthy companion. Mom stays at 9pm and is followed by Patricia Heaton's return to TV in Carol's Second Act. This seems like a more complete comedy hour than 8pm. The new Evil debuts at 10pm. It is being billed as a scary thriller, but the timeslot might be what's most scary. For a show that seemed to be a high priority for CBS, this is a pretty low priority time. It's going to have to find its own audience and that's a tall order for a show like this.

FRIDAYS
8:00 Hawaii Five-0 (10th season)
9:00 Magnum P.I. (2nd season)
10:00 Blue Bloods (10th season)

After three straight years of no changes, CBS's Friday lineup is changing some. Hawaii Five-0 moves to 8pm after a steady run at 9pm. The move is to help Magnum P.I., which struggled on Mondays this past season, but is now on a night where it looks to be a better fit. I'm not convinced renewing Magnum was right in the first place but since they did, they are giving it the best possible chance to succeed. If it doesn't work here relative to expectations, it's not going to work anywhere. It is followed by Blue Bloods in the only slot it has ever know. Quietly chugging along on Friday nights, it has become one of TV's most consistent dramas.

SATURDAYS
8:00 Encores
10:00 48 Hours (33rd season)

SUNDAYS
7:00 60 Minutes (52nd season)
8:00 God Friended Me (2nd season)
9:00 NCIS: Los Angeles (11th season)
10:00 Madam Secretary (6th season)

CBS is not making any changes to its Sunday lineup. As is so often the case with CBS (and FOX) Sunday lineups, this looks decent on NFL Sundays with the new God Friended Me often overperforming. But then it looks dire on some non-NFL Sundays with that same freshman show looking just terrible. I guess I'm not shocked that CBS left things alone. Of the new dramas they picked up, none of them would have been great fits here so I understand. NCIS: Los Angeles will return to 9pm after a brief trip to 10pm in late Spring while Madam Secretary will have a 10 episode final season before giving way to something else. And leading it all off is 60 Minutes, entering its 52nd season.

MIDSEASON: BROKE, FBI: MOST WANTED, TOMMY, The Amazing Race, Criminal Minds, MacGyver, Man with a Plan, Undercover Boss
CBS has a pretty typical amount of midseason fare. They have announced a plan to air the final season of Criminal Minds on the only night it has ever known, Wednesdays. I could see them doubling it up for a few weeks and giving both Wednesday dramas a break. FBI: Most Wanted seems destined to land on Tuesdays at some point while Tommy might be a replacement for Madam Secretary. MacGyver might transition to a summer show.

CANCELLED/ENDED: The Big Bang Theory, Fam, Happy Together, Life in Pieces, Million Dollar Mile, Murphy Brown, The Red Line, The World's Best
I couldn't find anything to confirm Million Dollar Mile, The Red Line, or The World's Best, but considering the reality shows weren't even being mentioned as "later decisions" and The Red Line has been re-billed as a limited series, I think they're gone.

FATES TBA: Big Brother: Celebrity Edition, The Code, Ransom
No word yet on these shows but I think The Code will be gone while Big Brother: Celebrity Edition will be back if it can get enough celebs. Ransom could turn up again since it's so cheap to put on.

TO SUM UP:
This is a schedule with some good moves but also some real odd ones. It's not as blatantly bad as ABC, but I wouldn't say it's as strategically sound as NBC or FOX. The return of SEAL Team to Wednesdays at 9pm is a real travesty and says a lot about studio favoritism. The new shows are put in a decent place to succeed except Evil seems to have drawn the short straw in that respect. Leaving Tuesdays and Sundays alone with the small tweak to Fridays all makes sense to me. CBS is traditionally such a conservative network, and this is not the most conservative fall schedule I've ever seen them put out. But they still haven't really solved their biggest problem: it has been years since they had a breakout hit if you don't count Young Sheldon, which hasn't proven it can do it on its own. So it will likely be another year of decent total viewership but low demos for CBS.