Upfronts Preview Pt. 3e: If I Scheduled CBS for 2014-15

This is it! The last post in my very, very lengthy preview of Upfronts, that annual time of year in mid-May when television network executives converge on New York City to pitch their upcoming television season to advertisers. For television fans, it’s basically a deadline for knowing which of your favorite shows are cancelled or renewed (but really the deadline is a week or so before Upfronts, and, in some rare cases, after Upfronts) as well as check a small sneak peak of new shows coming in the fall.

The first part of the preview dealt with what shows have been cancelled/renewed on the 5 broadcast networks as well as prospects for the remaining shows, which is essentially negligible at this point since the fates of all scripted regular season shows on the broadcast networks have since been revealed since that post was published.

The second part looked at some of the pilots being considered for a series order, highlighting the ones I found most interesting or had the best chance for success on the network. Again, most pilots have since been passed over or picked up to series with maybe a handful left to be announced.

For this final part of the Upfronts Preview, I went network-by-network and played backseat executive, programming their 2014-15 television schedules as I see fit (except for Saturdays because who cares). I’ve done all the other major networks: the CW, FOX, NBC, and ABC and now, at long last, it’s time for the last network: CBS.

CBS shouldn’t be too difficult (probably why I saved it for last). It’s been consistently strong in the past couple of seasons, routinely being the #1 network in total viewers (though it’s the number of viewers aged 18-49 that really matter for a show’s renewal prospect), and also competitive in the more-important 18-49 ratings. As such, it renews far more of its schedule than the other networks; this season it renewed 17 of its 21 regular-season scripted shows. Amazingly, they still picked up quite a number of pilots. Which might be a good thing.
This season CBS tried to expand its Thursday night comedies to stretch over 2 hours. Which makes sense, The Big Bang Theory is so dominant, why not have it launch a whole night of comedies? This has had mixed results. The Crazy Ones never really took off (and was cancelled), and Two and Half Men suffered from following it. Once they switched the two and had 2½ Men follow the more compatible The Millers, it started doing decently in the ratings. However Monday was more troubled, efforts at having 2 Broke Girls lead off the 9/8 o’clock hour over-estimated the success of the show, which seems more like a show on a downward slide than a reliable lead-in. How I Met Your Mother had a very strong season, being CBS’s #2 comedy, too bad the show is over. While there’s a pilot for How I Met Your Dad, CBS hasn’t ordered it to series yet. At the risk of getting too much into ‘reading the tea leaves’ territory, that doesn’t inspire too much confidence. The only new comedy to get renewed at CBS was Chuck Lorre’s Mom, which was a very mediocre performer, though very much in line with CBS’s line-up of multi-camera laugh-track comedies. Meanwhile, CBS’s only new dramas, “limited series” Hostages and Intelligence both cratered in the Monday night 9 o’clock hour.

Sunday
The first 2 hours of CBS Sundays are constant enough I don’t see them changing, though I wouldn’t be totally surprised if they were. It’s the last 2 hours that need work. Aging shows The Good Wife and The Mentalist looks to be treading downward (ratings-wise anyways in the case of The Good Wife which has turned me into a regular viewer this season). This opens up opportunities for new shows on a night that has remained largely the same with diminishing returns. The Mentalist will have its final season, getting renewed long after CBS renewed the vast majority of its shows. Bench it for mid-season and take advantage of the big fall promo push (along with some level of a bump from afternoon NFL games boosting CBS’s early evening shows) to launch a new show. It will probably get a shortened final season (13 episodes?), use that it is the show’s last season to promote The Mentalist and have it follow new show Madame Secretary. I went back and forth on what show to put here after figuring out the schedule for all the other nights. Scorpion and Stalker were both viable candidates (and I still anticipate Scorpion making the fall schedule despite my not having it on my schedule), but Madame Secretary fits more with The Good Wife, which will return in Winter after The Mentalist wraps up and take its time slot.

Monday
Mondays and Thursdays will be tricky. For the first several weeks of the season (6 or 8 weeks, I forget which), CBS will air Thursday Night Football, benching all those comedies. CBS will take advantage of this by moving stalwart comedy The Big Bang Theory to help shore up its Monday night line-up. Use The Big Bang Theory to launch the night, follow it with a new comedy, The Odd Couple for Matthew Perry’s name recognition (even if his last 3 shows in which he starred all were cancelled after 1 season), then follow with Mike & Molly and Mom. CBS will be tempted to put a different show on at 8, maybe use 2 Broke Girls and follow it with a new comedy. Don’t keep Mike & Molly waiting in the wings to replace a different show that got cancelled. While its ratings are on par with most other CBS comedies, it stays relatively consistent and doesn’t dip as much as shows like Mom or 2 Broke Girls. People like Melissa McCarthy. They will tune in for her. Don’t use this show just to plug in holes at the last minute when other shows get cancelled. Start the season with it. Follow it with Mom, or a new show. When The Big Bang Theory gets moved back to Thursdays, put in 2 Broke Girls. Its proven itself as a non-reliable starter so bench/save it for 6-8 weeks while you try to get all your Monday shows in order.

And now for one of CBS’s biggest problem areas. Mondays at 10/9c. CBS tried more serialized story-telling at Monday this past season, and while it should be commended for that, the results were awful, awful ratings, by any standards and not just CBS’s inflated standards. And this is where you launch NCIS: New Orleans. Even if it doesn’t hit the lofty heights of the first 2 NCIS’s, it doesn’t have to in this shaky Monday hour. Modest success is good enough, and builds a baseline on which to improve, for this hour. They may want to put in Madame Secretary or Alex Kurtzman-Roberto Orci-executive produced Scorpion, but I’d go with NCIS: New Orleans.

Tuesday
A solid block of programming, CBS won’t tinker with it much. I could conceivably see them trying to launch a show after NCIS: Los Angeles and benching Person of Interest until mid-season, or maybe even after NCIS and shifting NCIS: LA an hour later or until mid-season, which would be smart, but Tuesdays is one of CBS’s most reliable and highest-rated nights. Granted it’s shown some weakness in recent weeks, but still routinely beating its non-Voice competition. FYI, can you believe NCIS will be going into its TWELFTH season?!?!

Wednesday
Another solidly reliable night. Survivor, Criminal Minds, CSI.

Thursday
So after the first 6-8 weeks of NFL football, what then? The Big Bang Theory comes back to launch the night, follow it with The Millers which has shown itself to be a fairly steady lead-out program, then what? Two and Half Men meshed well with The Millers, or do they want to repeat what they did this year, launch a new program after The Millers and have 2½ Men cap off the comedy line-up? Two and a Half Men is in its 12th season (!) and is getting increasingly expensive to make, if this is to be its last season, throw it into the 8:30 time, who cares. But if there’s a chance it might go on for a season(s) after this one, let it follow The Millers, the humor is similar and the audiences are probably too. After moving 2½ Men a half hour earlier, the show proved itself to be consistently strong relative to other CBS comedies. Although the McCarthys is another family comedy that sounds very compatible with The Millers. Shift 2½ Men to 7:30 and have Millers anchor the 8 o’clock hour leading into McCarthys? Launch McCarthys after The Big Bang Theory? Ay, this is where it gets tricky for executives, any number of scenarios that all seem to have viable outcomes. Stability is good, stability is what CBS wants with its comedy line-ups, so with that criteria lets keep Millers following Big Bang Theory, and while I seemed to be advocating 2½ Men following that at first, why give it that lead-in for a show that could very conceivably end at the end of the 2014-15 television season instead of give the time slot to a more (seemingly) compatible show that may be strong for 5-6 seasons down the road? Big Bang, Millers, McCarthys, 2½, Elementary

Friday
Undercover Boss, Hawaii Five-0, Blue Bloods has proven itself to be steadfast performers on Friday nights.

CBS 2014-15 television schedule
new shows in italics

Sunday: 60 Minutes/The Amazing Race/Madame Secretary/The Mentalist
Monday: The Big Bang Theory/The Odd Couple/Mike & Molly/Mom/NCIS: New Orleans
(After football: 2 Broke Girls/” “/” “/” “/” “)
Tuesday: NCIS/NCIS: Los Angeles/Person of Interest
Wednesday: Survivor/Criminal Minds/CSI
Thursday: Thursday Night Football
(After football: The Big Bang Theory/The Millers/The McCarthys/Two and a Half Men/Elementary)
Friday: Undercover Boss/Hawaii Five-0/Blue Bloods

CBS really has been a big question mark, and while I kept its current schedule largely in tact, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if CBS threw us all (well, me at least) a curveball and had a radically different schedule, benching some of its biggest shows for mid-season, knowing it will draw viewers when it returns and attempt to launch new shows in their place. They have a lot of new shows for a network that renewed 80+% of its shows. They could hold them back for mid-season, but many of them seem like shows good enough to get big promotional pushes in the fall.

Well, that’s it for this year’s Upfronts preview! Several posts with 2000+ words, I’ll be sure to plan on spacing these out better next year, and will probably scramble madly at the last minute anyways. C’est la vie.