2016 Upfronts Preview Pt 3c: If I scheduled CBS’s TV Schedule

Upfronts, the annual ritual when TV network execs trek to NYC to pitch their upcoming television schedule in the hopes that advertisers are enticed enough to buy ad time during the shows.

In my preview of the 2016 Upfronts, I’ve taken a look at the pilots (aka first episode) under contention to be picked up to series as well as the prospects for renewal/cancellation of the shows currently on air. Note: these posts could already be out of date with renewal/cancellation & pilot pickup/passed over news since they’ve been published.

In the last part of the Upfronts Preview, I’ll play backseat network executive and lay out how I would program the upcoming television schedule for each of the networks. I’ve went over ABC’s schedule, the CW’s schedule, now it’s time to take a whack at CBS’s.

Say what you will about CBS’s programming, its transitions are smooth: Letterman-to-Colbert (Late Show), Bob Schieffer-to-John Dickerson (Face the Nation), and Nina Tassler to Glen Geller (President CBS Entertainment). Contrast that with the messiness at other networks (Conan, Ann Curry, Michael Strahan). Nina Tassler stepping down is also special in that, so far as is known, she stepped down willingly (after a remarkably long time as CBS Entertainment President) instead of being pushed out as is the norm for the notoriously short career lifespan of network heads of entertainment. Maybe she saw the writing on the wall that the television trends that engulfed so many of CBS’s competitors would eventually catch up to CBS and decided to jump ship before it too caught up to CBS (purely speculation). Either way, she steps down after a strong run at one of the most consistent networks; and it now falls to new CBS Entertainment President Glenn Geller to keep the sturdy CBS ship afloat as it navigates the murky waters of cord-cutting, peak TV, VOD, and depressed 18-49 ratings.

Sunday
Current Schedule: 60 Minutes/Madam Secretary/The Good Wife/Elementary
The Good Wife is going off the air and Madam Secretary & Elementary have both been renewed. CBS seems to be resigned to the fact that Sundays will not be their best night and will be an older-skewing night with low 18-49 ratings, granted they may have a reason to not be too aggressive on this night as CBS-owned Showtime does decent/quite well on Sundays year-round with Homeland, Shameless, Penny Dreadful, Ray Donovan, The Affair, and Masters of Sex.
So it’s probably safe to assume they won’t dramatically rearrange the night and that three of the four hours will stay, with the 9/8c hour being vacated due to The Good Wife ending (R.I.P. you remarkable show). What to fill this hour with that will transition from (and keep) Madam Secretary’s considerable (if older-skewing) audience? Relocate The Amazing Race back to the hour. Honestly the best CBS can expect (and seems content with for the past few seasons) from its Sundays is mid-to-low-1 ratings, which The Amazing Race has been able to pull on the depressed-television-viewing night of Friday.

Monday
Current Schedule: Supergirl/Scorpion/NCIS: Los Angeles
The CBS rumor mill has been working hard with theories of Supergirl’s ratings being a disappointment relative to its cost-per-episode and that Supergirl will only be renewed under the condition that it’s moved to the CW (which CBS co-owns). While this sounds a bit ludicrous, I won’t discount it entirely. For now, I’ll assume it’s renewed and stays on CBS (not that the CW even has room for Supergirl on its packed schedule).
With Thursday Night Football displacing CBS Thursdays for the first 6-or-so weeks of the season, CBS will likely do its usual schedule shuffling to temporarily relocate 2 comedies to Monday. During these first six weeks, have The Big Bang Theory kick off the night and lead into the new Matt LeBlanc comedy to give it a solid launchpad. After TBBT & Matt LeBlanc’s comedy moves to Thursday, fill in with two comedies: returning series Life in Pieces and new comedy My Time/Your Time. While CBS retreated from trying to create a Monday comedy block years ago, a stable 2-hour Thursday comedy block does not give CBS enough real estate to launch all of its comedies. Launch the season with a benched Supergirl and see how the comedies perform on Monday & Thursday. Swap time slots & premiere Supergirl during mid-season as needed.

Tuesday
Current Schedule: NCIS/NCIS: New Orleans/Limitless
This night works, keep it. Although keep an eye on Limitless, and do some off-season tinkering (albeit lightly) as this show started strong but petered off as the season wore on).

Wednesday
Current Schedule: Survivor/Criminal Minds/Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders
In last week’s ratings, Survivor, in its 32nd season outrated The Voice (10th season) in both total viewers and the 18-49 demo. Very impressive. Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders has been doing admirably enough leading out from its original anchor. As tempting as it would be to keep it there, relocate it to Fridays, where it might prove to be a suitable lead-in for fellow crime-in-exotic-locales program Hawaii Five-0. End Wednesdays with Training Day. I was originally thinking MacGyver but the older-skewing audience of Criminal Minds will probably write off any young actor stepping into the shoes of a rebooted MacGyver without giving the show a chance.

Thursday
Current Schedule: The Big Bang Theory/The Odd Couple/Mom/2 Broke Girls/Rush Hour
After Thursday Night Football, TBBT leads off the night as usual. The Odd Couple has been performing admirably enough during the Spring to warrant it continuing leading out from TBBT. Follow that up with the Matt LaBlanc comedy and end the night’s comedy block with Mom. Finish the night with Drew.

Friday
Current Schedule: The Amazing Race/Hawaii Five-0/Blue Bloods
Hawaii Five-0 is getting up there in age so it will probably ride off into the sunset soon. For now, it’s been renewed so CBS will keep this relatively-stable night in tact. Move Amazing Race back to Sundays and see if Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders can hold its own on Fridays, or even improve on TAR’s ratings by a couple ratings ticks with it potentially being more compatible with the night’s crime drama programming.

2016-17 CBS television schedule
new shows in italics

Sunday: 60 Minutes/Madam Secretary/The Amazing Race/Elementary
Monday: The Big Bang Theory/Untitled Matt LeBlanc comedy/Scorpion/NCIS: Los Angeles
(After football: Life in Pieces/My Time-Your Time/Scorpion/NCIS: Los Angeles)
Tuesday: NCIS/NCIS: New Orleans/Limitless
Wednesday: Survivor/Criminal Minds/Training Day
Thursday: Thursday Night Football
(After football: The Big Bang Theory/The Odd Couple/Untitled Matt LeBlanc comedy/Mom/Drew)
Friday: Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders/Hawaii Five-0/Blue Bloods