CBS Upfront/General News and Discussion: 2019-20

[James28]

Another question: How come FOX-TV's Sunday animation block gets huge viewership boosts after a late-afternoon NFL game, yet CBS's Sunday shows (save for 60 Minutes) have their viewership stay the same?

[icecream]

Man With a Plan and Pauley Perette's new comedy Broke will premiere April 2 on Thursdays, after The Unicorn and Carol's Second Act end their seasons.

https://tvline.com/2020/01/28/man-wi...ate-cbs-broke/

[James28]

So, how much of the Young Sheldon lead in do you see Man with a Plan retaining this year, now that CBS are giving it the best slot possible?

I heard on TVByTheNumbers that Man with a Plan is more compatible with YS than The Unicorn, even though MwaP is multi-camera and The Unicorn is single-camera. I don't think compatibility should matter in television, because, you know, timeslots are limited. I started a thread about it earlier this month.

And how come CBS never bothered to air Man with a Plan after The Big Bang Theory? Potential for bad lead-in retention?

[icecream]

TBBT is way older than Man With a Plan. By the time MWAP came along, Young Sheldon was just a year away from premiering and giving YS the parent show lead-in was their top comedy priority. I think way too much emphasis is put on whether a sitcom is multi camera or single camera. It is more the actual content of the show that makes it compatible. The Unicorn seems like a niche comedy that does not fit in on CBS, they usually have more traditional ones. At the beginning CBS might have had more hope for Kevin Can Wait than Man With a Plan, but they really screwed the pooch there with killing off Kevin James' new wife so it could be a King of Queens reunion. KCW plummeted its 2nd and last season because of that, bringing down the rest of the night since it was the leadoff show. MWAP has the last laugh over KCW now, should get to at least 5 seasons with being fully owned and getting close to syndication. It's not like Life in Pieces last year, which also had a shortened final season but was unowned. Hopefully MWAP can at least do 0.8s after Young Sheldon's 1.0, but YS might start going fractional with the daylight savings effect hitting in April.

[James28]

BREAKING NEWS: Hawaii Five-0 to End After Current Season. Two-Hour Series Finale to Air on April 3, 2020.

https://deadline.com/2020/02/hawaii-...le-1202870780/

[James28]

With every scripted TV show having shut down production due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CBS, starting May 3, is bringing-back is Sunday Night Movie franchise for a five-week initial run. The series will feature some of the best titles from corporate sibling Paramount Pictures: Raiders of the Lost Ark (May 3), Forrest Gump (May 10), Mission: Impossible (May 17), Titanic (May 24), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (May 31).

https://deadline.com/2020/04/cbs-bri...GQ58UlTevZ59jQ

[MA]

Originally Posted by James28

With every scripted TV show having shut down production due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CBS, starting May 3, is bringing-back is Sunday Night Movie franchise for a five-week initial run. The series will feature some of the best titles from corporate sibling Paramount Pictures: Raiders of the Lost Ark (May 3), Forrest Gump (May 10), Mission: Impossible (May 17), Titanic (May 24), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (May 31).

https://deadline.com/2020/04/cbs-bri...GQ58UlTevZ59jQ

According to this article from Vulture, SyFy is doing marathons of Xena: Warrior Princess on Thursdays, with star Lucy Lawless providing intros, and ABC recently started airing classic episodes of its soap General Hospital on Fridays.

https://www.vulture.com/2020/04/cbs-...ronavirus.html

[James28]

BREAKING NEWS: CBS has decided to let go of God Friended Me after its current second season. Its two-hour series finale will air on April 26.

God Friended Me's viewership was fair in season 1, but apparently, falling viewership during season 2 (and being beaten several times by NCIS: Los Angeles) could not justify a third-year renewal for GFM. The current Hollywood shutdown had been expected to boost GFM's renewal chances, because all broadcast pilots have been thrown in limbo, but sadly, it just was not to be. CBS wishes the cast and crew of God Friended Me the best in all of their future endeavors.

https://deadline.com/2020/04/god-fri...et-1202908162/

[MA]

CBS Sets ‘The Amazing Race’ Premiere Date & Reveals Three-Hour ‘Survivor’ Season Finale

https://deadline.com/2020/04/cbs-pre...le-1202906959/

[Merry24]

Is April 30, 2020 Thursday Season Finale of Young Sheldon?

[MA]

Originally Posted by Merry24

Is April 30, 2020 Thursday Season Finale of Young Sheldon?

Yes.

[icecream]

With next season of The Amazing Race already filmed but CBS taking back its summer launch, TAR will probably air Wednesdays at 8:00 in the fall since Survivor had to scrap their production for awhile. And with them passing on a bunch of pilots, including Lincoln Lawyer which supposedly had been a series commitment, and still wanting a more traditional schedule announcement (May 19 is their new date for that now), the fall schedule might be all existing shows with no new shows coming til the 2021 calendar year. All Rise will probably move to the Sundays at 8:00 spot left open by God Friended Me's cancellation, with Monday going back to a 2 hour comedy block. They could do this: Mondays The Neighborhood/Man With a Plan/Bob Hearts Abishola/The Unicorn/Bull and Thursdays Young Sheldon/Broke/Mom/Carol's Second Act/Evil. The female led comedies would all stay in one block after Young Sheldon. Tuesdays would remain the same with NCIS and the FBIs, and Fridays would remain MacGyver/Magnum/Blue Bloods.

[MA]

I wonder why The Lincoln Lawyer was passed on.

[icecream]

I wrote that above post before I saw the announcement of the fate for all CBS scripted shows that came out today. The Unicorn is a big loser that did not deserve renewal at all, lousy show that does not fit in with the rest of the CBS comedies and has terrible retention out of Young Sheldon. Man With a Plan being fully owned and so close to syndication I would have thought it at least got a final season. Broke did decent for a midseason replacement, and Carol's Second Act had a much weaker lead-in than The Unicorn. CBS refusing to even advertise the Carol finale that had Kelsey Grammer joining the cast, yet shoving a bunch of Unicorn finale ads down our throats is pathetic. Yes I know there were allegations against Patricia Heaton's husband, but not against her and he would have easily been replaced on the show not being part of the acting crew.

[MA]

CBS Renews 23 Total Series, Including NCIS, FBI, Blue Bloods and All Rise

https://tvline.com/2020/05/06/renewe...s-blue-bloods/