CBS is like Hillary Clinton at an Indian restaurant: she knows what she likes and she’s not going to get too adventurous. At the television upfronts this week, where the networks present their new fall schedules to advertisers, the eye network just ordered up more of the same: procedurals and traditional sitcoms featuring well-worn funnymen.
Its sister network the CW is always chasing after the young people and there seems to be only one thing those young people want: superheroes. The network even poached Supergirl from CBS.
CBS showed off what they have in store on Wednesday, and the big change is that they’ve revitalized their Monday comedy block by shipping Supergirl off to the CW and pushing Scorpion back to 10pm to make way for four comedies. Kevin Can Wait, a new sitcom starring Kevin James as a retired cop who has to deal with his insane family, will follow TV’s biggest comedy, The Big Bang Theory, at 8.30pm EST until October when Big Bang moves to Thursday. Then Kevin will move to 8pm EST and will be followed by Man with a Plan, starring Matt LeBlanc as a contractor who has to deal with his insane family. Yes, they are essentially the same show. Returning comedies 2 Broke Girls and The Odd Couple fill out the night.
Once the NFL is done taking up Thursdays, Big Bang will introduce The Great Indoors at 8.30pm EST, with Joel McHale as the irascible magazine editor who must oversee a bunch of millennials who work on his publication’s website. Print media. How quaint! Returning comedies Mom and Life in Pieces fill up Thursday before Pure Genius at 10pm EST. It is about a tech billionaire who funds a new cutting-edge hospital.
We’ll also see the addition of Bull, a show based on the pre-Oprah career of Dr Phil who started one of the biggest trial-consulting firms in the country. That airs Tuesdays at 9pm EST where it is bookended by NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans. MacGyver, about the guy who can make a bomb out of a matchbook, some chewing gum and an old issue of Time magazine, will be on Fridays at 8pm EST after a new pilot is filmed with an entirely new script and mostly new cast.
NCIS: Los Angeles moves to Sundays at 8pm EST where Madam Secretary moves to 9pm to fill the slot vacated by The Good Wife. Sorry, but nothing can fill the slot vacated by The Good Wife in my heart. However, at the upfront presentation CBS did announce that Christine Baranski and Cush Jumbo, who played Diane Lockhart and Luca Quinn, will get their own spinoff series on CBS All Access, the network’s streaming service. That will kick off in spring 2017 with All Access’s other original program, a new Star Trek show.
Also in the spring, CBS will roll out Training Day, based on the Denzel Washington movie, and Doubt, a new lawyer show starring Katherine Heigl (again?), The West Wing’s Dulé Hill, and Orange Is the New Black’s Laverne Cox.
The CW is now dedicating four of their 10 hours of original programing to shows adapted from DC Comics. That’s Supergirl on Monday, The Flash on Tuesday, Arrow on Wednesday, and Legends of Tomorrow on Thursday. And then, on the fifth day, Superman rested.
The network is only adding two new shows to its lineup. The Flash will introduce new comedy No Tomorrow at 9pm EST on Tuesdays. It’s about a risk-averse young woman (Tori Anderson) who is helping a crazy man (Jesse Rath) who thinks the world is ending in eight months, fulfill his “apocalyst” of all the things he wants to try before the world ends.
On Wednesdays, Arrow will lead into Frequency at 9pm EST, about a young female detective who is trying to clear the reputation of her father, a dirty cop who was killed years earlier.
Even though Supergirl is taking up some real estate on Mondays, that’s not all bad news for cult favorite Crazy Ex-Girlfriend which was renewed for season two (thank all that is holy!) and was moved to Friday at 9pm EST where it is partnered with the also upended Supernatural, which will air at 8pm EST.
Thanks to all of these capes, CW is saving some of its biggest shows – The Originals, The 100, iZombie, and Reign – for midseason where they’ll be joined by the buzzy new show Riverdale, based on the long-running Archie comic book series. That is also produced by Greg Berlanti, who produces all the damn superhero shows too. Man, that guy is busy.
