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May 15, 2013
 

THE SKED 2013 UPFRONTS: The New CBS Schedule – Grid & Instant Analysis

 

By CBS standards, the network is making a large number of moves with its 2013-14 schedule.  Changes are in store for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday–including finally pulling the trigger on a 4-sitcom Thursday.  Let’s run through it.

CBS Official Schedule Fall 2013

MONDAY

8PM:          HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER

8:30PM:     WE ARE MEN

9PM:          2 BROKE GIRLS

9:30PM:     MOM

10PM:        HOSTAGES (fall)/INTELLIGENCE (midseason)

The surprise here is CBS’s decision to hold MIKE & MOLLY (although with a full 22-episode order) for midseason.  It allows the network to launch a maximum number of new sitcoms in the fall and hope that more than one of them takes root, knowing it has a reliable standby on hand to fill in any major gap.  At first glance, the divorced-guys comedy We Are Men seems an odd fit with the younger-skewing (for CBS) rom-com How I Met Your Mother, while Mom has the post-2 Broke Girls spot.  CBS is being unusually aggressive at 10PM, both by moving the steady Hawaii 5-0 off the night and by putting its own high-concept thrillers Hostages and Intelligence against NBC’s much-vaunted The Blacklist.  If Mom falters and Hostages doesn’t develop buzz, the night could quickly become risky for the network.

TUESDAY

8PM:          NCIS

9PM:          NCIS: LA

10PM:        PERSON OF INTEREST

The only change here is moving Person of Interest from Thursday into the 10PM slot, against Lucky 7 and Chicago Fire.  Unless Lucky 7 catches on, this looks like a winner, and could be helped by the decision to make Sara Shahi a regular on Person, giving that show a young female lead for the first time.

WEDNESDAY

8PM:          SURVIVOR

9PM:          CRIMINAL MINDS

10PM:        CSI

No changes for a night that works.

THURSDAY

8PM:          THE BIG BANG THEORY

8:30PM:      THE MILLERS

9PM:          THE CRAZY ONES

9:30PM:      2 1/2 MEN

10PM:        ELEMENTARY

Here it is, the 4-sitcom CBS Thursday.  It’s a bit surprising that Big Bang Theory isn’t anchoring the night at 9PM.  Instead, there’s going to be a lot of pressure on the Robin Williams/Sarah Michelle Gellar/David E. Kelley comedy The Crazy Ones (which is an unusual CBS single camera) to perform there.  If it does, 9:30PM could get ugly for NBC, as 2 1/2 Men may wipe the floor with The Michael J. Fox Show.  CBS is apparently content with Elementary‘s performance against the surging Scandal at 10PM.

FRIDAY

8PM:          UNDERCOVER BOSS

9PM:          HAWAII 5-0

10PM:        BLUE BLOODS

A move to Friday for an established CBS procedural is like being checked into a retirement community, and this year it’s Hawaii 5-0‘s turn.  It should fit perfectly well with Blue Bloods.

SUNDAY

7PM:          60 MINUTES

8PM:          THE AMAZING RACE

9PM:          THE GOOD WIFE

10PM:        THE MENTALIST

Keeping the Good Wife/Mentalist duo intact is a conservative decision on a night where the network could have made a leap.  On the other hand, if Revenge can’t find its mojo again, the very stable Good Wife could find itself looking surprisingly strong at 9PM.

Along with Mike & Molly, the new comedy FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES and the drama RECKLESS are TBD for midseason.

 



About the Author

Mitch Salem
MITCH SALEM has worked on the business side of the entertainment industry for 20 years, as a senior business affairs executive and attorney for such companies as NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, and BermanBraun Productions, and before that, at the NY law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. During all that, he has more or less constantly been going to the movies and watching TV, and writing about both since the 1980s. His film reviews also currently appear on screened.com and the-burg.com. In addition, he is co-writer of an episode of the television series "Felicity."