HI GUYS! So Upfronts begin next week and I AM A LITTLE STRESSED OUT. Cancelations, renewals, series orders, THERE IS JUST A WHOLE LOT GOING ON RIGHT NOW AND IT’S HARD TO KEEP UP, QUITE HONESTLY, SOMEONE FETCH ME A RESTORATIVE COCKTAIL.
This post is an attempt to organize what we know about what CBS has in store for the fall season: all the new shows, all the renewed shows and, R.I.P. — all the canceled shows. News is fluid right now, so check back in as I will continue to update these posts.
CBS’s Upfront presentation is on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 16th. By then, we should have photos, trailers, a schedule and a full list of CBS’s renewed and canceled series. I will add that information as it comes in. Send rum.
Schedule
MONDAY
7 p.m.: THE NEIGHBORHOOD
7:30 p.m.: HAPPY TOGETHER
8 p.m.: MAGNUM P.I.
9 p.m.: Bull
TUESDAY
7 p.m: NCIS
8 p.m.: FBI
9 p.m.: NCIS: New Orleans
WEDNESDAY
7 p.m: Survivor
8 p.m.: SEAL Team
9 p.m.: Criminal Minds
THURSDAY
7 p.m: The Big Bang Theory
7:30 p.m.: Young Sheldon
8 p.m.: Mom
8:30 p.m.: MURPHY BROWN
10/9c: S.W.A.T.
FRIDAY
7 p.m: MacGyver
8 p.m.: Hawaii Five-0
9 p.m.: Blue Bloods
SUNDAY
7 p.m: GOD FRIENDED ME
8 p.m.: NCIS: Los Angeles
9 p.m.: Madam Secretary
New Shows
Murphy Brown
Description from CBS:
Murphy Brown, the famous investigative journalist and TV anchor at the FYI network, returns to a world of cable news, social media, fake news and a very different political and cultural climate.
Cast: Candice Bergen, Faith Ford, Joe Regalbuto, Grant Shaud, Jake McDorman, Tyne Daly, Nik Dodani
T’s Take:
I don’t know that I am going to commit to this reboot, but I loved Murphy Brown back in the day. I will definitely see how it goes, BUT THE MINUTE THEY START DEFENDING TRUMP, I’M OUT, ROSEANNE. UPDATE: Yep. All over this. This is the anti-Roseanne. (Interesting note: they didn’t film a pilot, but instead just jumped right into the season. This is about the only introduction you’re going to get to these characters and this story if somehow you’re not already familiar.)
©2018 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Untitled Damon Wayans, Jr. Project (Maybe entitled “Our House”? See below) Happy Together
Description from CBS:
OUR HOUSE stars Damon Wayans Jr. (right) and Amber Stevens West (center) in a comedy about a 30-something happily married couple who begin to reconnect with their younger, cooler selves when Cooper (Felix Mallard, left), an exuberant young pop star drawn to their super ordinary suburban life, unexpectedly moves in with them. This comedy will premiere on the CBS Television Network during the 2018-19 season.
Cast: Damon Wayans, Jr., Amber Stevens West, Felix Mallard, Stephnie Weir, Chris Parnell
T’s Take:
Look, I am helpless against Damon Wayans Jr. I watched Let’s Be Cops, for fuck’s sake! I will give this a looksee, but as it’s a CBS comedy, I reserve judgment until I can see a trailer. UPDATE: Yep, it’s a CBS comedy. The leads — as I suspected — are very likable, and I’m willing to give it a chance, but damn, I hate a laugh track.
Welcome to the Neighborhood The Neighborhood
Description from CBS:
WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD stars Cedric the Entertainer (right) in a comedy about what happens when Dave Johnson, the friendliest guy in the Midwest, moves his family to a neighborhood in Los Angeles where not everyone looks like him or appreciates his extreme neighborliness. Cedric the Entertainer plays the Johnsons’ opinionated next door neighbor, Calvin Butler, who is wary of the newcomers, certain that the Johnsons will disrupt the culture on the block. However, Calvin’s unemployed older son, Malcolm (Sheaun McKinney, left), finds Dave may finally be someone who understands him. WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD will premiere on the CBS Television Network in the 2018-19 season.
Cast: Cedric the Entertainer, Josh Lawson, Sheaun McKinney, Tichina Arnold, Dreama Walker, Marcel Spears, Hank Greenspan
UPDATE: Max Greenfield is replacing Josh Lawson, so don’t get too attached to the white boy in this trailer.
T’s Take:
I will give CBS this: They heard the complaints that the network is too white, and they are trying. Waiting on a trailer before I comment further. UPDATE: Alright — color me intrigued. I don’t know that I am going to commit to this, but the Max Greenfield addition is promising. Also, I didn’t hate the trailer. And kudos to CBS for killing white man sitcom Kevin Can Wait to make room for each of these new comedies (not Murphy Brown) with such diverse casts.
Magnum P.I.
Description from CBS
MAGNUM P.I. is a modern take on the classic series starring Jay Hernandez (pictured) as Thomas Magnum, a decorated former Navy SEAL who, upon returning home from Afghanistan, repurposes his military skills to become a private investigator in Hawaii. MAGNUM P.I. will premiere on the CBS Television Network during the 2018-19 season.
T’s Take
I mean, you know what this is. There is no chance I am watching this of my own volition. UPDATE: My first impression stands.
©2018 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
F.B.I.
Description from CBS:
FBI, from Emmy Award winner Dick Wolf and the team behind the “Law & Order” franchise, is a fast-paced drama about the inner workings of the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. These first-class agents, including Special Agent Maggie Bell (Missy Peregrym, pictured) and her partner, Special Agent Omar Adom ‘OA’ Zidan (Zeeko Zaki, pictured), bring all their talents, intellect and technical expertise to tenaciously investigate cases of tremendous magnitude, including terrorism, organized crime and counterintelligence, in order to keep New York and the country safe. FBI will premiere on the CBS Television Network during the 2018-19 season.
Cast: Missy Peregrym, Jeremy Sisto, Zeeko Zaki, Connie Nielsen, Ebonée Noel
T’s Take:
Jeremy Sisto = 2 points. Everything else: UPDATE: Yeah, this is pretty much what you think it is. Interesting: the photo above is not a 9/11 reference. Somehow.
God Friended Me
CBS’s Description
GOD FRIENDED ME stars Brandon Micheal Hall (pictured) in a humorous, uplifting drama about Miles Finer (Hall), an outspoken atheist whose life is turned upside down when he receives a friend request on social media from God and unwittingly becomes an agent of change in the lives and destinies of others around him. GOD FRIENDED ME will premiere on the CBS Television Network during the 2018-19 season. Pictured L to R: Brandon Micheal Hall as Miles Finer and Violett Beane as Cara Weiss.
T’s Take
CBS keeps trying to make religious programming — specifically comedies — work. If Angel from Hell and Living Biblically are any indication, maybe religious comedies just don’t work? UPDATE: More dramedy than comedy, Brandon Micheal Hall is charming, and I’m glad he’s getting another chance at a series after The Mayor was canceled at ABC. But it made my teeth hurt just watching this — this is CBS’s This is Us entry this season for sure.
©2018 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Fam – Midseason
Description from CBS:
FAM stars Nina Dobrev and Tone Bell (pictured) in a comedy about a woman whose vision of a perfect life with her adoring fiancé and his wonderful family is radically altered when her 16-year old, out-of-control half-sister unexpectedly comes to live with her. FAM will premiere on the CBS Television Network during the 2018-19 season.
T’s Take:
The third new CBS comedy starring actual Black people. Again, good for them, but I am going to reserve judgment until a trailer is released. CBS’s comedies in recent years have not been my thing.
The Red Line – Midseason
Description from CBS:
From acclaimed producers Ava DuVernay and Greg Berlanti, THE RED LINE follows the lives of three vastly different Chicago families whose stories of loss and tragedy intersect in the wake of the mistaken shooting of an African American doctor by a white cop. THE RED LINE will premiere on the CBS Television Network during the 2018-19 season. Pictured: Noah Wyle and Aliyah Royale
T’s Take
This sounds intriguing — and an awful lot like Fox’s Shots Fired. This seems like a swing for the fences for CBS, a series that is not going to make their core audience of older, middle Americans comfortable. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if such controversial material can survive.
The Code
Description from CBS:
The military’s brightest minds take on our country’s toughest challenges inside the courtroom and out, where each attorney is trained as a prosecutor, a defense lawyer, an investigator — and a Marine.
Cast: Dave Annable, Anna Wood, Mira Sorvino, Phillipa Soo, Ato Essandoh, Raffi Barsoumian
T’s Take
I don’t have a take on this one, but it is interesting to note that after CBS picked up this project, Mira Sorvino and Dave Annable have dropped out and they have to recast the leads. Stay tuned.
Cancellations
- 9JKL
- Kevin Can Wait
- Living Biblically
- Me, Myself & I
- Scorpion
- Superior Donuts
- Wisdom of the Crowd
- Zoo
Renewals
- The Amazing Race
- The Big Bang Theory
- Big Brother: Celebrity Edition
- Blue Bloods
- Bull
- Criminal Minds
- Celebrity Big Brother
- Elementary
- Hawaii Five-0
- Instinct
- Life in Pieces
- MacGyver
- Madam Secretary
- Man with a Plan
- Mom
- NCIS
- NCIS: Los Angeles
- NCIS: New Orleans
- Ransom
- Salvation
- SEAL Team
- Survivor
- Young Sheldon
Shows Still Up in the Air
- Code Black
- Big Brother (returns summer 2018)
- Undercover Boss (returns summer 2018)
What about CBS’s Star Trek Discovery? It’s completely absent from the list!
Star Trek Discovery is a CBS All Access series. This is strictly about CBS the broadcast network. That said, Star Trek Discovery has been renewed for a second season, but probably won’t return until 2019. Thanks for reading and commenting!
-T
I’m pulling for Code Black to get renewed (or saved by someone else). It’s got some actors I really like. The characters and plots are intriguing and not always predictable. (People actually die … and I loved the “musical” episode.) Sigh.
It’s a long shot, but not impossible. It was saved last season when it seemed pretty helpless, and CBS hasn’t canceled it yet. If it is inexpensive enough, they may renew it for another 10-13 episode season. Not working in its favor: at the end of this season, it will only have 43 episodes, not even half of the 100 that is usually the marker for syndication (and another means of making money off of it). It’s a genuine toss-up.
-T
WHERE ARE ALL YOUR REAL HOUSEWIVES RECAPS?
I am drowning in actual TV news right now — covering the Upfronts not just here, but over on Chron.com, too. After tomorrow, I will be able to get back to the recaps. Sorry!
-T