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The McCarthys: John Ratzenberger to Guest Star

Shilo Adams — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 15:58:10 +0000

TVLine is reporting that John Ratzenberger (Cheers) is slated to guest star on upcoming CBS family comedy The McCarthys. He’ll be playing Charles Ellis, the athletic director at the high school where McCarthy patriarch Arthur (Jack McGee) coaches basketball, and will potentially recur.

Created by Brian Gallivan (Happy Endings), The McCarthys follows a sports-obsessed Bostonian family fronted by worrywart Marjorie (Laurie Metcalf) and gruff Arthur. Unusually close, the family gets a shock when son Ronny (Tyler Ritter) floats the idea of moving to Rhode Island in order to take a new job, but will they be able to convince him to stay around Boston? The series also stars Joey McIntyre (The Hotwives of Orlando), Jimmy Dunn (Stuck on You), and Kelen Coleman (The Newsroom).

In addition to his role on the NBC comedy, Ratzenberger has appeared on the likes of Melissa & Joey, Legit, and Bones. He joins a guest cast that includes Jessica St. Clair (Playing House), who will be appearing as a love interest to one of the McCarthy brothers.

The McCarthys is set to premiere Thursday, October 30th at 9:30 on CBS.

Will you be watching The McCarthys? Would you like to see Ratzenberger recur on the series? Who else would you want to see appear on the first season of The McCarthys?

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CBS Announces Changes to Fall Schedule

Shilo Adams — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 23:51:14 +0000

CBS has announced several significant changes to its fall schedule, starting with the delay of Mom‘s second season. Originally slated to premiere Monday, September 29th, the Chuck Lorre comedy won’t be returning until Thursday, October 30th at 8:30, where it will be following The Big Bang Theory. The Millers, meanwhile, will have its premiere pushed up from October 30th to Monday, October 20th at 8:30; the Greg Garcia comedy will get one week behind The Big Bang Theory before having 2 Broke Girls assume the lead-in position on October 27th.

Instead of Mom, CBS will be airing reruns of The Big Bang Theory at 8:30 on Mondays until The Millers premieres. The move is to give Scorpion the biggest lead-in possible without using up the Big Bang originals necessary to launch the network’s Thursday lineup next month. However, the Mom/Millers switch isn’t permanent, as both shows will return to their previously slated time slots on January 5th and 8th, respectively.

The best case scenario here is that Big Bang encores steady Scorpion, Mom benefits from the additional Big Bang exposure, and The Millers provides a steady enough presence to keep Mondays from faltering. There are some worrisome aspects to the plan, though, as 2 Broke Girls is one of the network’s weaker lead-ins, The Millers is a time slot hit, and the constant shuffling of shows will do nothing to set viewer patterns this early in the season. When people are still trying to figure out what to watch when, moving shows back and forth doesn’t seem like the best strategy, even if there is sound logic for each individual move. Collectively, they could easily test the loyalty of the CBS audience and threaten to halt what momentum Mom has garnered in the off season and the promising start that Scorpion got off to this past Monday.

You can check out a summary of the CBS moves below.

Do you think this scheduling will work out for CBS? Where do you think Mike & Molly fits into the equation? Could this end up backfiring on CBS and damaging Mom, The Millers, and Scorpion?

Mondays through October 13th
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
8:30 The Big Bang Theory (Encore)
9:00 Scorpion
10:00 NCIS: Los Angeles

Monday, October 20th
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
8:30 The Millers
9:00 Scorpion
10:00 NCIS: Los Angeles

Monday, October 27th
8:00 2 Broke Girls
8:30 The Millers
9:00 Scorpion
10:00 NCIS: Los Angeles

Thursday, October 30th
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
8:30 Mom
9:00 Two and a Half Men
9:30 The McCarthys
10:00 Elementary

Mondays beginning January 5th
8:00 2 Broke Girls
8:30 Mom
9:00 Scorpion
10:00 NCIS: Los Angeles

Thursdays beginning January 8th
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
8:30 The Millers
9:00 Two and a Half Men
9:30 The McCarthys
10:00 Elementary

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CBS Gives Supergirl a Series Commitment

Shilo Adams — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 19:09:36 +0000

According to The Hollywood Reporter, CBS has given Greg Berlanti’s Supergirl series a series commitment. The series, co-created with Ali Adler (Chuck), follows Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El, who arrived on Earth years ago and has been hiding her powers ever since for fear of repercussions. However, at the age of 24, she’s decided to become the hero she was always meant to be.

The pickup of Supergirl means that all five broadcast networks could have superhero dramas on their respective schedules come 2015-2016. While ABC is the lone Marvel loyalist with Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter, The CW has Arrow and The Flash, NBC has Constantine, and FOX has Gotham, all of which hail from DC. Comic dramas have already infiltrated the cable ranks, as networks from TNT (Titans) to AMC (Preacher) to WGN America (Scalped) have comic-related projects currently in development.

Aside from the inevitable question of who plays infamous Kara Zor-El (who was last seen on the small screen in the form of Smallville star Laura Vandervoort), the most interesting question around Supergirl is what CBS, a network known for older-skewing procedurals and broad family comedy, will do with it. The network has used summer to test out some genre dramas (Under the Dome, Extant), but Supergirl might be a big enough property that they’ll put it on during the season in hopes of attracting a larger audience. If so, the show might be a logical fit for Thursdays, given its high profile and the night’s saturation of expensive movie ads.

More information about Supergirl should be released in the coming months.

Would you watch a Supergirl series? Where on the schedule do you think CBS should air the show? Who should get the chance to play Kara?

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Scorpion: 24 Alum Shohreh Aghdashloo to Guest Star

Shilo Adams — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 19:14:22 +0000

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Emmy winner Shohreh Aghdashloo (24) is set to guest star on a late October episode of CBS crime drama Scorpion. She’s set to play Dr. Cassandra Davis, a psychologist who evaluates the team of crime solvers following a particularly costly outcome to one of their cases.

Created by Nick Santora (The Sopranos), Scorpion follows computer genius Walter as he brings together a group of fellow geniuses in order to solve complex global problems that those lacking their intelligence might not be able to. The series stars Katharine McPhee (Smash), Robert Patrick (True Blood), Eddie Kaye Thomas (American Pie), Jadyn Wong (Being Erica), and Ari Stidham (Huge).

In addition to her role on the FOX thriller, Aghdashloo has appeared on the likes of Grimm, FlashForward, and The Mob Doctor. Her next series regular role is on Syfy’s upcoming The Expanse, where she’ll be playing Chrisjen Avasarala. She’s the second Scorpion guest star announced recently, with NCIS: Los Angeles‘ Linda Hunt confirmed to be appearing on the show come October.

Scorpion is slated to premiere Monday, September 22nd at 9:00 on CBS.

Will you be watching Scorpion? What type of impact do you think Dr. Davis will have on Walter and the rest of the team? Who else would you like to see guest star on Scorpion?

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Scorpion to Stage a Crossover with NCIS: Los Angeles

Shilo Adams — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 01:53:09 +0000

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that upcoming CBS drama Scorpion is set to crossover with its lead-out NCIS: Los Angeles. The latter’s Linda Hunt will appear on a late October episode of the super-genius drama, as her NCIS character Hetty gets called in to teach the Scorpion team about the art of going undercover.

Crossovers have become fairly commonplace for series within the same universe, e.g. Dick Wolf’s Chicago series for NBC, the NCIS-verse that has birthed two spin-offs, the CSI-verse that will see its third spin-off come midseason, etc. They’re a way to exploit the ties that exist between certain series and create an inter-network synergy that will hopefully help shows get sampled in their early days (Scorpion) or in a new situation (NCIS: Los Angeles); however, crossovers from shows that don’t have direct ties are rarer, meaning that Hetty’s appearance on Scorpion will be especially interesting to see in terms of how well she’s integrated into the episode and whether this could pave the way for a mutually beneficial relationship between Scorpion and NCIS: Los Angeles.

Created by Nick Santora (The Sopranos), Scorpion follows genius computer expert Walter O’Brien (Elyes Gabel) as he recruits other geniuses to help solve complex, global crimes that those without their respective skill sets wouldn’t be able to crack. In addition to Gabel, Scorpion stars Katharine McPhee (Smash), Robert Patrick (True Blood), Eddie Kaye Thomas (American Pie), Jadyn Wong (Being Erica), and Ari Stidham (Huge).

You can check out a behind the scenes look at Scorpion below. The series is set to premiere Monday, September 22nd at 9:00 on CBS.

Do you think it’s too early to be crossing new dramas over with established series? If you’re on the fence about watching Scorpion, will a guest appearance from Linda Hunt change your mind? How do you think the CBS Monday lineup will do now that the network is no longer going with four comedies?

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The McCarthys: Jessica St. Clair to Recur

Shilo Adams — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 18:44:51 +0000

According to The Wrap, Playing House star/co-creator Jessica St. Clair has signed on for a recurring arc on upcoming CBS comedy The McCarthys. She’ll be playing Katrina, described as a loose cannon with zero self-awareness and a character who will act as a love interest for Joey McIntyre’s character. Katrina is slated to make her first appearance in the lives of the McCarthy family in the fourth episode of the series.

Created by Brian Gallivan (Happy Endings), The McCarthys follows a sports-obsessed Boston family whose dynamic gets thrown for a loop when their patriarch Arthur (Jack McGee) taps gay son Ronny (Tyson Ritter) as the next assistant coach for the high school basketball team he coaches. The series also stars McIntyre (The Hotwives of Orlando), Laurie Metcalf (Getting On), Kelen Coleman (The Newsroom), and Jimmy Dunn (Stuck on You).

In addition to her role on the USA comedy, whose fate is as yet undetermined some three months after its season finale, St. Clair has appeared on the likes of Veep, Best Friends Forever, and Review.

The McCarthys is set to premiere Thursday, October 30th at 9:30 on CBS. You can check out a behind the scenes look at the comedy below.

Will you be watching The McCarthys? Do you think St. Clair’s arc on the show is a bad omen for the future of Playing House? Who else would you like to see guest star on The McCarthys?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzmD2bLlzfs

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CBS to Air Madam Secretary Premiere Twice on September 21st

Shilo Adams — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 19:00:11 +0000

CBS has announced that they’ll be airing the series premiere of political drama Madam Secretary twice on Sunday, September 21st. Due to live coverage of The NFL on CBS, CBS primetime will begin at 7:30 that Sunday, with 60 Minutes airing immediately after the afternoon football game. Madam Secretary will then premiere at 8:30 before reairing at 10:30 – the fifth season premiere of The Good Wife will now air September 21st at 9:30.

The move is the latest unusual tactic employed by CBS in order to drive sampling, as the entire first season of Mom will be replayed on TBS beginning August 26th and extending into September. The only other time in recent memory that airing a pilot twice in one night was used was for the series premiere of The Carrie Diaries in January 2013, so there’s not much in the way of empirical evidence on whether this is the right strategy for CBS to take. It’s an interesting way to combat NFL overrun and possibly test out a show that has the feel of a 10:00 drama in the 10:00 slot, but for the moment, it’s just a wait-and-see decision that could go either way.

Created by Barbara Hall (Homeland), Madam Secretary stars Tea Leoni (The Naked Truth) as U.S. Secretary of State Elizabeth Faulkner McCord and follows the powerful politician as she tackles issues of international diplomacy, interoffice politics, and complex family life. But will the college professor and former CIA analyst accept the offer for a higher position when crisis strikes the White House?

In addition to Leoni, Madam Secretary stars Tim Daly (Wings), Patina Miller (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1), Zeljko Ivanek (Damages), Bebe Neuwirth (Frasier), and Geoffrey Arend (Body of Proof).

You can check out the trailer for Madam Secretary below, as well as the CBS fall schedule here.

Will you be watching Madam Secretary? Do you think the strategy of airing the series premiere twice will help combat NFL overrun? Should CBS have scheduled the series to air at 10:00 from the beginning?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX-vZysWRVw

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CBS to Air Back-to-Back Episodes of Extant August 20th and 27th

Shilo Adams — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 22:18:22 +0000

After moving the finale of Extant up a week in order to show the Big Brother finale alongside the Survivor premiere, CBS has opted to air back-to-back episodes of the space drama on August 20th and 27th, beginning at 9:00 each night. This way, the series gets to air all 13 of its episodes by the time of the finale, as there would have been two episodes remaining without the double-up.

Extant hasn’t had the steadiest of scheduling since it premiered last month; following two consecutive weeks of drops from an already underwhelming premiere number, CBS pushed the drama back an hour and gave it a Criminal Minds encore as a lead-in rather than the Big Brother lead-in it had for its first few episodes. Granted, the show’s numbers look better now that they’re occurring at a later hour and behind an encore, but Extant is currently no better than a toss-up for renewal, given how expensive it is and how CBS has already ordered a drama for next summer in Zoo. While it could very well gain ratings momentum during its final run of episodes, especially since it doesn’t have a two-hour finale during premiere week to deal with anymore, it’s hard to look at the doubling up of episodes as a wholly positive sign for the show’s future, despite its Amazon streaming security blanket.

Created by newcomer Mickey Fisher, Extant stars Oscar winner Halle Berry (Monster’s Ball) as an astronaut who returns to Earth after a year-long mission. Once she returns, though, she finds that she’s mysteriously pregnant and begins a search for answers as to how that’s possible and what exactly happened up in the air. The series also stars Goran Visnjic (Red Widow), Hiroyuki Sanada (Helix), Grace Gummer (Zero Hour), Camryn Manheim (Ghost Whisperer), and Pierce Gagnon (Wish I Was Here).

Extant airs Wednesdays at 10:00 on CBS. The season finale is set to air Wednesday, September 17th.

Have you been watching Extant? Do you foresee CBS renewing the show, despite the underwhelming ratings and decided lack of critical buzz? Will CBS continuing pursuing genre programming if Extant doesn’t make it to a second season?

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CBS Shifts Extant Finale, Extends Survivor Premiere

Shilo Adams — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 19:40:19 +0000

CBS has announced that the season finale of sci-fi drama Extant has moved up a week. Originally, the series, which stars Oscar winner Halle Berry as an astronaut who returns to Earth after an extended mission, was to conclude September 24th, but now it will wrap its first season Wednesday, September 17th at 10:00.

As a result of the change, the network will be airing 90-minute episodes of its reality heavy hitters on September 24th, with the season premiere of Survivor running until 9:30 and leading into the season finale of Big Brother 16. The move makes sense considering Extant‘s time slot downgrade and the fact that they might not want to use the Survivor lead-in on something that was already underperforming. More importantly, Survivor and Big Brother should make for an especially strong night during Premiere Week, something that’s bad news for NBC’s lineup, which premieres the week prior, and FOX’s lineup, which premieres September 10th. CBS would rather risk damage to Extant and inflict its own damage on the competition rather than give Extant a boost that might not get it to renewal status and allow the likes of Red Band Society and The Mysteries of Laura to gain an audience in the absence of huge competition.

You can check out the CBS fall schedule here, as well as the CBS fall premiere dates here.

Have you been watching Extant? Who do you think is the favorite to win Big Brother? What would you like to see from Survivor this coming season?

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CBS Announces Fall 2014 Premiere Dates

Shilo Adams — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 19:32:38 +0000

CBS has become the second broadcast network to unveil their fall 2014 premiere dates, which begin Thursday, September 11th with the first Thursday Night Football game of the season. Scripted content doesn’t return until September 21st with the premieres of Madam Secretary and The Good Wife, with the main takeaway from CBS’s scheduling being that they desperately want tech drama Scorpion to succeed. Having broken up their Monday night comedy lineup for the first time in three decades, CBS will surround Scorpion with an hour of The Big Bang Theory and the second season finale of ratings juggernaut Under the Dome. Similarly, CBS will give the first season finale of summer drama Extant a boost with a Survivor lead-in.

Among the series that will have delayed premieres are 2 Broke Girls, Elementary, and Two and a Half Men, all due to the introduction of Thursday Night Football. You can check out a full list of CBS fall 2014 premiere dates below, as well as the CBS fall schedule here and trailers for new CBS series here.

What will you be watching on CBS this fall? Do you think the ratings from Thursday Night Football will be worth the scheduling issues that it caused? Which new show will be CBS’s biggest fall hit?

Thursday, Sept. 11
7:30-8:25 PM/ET THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL PRE-GAME SHOW
8:25 PM/ET NFL THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL (Pittsburgh @ Baltimore)

Sunday, Sept. 21
7:00-8:00 PM              60 MINUTES (47th Season Premiere)
8:00-9:00 PM              MADAM SECRETARY (Series Debut)
9:00-10:00 PM            THE GOOD WIFE (6th Season Premiere)

Monday, Sept. 22
8:00-8:30 PM              THE BIG BANG THEORY (8th Season Premiere)
8:30-9:00 PM              THE BIG BANG THEORY (New Episode)
9:00-10:00 PM            SCORPION (Series Debut)
10:00-11:00 PM          UNDER THE DOME (Season Finale)

Tuesday, Sept. 23
8:00-9:00 PM              NCIS (12th Season Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM            NCIS: NEW ORLEANS (Series Debut)
10:00-11:00 PM          PERSON OF INTEREST (4th Season Premiere)

Wednesday, Sept. 24
8:00-9:00 PM SURVIVOR (29th Edition Premiere)
9:00-11:00 PM EXTANT (Two-Hour Season Finale)

Friday, Sept. 26
8:00-9:00 PM              THE AMAZING RACE (25th Edition Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM            HAWAII FIVE-0 (5th Season Premiere)
10:00-11:00 PM          BLUE BLOODS (5th Season Premiere)

Saturday, Sept. 27
10:00-11:00 PM 48 HOURS (27th Season Premiere)

Sunday, Sept. 28
10:00-11:00 PM CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION (15th Season Premiere)

Monday, Sept. 29
8:30-9:00 PM MOM (2nd Season Premiere)
10:00-11:00 PM NCIS: LOS ANGELES (6th Season Premiere)

Wednesday, Oct. 1
9:00-10:00 PM CRIMINAL MINDS (10th Season Premiere)
10:00-11:00 PM STALKER (Series Debut)

Monday, Oct. 27
8:00-8:30 PM 2 BROKE GIRLS (4th Season Premiere)

Thursday, Oct. 30
8:00-9:00 PM              THE BIG BANG THEORY (Regular Time Period Premiere)
8:30-9:00 PM              THE MILLERS (2nd Season Premiere)
9:00-9:30 PM              TWO AND A HALF MEN (12th Season Premiere)
9:30-10:00 PM            THE McCARTHYS (Series Debut)
10:00-11:00 PM          ELEMENTARY (3rd Season Premiere)

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