CBS 2013 fall schedule: ‘Person of Interest,’ ‘Hawaii Five-0’ shows on the move
When you are a high-rated network like CBS, drawing decent ratings it’s not good enough to keep a decent time-slot: You have to be drawing knockout punches almost week after week. After looking at the brand-new schedule that was just released by the network, we don’t really know if we can draw any other conclusion beyond this.
As with every other schedule that we’ve talked about this week during our Fall TV preview series, we’re taking this on a night-by night basis. Our final verdict? Well, we’ll save that for the very end here.
Mondays – While “How I Met Your Mother” and “2 Broke Girls” remain the anchors for the night, there are new faces all around. “We Are Men,” which features a strong cast including Kal Penn and Tony Shalhoub, takes the 8:30 spot. (We’re also afraid that the lack of star power makes it the most-vulnerable of the group.) Meanwhile, the Anna Faris – Chuck Lorre show “Mom” follows up “2 Broke Girls,” and “Mike & Molly” is shelved until mid-season. The 10:00 p.m. spot will consist of “Hostages” in the fall, but then “Intelligence” in the spring.
Tuesdays – The “NCIS” block stays the same with the “Red” spin-off being passed on, but “Person of Interest” shifts into the 10 o’clock spot, a sign that the network is looking to make a place for a vulnerable time on the schedule.
Wednesdays – It’s identical to the past two years: “Survivor,” “Criminal Minds,” and “CSI.” If it ain’t broke…
Thursdays – Easily the biggest risk of the schedule. Moving “Two and a Half Men” back an hour, where it will now follow the Robin Williams series “The Crazy Ones.” This puts a show formerly starring Charlie Sheen against one led by Michael J. Fox, who he famously replaced on “Spin City.” Meanwhile, “Elementary” is smartly kept at 10 (as it has some comedic tendencies and is a nice fit), while “The Millers” gets the post-“Big Bang Theory” time slot. We still think that this is a bad fit here, though, and “Super Clyde” would have done better at making this a “geek block” for an hour.
Friday – Another shift here in that “Hawaii Five-0” will now be sandwiched between “Undercover Boss” and “Blue Bloods.” Rather than kicking off a new show on TV’s worst night (save for Saturdays), the new strategy seems to be to move shows here that are not kicking butt and taking names anymore.
Sunday – No change at all here: “The Amazing Race” starts off the night, and “The Good Wife” and “The Mentalist” follow it up.
Overall, our take on the CBS schedule is pretty simple: It’s clean, and it’s solid. We don’t know if there are any surprising or amazing moves, but we personally would have traded out “The Millers” with “We Are Men,” given that it has more creative promise and deserves a chance after TV’s most-watched comedy.
Photo: CBS