‘Scorpion’: CBS gives Katharine McPhee, Robert Patrick series post-AFC Championship Game episode

While the ratings for “Scorpion” have not necessarily been spectacular in recent episodes, they are still apparently solid enough for CBS to have quite a bit of faith in the show. After all, they’ve just decided to give the Katharine McPhee – Robert Patrick series a chance to shine following one of the biggest TV events of the year.

The network confirmed today that a new episode of the show is going to air on Sunday, January 18 at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, which will follow the AFC Championship Game. Given the enormous ratings that NFL football brings to the table, this is quite an opportunity for the show to expand its overall slate of viewers. Granted, it’s always possible that if the game runs long, it could be far after primetime when the series ends, and many may be getting ready for bed so that they can go back to work the next day.

Regardless, we consider this to be one of the best lead-ins that you can have the entire year, behind maybe the Super Bowl itself and potentially “The Big Bang Theory” or “Scandal.” The only reason we’d put those shows higher is that going from scripted content to other scripted content has a better retention rate. You may get an extra three million people to watch “Scorpion,” but they may never watch again after this episode airs. This is what happened two years ago with “Elementary,” and the Super Bowl did not do much to help “New Girl” or “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” in 2014.