‘The Big Bang Theory’ season 7: Now with a one-hour premiere; but why?

CBS knows that “The Big Bang Theory” is their smash hit to end all smash hits, and so they are using it in the same way that you would use almost any ratings draw: To promote as many other programs as humanly possible. If they had enough episodes to stick Sheldon Cooper in front of almost every new episode on their schedule, this is probably what they would do; but alas, they do not have this at their disposal, so they are instead going to just use the show to launch a few other comedies.

At the network’s TCA event today, it was confirmed that season 7 will kick off on Thursday, September 26 with two episodes, which will allow it to run straight through to the beginning of “The Crazy Ones,” the new show featuring Robin Williams that executives have been so excited for all summer. (How can you not be, given that it has Robin Williams, Buffy, and Bob Benson in the cast?) This in turn means that “The Millers,” the Will Arnett series that features a man forced to deal with both his own and his parents’ divorce, will premiere the following week at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.

From a business standpoint, this is pretty brilliant. If “The Millers’ gets a 22-episode order this season, it will still have an opportunity to air after a new “Big Bang Theory” every week of the season. Despite the presence of “Survivor” champ John Cochran as a writer on the show, we’re still not that enthusiastic that there will be some big numbers for “The Millers,” given that Arnett has never been a ratings draw with scripted series. There are clearly still some high hopes here, judging from the fact that it has such a primo spot.

We’ve heard already that the new “Big Bang Theory” season will start with Leonard on a boat, and will also feature more Sheldon / Amy fun, and Raj continuing to show that talking to women and being good at talking to women are two very separate things. You can read more about the show from Comic-Con here.

Photo: CbS