Why Elementary season 6 airing in the summer could be a good thing

If you missed the news during the week, it appears as though Elementary season 6 is not going to be airing on CBS until at least the spring — and given the recent news that the show’s order number being expanded to 21 episodes, it’s also hard to fathom that the show will conclude before the summer.

Superficially, it’s easy to have one reaction to this reveal: It’s terrible. Why would a popular and well-liked show be put on hold for such a long time? That’s a reasonable question, and unfortunately it’s not one we have much in the way of an answer to at the moment. Yet, if we stop and take a deep breath we may realize one thing above all else: This may not be so bad.

Let’s start by putting things out there in terms of possible scenarios — had Elementary season 6 premiered in the winter, it would’ve likely been stuck either Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. Eastern or in CBS Sunday prime-time. Neither one of these situations are good given that there is a lot of competition and the possibility that you are stuck airing until the winter. If Elementary premieres in the spring it saves itself having to air against some of that. If it finds a way to premiere on a Tuesday, a Wednesday, or a Friday in April, any of these nights would be good for the show. They are all inundated with crime shows as it is, and there’s a brand that has been built up there that Elementary can capitalize on.

When you think about the summer there are probably even more dividends that could come the series’ way. We’ve always felt as though there are two things holding Jonny Lee Miller and company back — poor time-slots and also not a lot of support by way of a solid lead-in. If it could premiere after Big Brother on a Wednesday or Thursday night, all of a sudden it has a very good lead-in and not a whole lot of competition elsewhere. This could in turn help the Elementary ratings rise closer to a 1.0 in the 18-49 demographic again. While that is not guaranteed to bring the series a season 7, it could at least bring it closer.

While the summer may not be right for every network show, we don’t think it’s much of a mystery at all that there is potential for Elementary to regain some old viewers, pick up some new ones, and show that there is still life left in the tank.

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