CBS will join the push to wipe away reruns this fall.
Following a trend started by two smaller networks, it will launch a makeshift line-up next month, giving its main shows more time to ease back from the COVID shutdown.
The difference is in timing: Fox and CW — see previous report under “stories” — have both delayed their regular line-up until January; CBS programming chief Kelly Kahl is slightly more confident: “We hope to start rolling out our previously announced fall series as they become available in November,” he said in a statement.
Until then, he has a reality-heavy line-up that includes extending summer shows and transplanting a few scripted ones – including the first season of “Star Trek: Discovery” (shown here in the second season) and the truncated fourth season of the “One Day At a Time” reboot – that have aired elsewhere.
ABC and NBC still haven’t specified their September plans, with the exception of sports, “Dancing With the Stars” (Sept.14 on ABC) and two NBC shows – the Canadian drama “Transplant” on Sept. 1 and the new “American Ninja Warrior” season on Sept. 7. Fox solidified its fall line-up today by putting a new game show behind “The Masked Singer,” which has a special Sept. 13 and opens its season Sept. 23. Now CBS has a fall plan with:
SUMMER EXTENDED: Two shows got off to late starts, so they’ll sprawl into autumn. “Love Island” continues daily, through Sept. 29; “Big Brother” (currently Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays) continues through Oct. 28.
Then there’s “The Greatest #AtHome Videos,” which started as a one-shot special (then called “Greatest #StayAtHome Videos”) and added a four-week summer run. Now it returns to its previous Friday slot, beginning Sept. 25.
NEWS SHOWS: “48 Hours” starts its new season on Saturdays, beginning Sept. 12; “60 Minutes” starts its season Sundays, beginning Sept. 20.
Beyond that, the “48 Hours” people are producing two six-week series: “48 Hours: Suspicion” will be Wednesdays, starting Sept. 9; “The FBI: Declassified” will be Tuesdays, starting Oct.13. The latter is narrated by Alana De La Garza of “FBI” and looks at some of the biggest real-life cases; CBS has taken a similar approach in the past to NCIS.
MORE REALITY: One “Amazing Race” edition was sidelined by COVID, but CBS already had a previous one ready. Originally scheduled for this summer, it will now be Wednesdays, starting Oct. 14.
In addition, “Undercover Boss” has a new season ready. That will be Fridays, starting Oct. 2.
FICTION: “Star Trek: Discovery” is the big-budget series that launched the CBS All Access streaming service. Now its first season will air Thursdays, starting Sept. 24. That precedes the third season, which starts Oct. 15 on All Access.
“Manhunt: Deadly Games” is a series that has already aired on the Spectrum cable system, but will be new to most viewers when CBS airs it Mondays, starting Sept. 21. Jack Huston, Carla Gugino and Cameron Britton star in a story that begins with the discovery of a bomb near the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta … and ends seven years later in the North Carolina mountains.
And “One Day at a Time” is a reboot of the classic comedy. The first three seasons are still on Netflix, but the fourth moved to the Pop cable channel … then was shut down by COVID after just six episodes. Those six will air, two-per-night, on three Mondays, Oct. 12, 19 and 26.