CBS will debut three new dramas and one new comedy this fall. The Mentalist starring Simon Baker (pictured) will also get a new night on Thursdays and the NBC drama Medium gets a fresh lease on life on the eye’s Friday lineup.
Mondays will feature the new Jenna Elfman comedy Accidentally on Purpose, about a film critic who gets pregnant after a one-night stand with a slacker. The comedy airs at 8:30 p.m., bumping Big Bang to 9:30 p.m. behind Two and A Half Men. NCIS: Los Angeles starring Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J airs at 9 Wednesdays behind behind the mothership NCIS. At 10 p.m., Juliana Margulies stars in The Good Wife as a politician’s wife who returns to the work force as an attorney.
“It’s a real sea change at 10 p.m.,” say CBS Corp CEO Leslie Moonves in reference to The Jay Leno Show on NBC. “There will be more shares available.” Adds the Eye’s head of scheduling Kelly Kahl, “We’ll see some huge opportunity for growth at 10 p.m.”
Wednesday stays intact for CBS, while Thursdays will feature The Mentalist at 10 p.m. The show bowed on Tuesdays last fall and went onto become the network’s most-watched new series. Medium — which was canceled by NBC on Tuesday, and is produced by CBS/Paramount — will now air on CBS Fridays at 9 p.m. behind Ghost Whisperer. Cold Case gets yet another timeslot on Sunday — this time at 10 — to make way for the new drama Three Rivers at 9; it’s a medical drama about a preeminent transplant hospital, starring Moonlight‘s Alex O’Loughlin.
Midseason shows include The Bridge, a cop drama from Canada, and Miami Trauma, a medical series starring Jeremy Northam from Jerry Bruckheimer. Rules of Engagement will be back this winter, too, along with Flashpoint. New reality shows include Undercover Boss, which features CEOs who disguise themselves as everyday workers at their own companies; and Arranged Marriage, a self-explanatory show from the Project Runway producing team of Jane Lipsitz and Dan Cutforth.
Gone are Eleventh Hour, Without a Trace, The Unit, and Worst Week.
CBS FALL 2009 SCHEDULE
MONDAY
8 p.m. How I Met Your Mother
8:30 p.m. Accidentally on Purpose
9 p.m. Two and A Half Men
9:30 p.m. The Big Bang Theory
10 p.m. CSI: Miami
TUESDAY
8 p.m. NCIS
9 p.m. NCIS: Los Angeles
10 p.m. The Good Wife
WEDNESDAY
8 p.m. The New Adventures of Old Christine
8:30 p.m. Gary Unmarried
9 p.m. Criminal Minds
10 p.m. CSI: NY
THURSDAY
8 p.m. Survivor: Samoa
9 p.m. CSI
10 p.m. The Mentalist
FRIDAY
8 p.m. Ghost Whisperer
9 p.m. Medium
10 p.m. Numb3rs
SATURDAY
8 p.m. Crimetime Saturday
9 p.m. Crimetime Saturday
10 p.m. 48 Hours Mystery
SUNDAY
7 p.m. 60 Minutes
8 p.m. The Amazing Race
9 p.m. Three Rivers
10 p.m. Cold Case
More TV Upfront news:
Jay Leno on his naysayers: ‘trash talking is a part of the competition’
ABC announces fall schedule, ‘Ugly Betty’ moves to Fridays
Ken Tucker’s ‘Instant TV reviews’ of ABC’s new fall shows
NBC announces fall schedule: ‘Chuck’ stays, ‘Southland’ moves to Fridays
Ausiello Exclusive: ‘Without a Trace,’ ‘Privileged,’ canceled, ‘Gossip’ spin-off DOA
Breaking: ‘Earl, ‘Unit’ axed, ‘Medium’ moving to CBS
Fox announces fall schedule, acknowledges Whedon fans
Ken Tucker’s ‘Instant TV reviews’ of Fox’s new fall shows
The Ausiello Files, for the latest renewals and cancellations
Ausiello’s Fall TV cheat sheet
Thank goodness Three Rivers won’t be on the Friday night slot of DOOM. YAY! Now I have something to watch on Sundays. (I bailed on DH last year.)
Michelle, ITA with you. I know what I’ll be doing on Sunday nights. Hurray for Three Rivers and Alex!
Damn… HIMYM is still up against DWTS and House.
“Accidentally on Purpose” sounds A LOT like “Knocked Up…”
Wow CBS, way to think outside the box. Not one of your nights is without a crime drama AND shockingly 3/7 nights feature the same boring show CSI. It angers me to know that ONCE AGAIN this channel will get fantastic ratings because it plays the same two genres (crime and laugh track comedy) every single night of the week. What happened to quality programing. At least NBC, the biggest ratings loser of them all, has some original programming.
Without a Trace and The Unit are far better choices than Numbers. So hopefully, this one will fail next season.
When they say midseason for The Bridge, does that mean they are pushing it back to January/February? It was supposed to be out on July 9th.
NCIS: Los Angelos???? I give kudos for airing it behind the original NCIS to catch the fans but come on! That name sucks!!!! NCIS is a spin-off and they didn’t call it JAG: NCIS!!! Why did they have to give it such a crappy CSI style name???? Can’t they do better than that!!!
Yay! I’m glad to see Flashpoint is coming back even if it is midseason. I’m bummed about moving Big Bang Theory to 9:30 though. I think it will hurt it’s numbers. It should be on earlier. All in all I think it is the strongest of all the networks. I just wish they would get rid of that horrible CSI:Miami. It’s about time for that show to…(pause…remove glasses…squint)…go away.
The Mentalist is going to be serious competition for Grey’s
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NCIS: Los Angeles? C’mon folks, the show is already gonna suck…give it a fighting chance with a better name!
To Jodi, that was (pause…remove sunglasses…squint) funny
To Nerwen, you are absolutely correct — the title NCIS: Los Angeles sucks. Couldn’t they have called it Special Ops or some other acronym???
Why the h would they split up BBT and HIMYM? That’s comedy GOLD there, and I’d rather not see “Knocked Up v2.0″, kthanks. I hope Apatow is getting a little credit for that show.
WTF? Why did they have to move BBT to 9:30? It was perfect where it was!!! Now it’s going to interfere w/ Heroes!
I’m still mad at them for ruining Swingtown. Oh and stupid name for the NCIS spinoff
I CANNOT believe CBS canceled The Unit… why do studios get rid of shows that provide viewers every week with a great episode leaving us with crap?
And I agree Elfman’s new show is just a tv version of Knocked Up. None of the new shows sound like anything worthy of kicking The Unit off the air.