May 17, 2017
CBS
Having finished the season as the most-watched network among viewers for the ninth straight year, CBS didn’t do a lot of tinkering with the schedule. At its Upfront event at Carnegie Hall, the net touted its new comedies (Big Bang Theory spin-off Young Sheldon, 9JKL, Me Myself & I) and upcoming dramas (SEAL Team, S.W.A.T., Wisdom of the Crowd) and 23 returning series. Arriving later in the season are comedy By the Book and drama Instinct. “Great content is always king,” said CBS chief Les Moonves, noting that CBS shows are “clean, advertiser friendly and the highest quality.”
Young Sheldon will have a special Monday launch behind mother ship Big Bang, then move to Thursdays. 9JKL and Me, Myself & I will join the Monday comedy block, while SEAL Team will air Wednesdays at 9p, S.W.A.T. takes the Thursday 10p slot and Wisdom of the Crowd follows 60 Minutes on Sundays at 8p.
60 Minutes will celebrate its 20th anniversary, and NFL Football will return with 5 early season games on consecutive weeks starting September 28. Upcoming CBS All Access series Star Trek Discovery had its order bumped from 13 episodes to 15, and got a companion show, Talking Trek. Late Late Show host James Corden, one of many network stars on hand, noted CBS was “boldly going where only 6 television shows and 13 movies have gone before. What’s next? Reboot McGyver? Hawaii Five-0?” But Corden wasn’t just on hand to Trek tease – it was announced he’d return as host for the Grammys, back in NYC for the first tie since 2003.
On the advertising front, the network introduced Customized Data Solutions, to help marketers target audiences across networks and platforms. Network sales president Jo Ann Ross promised a blend of broadcast and digital offering “real people watching your commercials in hit shows, with zero fraud.”
