Fall Television Season Network Preview 2006: CBS

CBS has had the most consistent lineup on television for the past few years, and this fall season proves it. Only four new additions to the lineup which has been lauded as the best on television, not only by the critics but by the viewers who make CBS the top rated network. If it isn’t broken, you don’t fix it. And CBS is definitely not broken. New shows will be in bold italics on the schedule.

Sunday

7-8 PM: 60 Minutes
8-9 PM: The Amazing Race
9-10 PM: Cold Case
10-11 PM: Without a Trace

Notes: CBS did a little bit of housekeeping in terms of order on this night, and moved one show over, but other than that we’ve got a similar lineup. The award-winning 60 Minutes is still the staple of this night, but CBS has done well, I think, in moving shows to Sunday. The Amazing Race, one of the better reality TV competitions on right now, moves to a spot against the Simpsons, but it could have a good effect for them. Cold Case moves back an hour to the 9 o’clock spot and Without a Trace comes from Thursday, which eliminates the T.V. movies or whatever they had to fill the space.

Monday

8-8:30 PM: How I Met Your Mother
8:30-9 PM: The Class
9-9:30 PM: Two and a Half Men
9:30-10 PM: The New Adventures of Old Christine
10-11 PM: C.S.I. Miami

Notes: CBS has developed a niche with its Monday night lineup. This is sitcom night for the network, which doesn’t boast a single sitcom on their lineup besides the ones on Monday night. How I met Your Mother has developed into a sleeper which is improving, largely on the back of good acting from Neil Patrick Harris. The Class will follow, one of only four new shows for CBS, which is a show about a group of friends in their twenties who reunite on their 20th anniversary. Two and a Half Men, one of the best sitcoms on T.V. and Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ vehicle The New Adventures of Old Christine lead into C.S.I. Miami, which retains its 10 PM Monday slot.

Tuesday

8-9 PM: NCIS
9-10 PM: The Unit
10-11 PM: Smith

Notes: Tuesday also stays with the status quo, returning NCIS and the late season addition The Unit. It’s a strong military night with both of those shows, and they’ll lead into a new show Smith that stars Ray Liotta as the leader of a band of thieves who are looking to make the big score or scores that will allow them to live comfortably and retire. In the meanwhile, Liotta is also trying to balance a family life with a wife who believes that he’s working a typical 9-5 job.
Interesting premise, and it continues the trend of big name actors coming to T.V.

Wednesday

8-9 PM: Jericho
9-10 PM: Criminal Minds
10-11 PM: C.S.I. NY

Notes: Interesting to start the night off with a new show followed by two established CBS shows, but it might work for them on this weak night across the board. Jericho is a show about a small Kansas town that witnesses a mushroom cloud from a distance and then loses all ways of communication with the world and power as well. It follows the change in the isolated town as people begin to panic more and more. Criminal Minds, one of the shows that I have personally begun to enjoy, is here and leads into C.S.I. NY and Gary Sinise.

Thursday

8-9 PM: Survivor
9-10 PM: C.S.I.
10-11 PM: Shark

Notes: The top reality show with T’V’ most watched show make a formidable lineup on their own, and with the new series Shark after C.S.I. makes for an explosive night. Survivor returns and is sure to continue to draw some of the highest ratings on television today. C.S.I. has shown no signs of losing touch with its audience and continually gets better every season. And add to that now Shark, a show with James Woods and Jeri Ryan directed by Spike Lee. If nothing else it has the name power to draw some audiences. We’ll have to wait and see whether it can be solid after C.S.I.

Friday

8-9 PM: Ghost Whisperer
9-10 PM: Close to Home
10-11 PM: Numbers

Notes: Friday sees no real big changes. Jennifer Love Hewitt returns to the Friday night lineup with Ghost Whisperer, which was a surprising critic favorite. Her performance as a person who serves as a way for the dead to communicate with the living is actually pretty decent. Close to Home was an interesting show that needs more time, and does get it with its return to the Fall lineup. It’s about a young prosecutor who returns to work after having a child. Numbers rounds out the night, a show which is about a duo of brothers, an F.B.I. agent and a mathematical genius, who work together to solve crimes.

Saturday

8-10 PM: Crimetime Saturday
10-11 PM: 48 Hours Mystery

Notes: Saturday isn’t a strong lineup for anyone, so CBS instead has gone with repeats of their crime shows during the week or a movie to kill the first two hours, and then 48 Hours Mystery, another newsmagazine which isn’t comparible to Dateline, 60 Minutes, or 20/20. You really can’t expect much with this lineup.