CBS Announces the 2009-10 Television Lineup
I can remember a time when CBS featured stars such as Dick Van Dyke and Angela Lansbury to cater to a more "mature" audience. My grandmother loved those shows and anxiously awaited the next new episode each week. In 2000, a series that ABC had rejected saw the light of day on CBS and everything changed, including the demographic. That little series was CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
Once the 18-49 demographic flocked to CBS and made it the number one network, it was rare when a new series didn't perform well.
Nine years later, CBS now has a core set of drama series that never seem to show signs of age from year to year. What's their secret? CBS doesn't play musical time slots with the majority of their series. Once a CBS show finds a home, it stays there and viewers know exactly what day and time their favorite show is on each week.
The one exception to that rule this coming season is the decision to move The Mentalist into the powerful Thursday (10pm) time slot vacated by Without a Trace.
In a surprising move that is sure to delight many fans, CBS has taken over the former NBC series Medium and will air it on Friday nights after Ghost Whisperer. Two fabulous women who can talk to dead people - does it get any better than that on Friday nights?!
Canceled Dramas:Eleventh Hour, The Unit, and Without a Trace.
Yet to be Determined:Flashpoint
New Dramas Coming to CBS
NCIS: Los Angeles
This series centers around the hazardous world of undercover surveillance at the Office of Special Projects (OSP), a division of NCIS.
Armed with the latest high tech gadgets, a group of highly trained operatives will go deep undercover in order to capture the nation's most dangerous criminals.
Cast: Chris O'Donnell as Agent "G" Callen, LL COOL J as Special Agent Sam Hanna, Louise Lombard as Special Agent Lara Macy, Daniela Ruah as Special Agent Kensi Lo, and Peter Cambor as Operational Psychologist Nate Getz.
The Good Wife
After being publicly humiliated by her husband's sexual and political scandal, Alicia Florrick tries to pick up the pieces of her shattered life by returning to her former career as a defense attorney. She lands a position as a junior associate at a prestigious Chicago law firm, but soon learns that she will have to battle with other 20-something recruits to land the one and only full-time associate position.
Cast: Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick, Chris Noth as Peter Florrick, Josh Charles as Will Gardner, Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart, Matt Czuchry as Cary, Archie Panjabi as Kalinda, Graham Phillips as Zach Florrick and Makenzie Vega as Grace Florrick.
Three Rivers
This medical drama delves into the emotionally charged lives of an organ transplant team at the preeminent transplant hospital. Each surgeon has their own complex personal and professional set of issues, but they never fail to put their patient's well being ahead of their own as they work together to play god, no matter what the cost.
Cast: Alex O'Loughlin as Dr. Andy Yablonski, Katherine Moennig as Dr. Miranda Foster, Daniel Henney as Dr. David Lee, Christopher J. Hanke as Ryan Abbott, Julia Ormond as Dr. Sophia Jordan, and Justina Machado as Pam Acosta.
**CBS Fall Programming Schedule At a Glace**
(new shows in bold)
SUNDAY
8:00 The Amazing Race
9:00 Three Rivers
10:00 Cold Case
MONDAY
8:00 How I Met Your Mother
8:30 Accidentally on Purpose
9:00 Two and a Half Men
9:30 The Big Bang Theory
10:00 CSI: Miami
TUESDAY
8:00 NCIS
9:00 NCIS: Los Angeles
10:00 The Good Wife
WEDNESDAY
8:00 The New Adventures of Old Christine
8:30 Gary Unmarried
9:00 Criminal Minds
10:00 CSI: NY
THURSDAY
8:00 Survivor
9:00 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
10:00 The Mentalist
FRIDAY
8:00 Ghost Whisperer
9:00 Medium
10:00 Numb3rs
More Fall TV 2009-10 Resources