As CBS gears up to celebrate its fifteenth consecutive year as America’s most-watched primetime network, the state of affairs may seem like all upside. But as a tentative new fall 2023 lineup reveals, anything is subject to change, especially as the ongoing writers’ strike threatens to disrupt production on a myriad of shows.
Announced today under the watchful eye of CBS’ new entertainment president Amy Reisenbach, the planned fall 2023 schedule doesn’t do all that much deviating. Reality juggernauts Survivor and The Amazing Race will remain a network centerpiece with expanded 90-minute episodes and full command of Wednesday nights (the longer episode runtimes eliminate any need for a third hour of primetime programming).
However, plenty of CBS’ proposed scripted programs—including two new dramas, a Kathy Bates-led reboot of the classic procedural Matlock and The Good Wife spinoff Elsbeth— completely depend on how the strike plays out. If the Guild continues its collective action through the summer, none of the scheduled scripted series will be ready in time for a September premiere. Per Deadline, CBS is currently in the process of formulating a back-up plan relying on more reality TV programming and some “targeted repeats.”
Beyond 2023, CBS has also slated two new scripted series. Tracker, which stars Justin Hartley as a “lone-wolf survivalist” named Colter Shaw, is set to debut in the precious post-Super Bowl time slow on Sunday, February 11, 2024, and Poppa’s House, a new comedy starring Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. as father and adult son, is scheduled for a midseason premiere (there’s no official word yet on a time slot). Like Matlock, Elsbeth, and other returning scripted series, Poppa’s House and Tracker’s respected premieres now depend on the status of the strike, which in its second week is showing no signs of dissipating anytime soon.
See CBS’ full proposed fall schedule below:
MONDAY
8-8:30 pm — The Neighborhood
8:30-9 pm — Bob Hearts Abishola
9-10 pm — NCIS
10-11 pm — NCIS: Hawai’i
TUESDAY
8-9 pm — FBI
9-10 pm — FBI: International
10-11 pm — FBI Most Wanted
WEDNESDAY
8-9:30 pm — Survivor
9:30-11 pm — The Amazing Race
THURSDAY
8-8:30 pm — Young Sheldon
8:30-9 pm — Ghosts
9-10 pm — So Help Me Todd
10-11 pm — Elsbeth
FRIDAY
8-9 pm — S.W.A.T.
9-10 pm — Fire Country
10-11 pm — Blue Bloods
SATURDAY
8-10 pm — CBS Encores
10-11 pm — 48 Hours
SUNDAY
7-8 pm — 60 Minutes
8-9 pm — Matlock
9-10 pm — The Equalizer
10-11 pm — CSI: Vegas
