CBS’s 2018-2019 Schedule: Thoughts & Predictions

CBS’s 2017-2018 season was decidedly up and down, kicking off with the monster ratings (and solid reception) of Big Bang Theory spinoff Young Sheldon and winding down with the meltdown of its Monday comedy lineup. In between, the network was able to find SWAT in the troubled Thursdays at 10:00 slot, grow Mom thanks to the Sheldon lead-in, and stabilize Bull and MacGyver over the course of the season, while SEAL Team struggled to retain from Survivor, both new Sunday dramas underperformed, and NCIS: Los Angeles didn’t cope well with the push to 9:00. With the network’s comedy slate in flux and a large chunk of its programming skewing less than 20% in the 18-49 demo, CBS has to figure out what their comedy identity is and how to keep itself appealing to the demo without alienating its core 25-54 audience. But what type of moves could help them achieve both of these goals (that we just arbitrarily set)?

That’s what KSiteTV’s Craig Byrne and Shilo Adams will be trying to figure out. For the 62nd year in a row, the two have combed through the Hollywood trades and utilized their years of following TV news to put together a fantasy fall schedule for every network. Meant to be an amalgamation of what we think could, should, and will happen, the schedules are not constructed with any insider information; they’re just a product of two guys who love talking about the TV industry. If you don’t see a show you like mentioned, or a show you like gets mentioned disparagingly, take note that we don’t mean anything by it. We’re just trying to figure these schedules out. And, of course, inevitably we’ll have shows on our schedules that may not already be picked up, and may not even live to see another day. But that’s the fun of this, right?

KSiteTV 2018-2019 Fantasy Schedule Articles: NBC | FOX | ABC | The CW

SUNDAY
SHILO: 7:00 60 Minutes; 8:00 Magnum, P.I.; 9:00 NCIS: Los Angeles; 10:00 Madam Secretary
CRAIG: 7:00 60 Minutes; 8:00 Magnum, P.I.; 9:00 NCIS: Los Angeles; 10:00 Madam Secretary

SHILO: On the one hand, I would understand (and approve of) CBS moving SEAL Team here. The show is incompatible with its Survivor lead-in and skews along the lines of their Sunday lineup, so putting it and its solid L+7 numbers at an earlier hour, with a more compatible lead-in, and in direct path of the football halo would solidify it. Which they need to do if they’re looking at it as a long-term asset. However, CBS hasn’t moved a sophomore drama since The Mentalist and they love launching new dramas Sundays at 8:00, so I think they stand put on Wednesdays and use Sundays at 8:00 on Magnum, P.I. It’s something that should be compatible with NCIS: LA and skew old (and male) enough to take advantage of both 60 Minutes and the straggling NFL viewers. I don’t think it’s going to be huge along the lines of Roseanne or the opening weeks of The X-Files season 10, but in the absence of a Friday slot (which would be its ideal home), Sundays should treat Magnum fairly well. 

CRAIG: I feel like Magnum, P.I., in an ideal world, would be a show that’s comfortable to both the men who are watching football and the women who want to see Magnum; or, heck, the women who are watching football and the men who want to see him. Pretty much the same as the original show. A comfortable brand has worked for CBS in cases like MacGyver and Hawaii Five-0 and I don’t see why we wouldn’t have more of the same here. Sure, there’d be the temptation to relocate MacGyver or something and put it on Friday night, but I think that night is doing just fine. The other two hours remain as is.