Most Surprising (Possible) Renewal: I think we’ve seen the last of Happy Together. The series came into the fall bolstering one of the most in-demand pilot gets in Damon Wayans Jr. and while its performance wasn’t embarrassing, it was far from inspiring, especially on a network that doesn’t have the guns to expand their comedy hours. Getting capped at 13 episodes in favor of a show that your network doesn’t particularly like ( in this case, Man with a Plan) definitely sends a message that they’re not interested in seeing more from you.
Show That Likely Won’t Be Renewed But Should Be: There’s been some rumors that SWAT could be on the chopping block on account of not being owned by CBS. It would be a shame to see the show lose its slot, as the show opened the season down almost 40% year to year but has clawed its way back to being down 18%. It’s a show that adds representation to a network that’s trying to improve and clearly has a good ceiling since it almost nabbed a 1.0 in January after opening at an unrounded 0.7, as well as giving them another show capable of winning its hour. Hopefully Sony and CBS can work out an arrangement that’s advantageous to both sides.
Possible Scheduling Disaster: It’d be a disaster if both God Friended Me and Magnum PI stayed in their respective slots. Magnum has looked a little less bad in recent months and has decent non-linear ratings, but it’s far from the anchor they need on Mondays and could benefit from proximity to football on Sundays or a push to 10:00 if they’re looking to move Bull. God Friended Me looked a lot worse in the second half of its season and feels like it’d be a waste of the football lead-in, but CBS seems to love it and having it sandwiched between crime dramas would be strange.
Possible Biggest Surprise: I would be surprised if all three of MacGyver, Hawaii Five-0, and Blue Bloods were on the fall schedule but not on the same night. The three have been synonymous for the past three seasons and have shown enough compatibility that moving earlier in the week could do more harm than good. There’s a world where perennial bubble resident MacGyver doesn’t make it to next season or Hawaii Five-0 becomes the latest shock cancellation, but if all three make it to next season like I think they will, they’ll be together.
Safest Bet: Young Sheldon will launch a new comedy. CBS is in a position where they have to replenish their comedy slate and utilizing what likely could be the top-rated comedy on television next season makes sense. It’ll be interesting to see just how much compatible the series is with something new, though, and how much Big Bang’s absence will impact not only its ratings but buzz level.
Project I’m Rooting For: The Republic of Sarah is something refreshingly off-brand for CBS, which has only went outside its syndication-friendly procedural comfort zone sparingly in recent years. The series is said to be Northern Exposure-y, which is something that broadcast hasn’t really tried to emulate, while I’d be curious to see the show with enough space to explore its strange premise. Buzz has been nonexistent, at least publicly, so you have to wonder if it might be too off-brand for CBS to try.
The One That Will [Probably] Get Away: I haven’t read the script or anything, but I’m curious about The Unicorn, which was developed as a single cam before becoming a multi-cam. Aside from that bit of structural weirdness, something I’d like to see play out, it’s a show with a weighty enough premise to be like the male version of Mom. Though CBS exploring more substantive content like this would be ideal, and might even be possible considering this is their most adventurous development class in a while, I’m not sure if this is the right year for it to be ordered.
What CBS Needs: CBS needs to find new ways to keep its brand fresh. They’re actually kind of doing that this year with how far they’re pushing themselves in development, but let’s hope that whatever new and exciting shows they pick up are scheduled accordingly and given the chance to reinvent the network from the inside out.
