CRAIG: How will CBS’ new Thursday lineup work once football is over?
SHILO: On paper, the lineup looks like it’ll be an improvement over last season. The first hour could end up being down due to The Big Bang Theory aging and moving to Mondays for a while, as well as The Millers being highly dependent on the Chuck Lorre comedy, but the second hour should be a great step forward. Two and a Half Men’s final season will likely give it at least some boost, especially now that it’s airing at 9:00 vs. 9:30, while The McCarthys looks like a much more compatible partner for Men than The Crazy Ones turned out to be. Plus, with Scandal out of the way at 10:00, Elementary might be able to make some forward progress and round out the night in a way that it wasn’t able to last season.
But Thursday Night Football won’t be a powerhouse in the way that Sunday Night Football is and holding an entire night for that length of time runs the risk of allowing audience to set their viewing patterns before you premiere. If people get used to not watching CBS on Thursdays anymore, it might be difficult to lure them back into the fold; Big Bang and Men should be fine regardless, but the delay could hurt The Millers, exceptionally weak in the second half of last season, and keep The McCarthys from being properly sampled. CBS is essentially allowing ABC, FOX, NBC, and The CW the chance to hone their Thursday lineups and there’s the possibility that that decision will come back to bite them.
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