CBS Stands Pat

There isn't much to report on CBS's 2012-13 season lineup, which is fine by me, because it means having to spend less time on it and more time on something more important, like the presidential election.  (Perhaps I spoke too soon . . ..) 

Oh, well.  Anyway, CBS is still the most watched broadcast television network in America, and although that's like being the best opera singer in Little Rock, CBS is obviously bullish about its distinction and is comfortable enough with its schedule not to make any big changes to it.  Nineteen shows will be returning.  That's not to say that there aren't any changes.  For one thing, there are four new shows in store: "Elementary," which places Sherlock Holmes in twenty-first century New York, "Vegas," a drama Dennis Quaid and Michael Chiklis and based on a real story of a sheriff and a mobster fighting for control of Las Vegas in the 1960s, "Partners," a sitcom about life-long best friends and business partners with different personalities, and "Made In Jersey," which stars Janet Montgomery as an intelligent first-year lawyer with working-class roots practicing at a prestigious Manhattan law firm.

Wait!  Did I say these were "new" shows?  Because they sound like old ideas.  There already is a contemporary take on Sherlock Holmes, set in London, shown in America on PBS.  "Vegas" may be based on the truth, but the execution (the 1960s?) is based on "Mad Men" - didn't the failed "Mad Men" clones at NBC and ABC teach anyone at CBS anything? "Partners" sounds like "The Odd Couple," and "Made In Jersey," in addition to possibly setting up another opportunity to degrade New Jersey, sounds like merely a TV version of Working Girl, with Janet Montgomery in place of Melanie Griffith.  Wait a minute - Janet Montgomery is a Brit? They couldn't find anyone from New  Jersey to play a Jersey girl?      

(Oh, yeah, one Montgomery is replacing another at CBS.  In addition to "CSI: Miami" and "A Gifted Man," among others, "Unforgettable," a detective drama starring Poppy Montgomery as a crime solver with a perfect memory, has been canceled.  Apparently, people forgot to watch it.)

CBS, having finished another season as the top-rated network and doing so for the ninth time out of the past ten seasons, is obviously in no need to take chances.  So they're sticking with the tried and true.  Alas, as noted, that means a tenth season of "Two And a Half Men," but at least the schedule planners are moving it to 8:30 PM Eastern on Thursdays.  That means it will no longer occupy the 9 PM Eastern slot on Mondays, the slot once filled by the great "M*A*S*H."  However, "2 Broke Girls" will.       

And while "How I Met Your Mother" is returning for an eighth season, I've decided  to retract my prediction that the 2012-13 season will be its last.  I predicted in the spring of 2011, during its sixth season, that "How I Met Your Mother" would have only one more season after that; CBS renewed it for two more.  And the season just ended was the highest-rated season ever.  Predicting when we'll see the series finale answering the question that the show's title poses is like predicting the storyline arc of the series itself.  Because even though Ted was recently shown in one episode holding his baby daughter in a scene three years in the future from 2012, don't be surprised if Carter Bays and Craig Thomas find a way to keep us guessing whom Ted marries into 2015 . . . if CBS offers them and their cast enough money to continue that long. :-D

The full CBS fall 2012 schedule is here.