CBS unveils 2013-2014 schedule with a new slate of comedies, dramas
CBS introduced its prime-time 2013-2014 schedule on Wednesday, featuring eight new series -- five comedies and three dramas. Five of the new series will premiere in the fall and three at mid-season.
Some big names are on the slate, including Robin Williams, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Will Arnett, Brooklyn Decker, Anna Faris, Allison Janney and Tony Shalhoub.
"Our team has 20 shows renewed...Having this sort of stability makes us really excited," Leslie Moonves, CBS president and CEO, said Wednesday during a morning conference call. "All I can tell you is the network is alive and healthy," he added before the TV slate was announced.
CBS noted that comedy is a "priority for us," as well as offering "more originals, fewer repeats." A total of 20 shows will return to the CBS schedule, including the No. 1-rated "The Big Bang Theory," "Mike & Molly" and "2 Broke Girls." "How I Met Your Mother" will return for a final season, with viewers finally getting to meet and know the mother.
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- "2 Broke Girls": Jonathan Kite on finale, season 3
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Other returning shows include "NCIS: Los Angeles," "Criminal Minds," "Person of Interest," "Survivor", "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Two and a Half Men," "The Amazing Race," "Undercover Boss," "Hawaii Five-O," "Blue Bloods," "Person of Interest," "The Good Wife," "The Mentalist" and "48 Hours."
Tuesdays will be dedicated to drama with "NCIS," "NCIS: Los Angeles" and "Person of Interest." Thursdays, meanwhile, will feature a two-hour comedy block from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET.
New Comedies
"The Crazy Ones" is a single-camera comedy, starring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar. This workplace series follows "a larger-than-life advertising genius whose unorthodox methods and unpredictable behavior would get him fired...if he weren't the boss." Simon Roberts (Williams) leads a powerful agency, alongside his daughter Sydney (Sarah Michelle Gellar).
"The Millers" is a multi-generational show, starring Will Arnett, Margo Martindale, Beau Bridges and JB Smoove. Arnett portrays Nathan Miller, a recently divorced news reporter looking forward to living the singles' life until his parents' marital problems unexpectedly derail his plans.
"Mom" is an edgy family comedy from executive producer Chuck Lorre, starring Anna Faris and Allison Janney. Faris plays a newly sober single mother raising two children. It follows her ups and downs as she tries to navigate it all. Christy (Faris) is a waitress at a posh Napa Valley establishment who is four months clean and doing her best to be a good mom and overcome a history of questionable choices. Janney plays her critical, estranged mother.
"We Are Men" is an ensemble single-camera comedy starring Tony Shalhoub, Kal Penn, Chris Smith and Jerry O'Connell. Debuting on Monday nights, this series will follow four newly single men, living in a short-term housing complex, who are trying to figure out life and love.
The romantic comedy, "Friends with Better Lives," is schedules to launch mid-season. It centers on six friends at different stages in their lives - ranging from divorced to single. Though they seem happy, each of them secretly questions if the grass is greener on the other side. It stars Majandra Delfino, Kevin Connolly, James Van Der Beek, Brooklyn Decker, Rick Donald and Zoe Lister Jones.
New Dramas
CBS will introduce two new dramas scheduled for Mondays at 10:00 p.m ET; one to launch in the fall, the other to debut in early 2014. The first -- "Hostages" -- will kick off in the fall. The 15-episode, highly-serialized thriller series from Jerry Bruckheimer stars Toni Collette, Dylan McDermott and Tate Donovan. It follows a doctor, played by Collete, who is taken hostage on the night before she's supposed to operate on president of the United States.
After the season finale of "Hostages" in January, CBS will put "Intelligence" in that same time slot. Another high-action drama, "Intelligence" sees the return of Josh Holloway of "Lost" fame. It also stars Marg Helgenberger and Meghan Ory. Holloway plays Gabriel, a high-tech intelligence operative enhanced with a super-computer microchip in his brain. He's the first human ever to be connected directly into the worldwide information grid -- with access to Internet, WiFi, telephone and satellite data.
Midseason will see the premiere of the new legal drama, "Reckless. It's set in Charleston, S.C., "where a gorgeous Yankee litigator and a charming Southern attorney must hide their intense mutual attraction as a police sex scandal threatens to tear the city apart."
Mondays
8 p.m. "How I Met Your Mother"
8:30 p.m. "We Are Men"
9 p.m. "2 Broke Girls"
9:30 p.m. "Mom"
10 p.m. Hostages (15 episodes into January) /"Intelligence" (start of 2014)
Tuesdays
8 p.m. "NCIS"
9 p.m. "NCIS: Los Angeles"
10 p.m. "Person of Interest"
Wednesdays
8 p.m. "Survivor"
9 p.m. "Criminal Minds"
10 p.m. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"
Thursdays
8 p.m. "The Big Bang Theory"
8:30 p.m. "The Millers"
9 p.m. "The Crazy Ones"
9:30 p.m. "Two and a Half Men"
10 p.m. "Elementary"
Fridays
8 p.m. "Undercover Boss"
9 p.m. "Hawaii Five-O"
10 p.m. "Blue Bloods"
Saturdays
8 p.m. Comedytime Saturday
9 p.m. Crimetime Saturday
10 p.m. "48 Hours"
Sundays
8 p.m. "The Amazing Race"
9 p.m. "The Good Wife"
10 p.m. "The Mentalist" with "Mike & Molly" coming back midseason.
Tell us: What do you think about the upcoming CBS lineup?
