The WIT Analysis: CBS

Chuck Lorre’s new comedy Bob (Hearts) Abishola was the most viewed trailer out of CBS’s new fall pickups following last week’s Upfront presentation, according to The WIT.

CBS’s social media engagement levels around the new shows is lower than the other networks, with Bob (Hearts) Abishola scoring just 872,000 trailer views (last year, the most-viewed CBS trailer was Murphy Brown with just under 4 million views; that reboot was canned after one season). Of note, says The WIT’s Geise Fiscina, none of the shows announced at the CBS upfront have official social media accounts and none generated buzz on Twitter. “There were only 314 tweets about Bob (Hearts) Abishola over the six days following the upfronts,” Fiscina says.

Slated for Mondays after The Neighborhood, the new sitcom follows a middle-aged compression sock businessman from Detroit who unexpectedly falls for his cardiac nurse, a Nigerian immigrant. The audience was divided, Fiscina says. “Some criticized the lack of chemistry between the leads, the cringey attempt at cross-cultural humor, and Bob’s creepy stalker attitude shown on the trailer. On Facebook, though, the trailer received the seal of approval from the Nigerian community in the diaspora, who also applauded Nigeria-born actress Folake Olowofoyeku on her first big role in the U.S. Many were also intrigued by the premise, which they described as being funny, light, quirky and cute.”

The midseason replacement Broke had about 140,000 trailer views and 824 tweets as of May 21. The format-based show (adapted from Colombia’s Pobres Rico) counts Jane the Virgin‘s Jennie Snyder Urman, Ben Silverman and Jaime Camil among its exec producers. “The few comments on social media revolved essentially around its main actors, Pauley Perrette (in her first regular role since leaving CBS hit series NCIS last Spring) and Mexican superstar Jaime Camil (Jane the Virgin),” says Fiscina. “But even their fanbase has very little faith that the show will be picked up for a second season… Only a few users are willing to give the sitcom a shot, even if they found the premise a bit similar to CBS’s already-axed sitcom 2 Broke Girls.”

Just behind Broke is the fall supernatural drama Evil, set for Thursday nights, from Michelle and Robert King with a cast that includes Katja Herbers (Westworld), Mike Colter (Luke Cage) and Michael Emerson (Person of Interest). There were just under 126,000 views of the trailer. “People have many different feelings after watching the trailer, starting with the common shared idea that the show is doomed for an early cancellation,” Fiscina observes. “A few users didn’t approve the religion-themed plot and were not keen on watching graphic scenes in prime time. On the other hand, some found it interesting enough to give it a try, with a science vs religion combo concept that reminded them of other supernatural shows such as The X-Files, Supernatural and The Exorcist. The social media crowd also declared positive feelings about the cast and was excited ‘to see Luke Cage fighting the supernatural.’ The Kings’ credentials add another point of interest.”

Visit WorldScreen.com’s Fall Season Grid for all the details on the new and returning shows on the U.S. broadcast networks, and a listing of pickups by studio.