CBS Adds Five New Series

NEW YORK, May 14: CBS is
bringing 18 shows back in the fall, with five new series coming to the
schedule, and has also announced plans for a Wednesday night comedy block.

Among the shows not making
it back to air are the struggling vampire series Moonlighting and the James Woods legal drama Shark.

"We've been looking
to expand our comedy lineup, and we now have the depth and development to make
the move," Nina Tassler, the president of CBS Entertainment, said in
announcing the new schedule. "Monday is already television's signature
night for comedy and we think we can make the case that CBS is the signature
network for comedy overall."

She continued: "Our
new dramas put a character twist on the highly successful procedural form with
two exciting new leads in Simon Baker and Rufus Sewell. And, rounding out the
new slate is a very unique series with a dynamic young actress (Elizabeth
Reaser, Grey's Anatomy) that
blends comedy, drama and romance in a concept that will have everybody thinking
about their personal 'ex list.'"

On Mondays, three
established, successful comedies—The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men—lead into a new sitcom at 9:30 p.m.: Worst
Week. CSI: Miami remains in the 10 p.m. slot in its seventh season.

NCIS opens Tuesdays, which will be home to a new drama,
The Mentalist, at 9 p.m. It
stars Simon Baker as a former celebrity psychic-turned-detective who uses his
skills of observation and expertise at "reading" people to solve
crimes. The long-running Without a Trace relocates to Tuesdays at 10 p.m.

CBS has added a one-hour
comedy block on Wednesday with The New Adventures of Old Christine leading into the new show Project Gary, in which Jay Mohr and Paula Marshall star as
dueling ex-spouses and parents trying to move forward with new relationships. Criminal
Minds and CSI: NY return to round out the night with two hours of
crime drama.

Thursdays will continue to
kick off with Survivor,
followed by the perennially popular CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, leading up to the new 10 p.m. series Eleventh
Hour. It is a new drama from Jerry
Bruckheimer about a special advisor to the government who investigates
scientific crises and oddities.

Ghost Whisperer is back in the Friday 8 p.m. slot, serving as the
lead-in to another female-skewing show, the new drama The Ex List, in which a 30-something woman searches her past
relationships to find her future husband. Capping off the prime-time lineup is
the returning Numb3rs.

The two-hour Crimetime block of crime drama repeats returns to Saturdays
at 8 p.m., followed by 48 Hours Mystery.

On Sundays, The Amazing
Race is back in the 8 p.m. slot,
and Cold Case is back at 9 p.m.
The Unit, previously broadcast
on Tuesdays, moves to Sundays at 10 p.m.

In addition to the new series
for fall, the network has picked up two midseason replacements: the new drama Harper's
Island, a murder mystery that
unfolds during week-long festivities at a destination wedding on a secluded
island; and the comedy Rules of Engagement.

—By Mansha Daswani