CBS Unveils New Shows, Scheduling Changes

NEW YORK: CBS has ordered just five new series for the fall—including J.J. Abrams’ Person of Interest—issuing renewals to 19 shows for a 2011-2012 grid that includes scheduling changes for the hits CSI and The Good Wife.

The Monday comedy block from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. will feature the renewed How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men and Mike & Molly with the new offering 2 Broke Girls, in place of the canceled $#*! My Dad Says.  The show, from Michael Patrick King (Sex and the City) and Whitney Cummings (Chelsea Lately) is about two young women waitressing at a diner who strike up an unlikely friendship in the hopes of launching a successful business. Hawaii Five-0 returns to 10 p.m. for its second season.

The Tuesday night pairing of the hits NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles remains intact, leading into Unforgettable. The procedural stars Poppy Montgomery as a former police detective who, as a result of a rare condition, can’t forget anything—except for the details that would help solve her sister’s long-ago murder.

Survivor heads to the South Pacific for its new season on Wednesdays at 8 p.m., leading into Criminal Minds at 9 p.m. At 10 p.m., the slot vacated by the axed Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour will be filled by the relocated CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

On Thursday, The Big Big Theory is being paired with the new comedy How to be a Gentleman. Inspired by the book of the same name, the comedy follows the unlikely friendship between a traditional, refined writer and an unrefined personal trainer. The comedy hour leads into Persons of Interest, a crime thriller from J.J. Abrams starring Jim Caviezel, Michael Emerson and Taraji P. Henson. It focuses on a presumed dead former-CIA agent who teams up with a mysterious billionaire to prevent violent crimes by using their own brand of vigilante justice. The Mentalist returns to fill the 10 p.m. slot.

On Friday nights, The Defenders has been dropped. At 8 p.m. CBS will introduce A Gifted Man, with Patrick Wilson as a brilliant, charismatic surgeon whose life changes forever when his deceased ex-wife begins teaching him the meaning of life from the "hereafter." CSI: NY is back for a new season at 9 p.m., and Blue Bloods has been renewed for a second season.

CBS has scheduled the comedy Rules of Engagement at 8 p.m. on Saturday night, to be followed by an encore comedy, then an encore crime drama, leading into 48 Hours Mystery at 10 p.m. On Sunday nights, The Amazing Race will continue to air at 8 p.m., with The Good Wife now filling the 9 p.m. slot, ahead of CSI: Miami at 10 p.m.

Midseason orders are in for season three of Undercover Boss and a new police drama, The 2-2, from exec producers Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal. It follows six diverse NYPD rookies as they patrol the gritty streets of upper Manhattan.