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Fall 2004-2005 CBS TV Network Programming Schedule

 Descriptions and Analysis

New Series in blue.

Click on underlined titles for information.

Here's the link to CBS' Official 2004-2005 Fall Preview Page.

CBS New Series

Center of the Universe:  There's nothing new about a family comedy, but there is something appealing and to-be-anticipated (rather than dreaded) about this new sitcom.  It's got a cast that can't be beat -- John Goodman (Roseanne, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?), Jean Smart (Designing Women, Bringing Down The House, and do you remember her darn good Aileen Wuornos in the 1992 TV movie Overkill?), Ed Asner (MTM, Lou Grant), Olympia Dukakis (Tales of the City, Steel Magnolias), and Diedrich Bader (Drew Carey, Office Space) -- and even if we've seen it all before, not with this group.  Should be a robust lead-in for Gary Sinise and his new series.  Premiere Date:  9/22/04.  Review 11/9:  Pure sitcom all the way, but you've got to give this one points for the can't miss cast who bring as much verve to the you-can-see-them-coming-a-mile-away jokes and situations as anybody could.  If you don't like sitcoms, this won't change your mind, but at least these folks can deliver a line and bring a comfortable polish to the antics.  Extra kudos to the wry Bader who should be a bigger star by now -- he's always charming and amusing.      

Clubhouse:  Somebody was feeling mighty sentimental about America's favorite sport when they commissioned this series, the tale of a 16 year old boy who becomes a batboy for a major baseball team.  Jeremy Sumpter (Frailty, Peter Pan) stars as young Pete, or rather, Pete Young, with Kirsten Storms (Days of Our Lives, Kim Possible, 7th Heaven) as his tempermental older sister and the talented Mare Winningham (ER, last season's The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire) as his mother.   Dean Cain (Lois & Clark, Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story) is the charismatic star player who becomes like a brother to him; Christopher Lloyd (Taxi, Back to the Future) a team manager who fills the role of father figure.  Pete's also got a bunch of backstabbing fellow batboys to contend with, so it's no mere walk in the ballpark for this teenager.  This series is for everybody who loved Field of Dreams, and maybe there's even something here for those of us who didn't.  Premiere Date:  9/28/04; preview 9/26/04.  Update 11/9/04:  Clubhouse has been cancelled, effective immediately.  Despite trying the show out on Saturdays in addition to its regular Tuesday slot, this thoughtful coming-of-age show never found its audience.  Unfortunate, since CBS has been able to turn Joan of Arcadia into a critically-acclaimed hit, no small feat in these times where only reality and forensic dramas seem to hit the mark. 

Cold Case: Is there any way this show isn't going to work?  From the same production line that created the CSI shows and Without a Trace, this is their latest model, wherein Philadelphia detectives go to work on old cases, the titular cold cases, that nobody's been able to crack...yet.  Canadian TV has their own smash drama series with this same premise called Cold Squad (which premiered in 1998, and unfortunately nobody's running it here in the U.S.), and Britain has its Waking the Dead (started in 2000), which luckily is available here on BBC America and is well worth checking out.  As for Cold Case, with a largely unknown cast -- except for Kathryn Morris (Minority Report) and former Calvin Klein model Justin Chambers -- the technique is the thing here and this appears to be procedural television stripped down to its essence.  Although it will have direct police show competition in ABC's 10-8, the 60 Minutes lead-in is perfect for Cold Case, plus CC will look great promoted inside the rest of the CBS line-up, especially its sister shows.  Premiere date:  9/28.  Update 8/20:  Some slight negative buzz on this after an evidently less-than-impressive session at the Critics Tour.  Update 8/25:  Actor Danny Pino (Desi in Lucy TVM, guest shots on The Shield) will join the series in the 6th episode as the detective partner of Lily Rush (Morris).  Will he add the needed spice to kick this show up a notch?  Review 10/3/03:  As expected, Cold Case performed well in its premiere week, thanks to a great lead-in but primarily by delivering on its crime-solving promise.  Despite qualms (after Critics Tour reports of cast ennui during the show session there; check out the interviews on the CBS website you can see that Ms. Morris' strength doesn't seem to be PR babbling) Kathryn Morris brought some nice wry touches to her role as a detective who's reluctantly thrown into cold case territory.  You could almost watch her get her sea legs during the pilot, easing out of a tough gal cop cliche interpretation to showing signs that she might indeed have what it takes to turn this woman into something special.  Bringing the old crimes to life through flashbacks works well, and especially so when the detectives meet the suspects for the first time; in that very brief instant the contemporary faces meld with their historical file images, and the effect is intriguing.  There's the requisite police workplace full of  assorted grumblers, hot dogs and a father figure -- you know, the kind where the lead character can go up and take the coffee cup right out of his hand, drink, and hand it back to him, without asking (do people really do that?).  Of course you've seen it all before, but thanks to the Philadelphia setting and a slightly weary wash over the whole thing, Cold Case turns it all into something watchable.  Producers Bruckheimer et al are still new enough at this crime show franchise-creating game that their shows don't yet seem to be completely created by cookie cutter, as do Dick Wolf's, and I'd put Cold Case's pilot down as evidence that maybe they're going to let this series develop its own rhythm.  I could watch this again.  Once in a while a show actually deserves the ratings it inherits from a lead-in; Cold Case is a great example.  Update 10/17/03:  Although a full season order hasn't come down yet, CBS has requested more scripts of Cold Case.  Update 10/28/03:  Cold Case has received its full season pick-up.  Update 5/20/04:  Cold Case will be back in its same time period for another season.

CSI: New York:  The CSI franchise spins off yet again, this time to the Big Apple, the last CSI: Miami episode this year introducing the new cast, and it's a good one.  The intense and generally no B.S. actor Gary Sinise (Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Truman, The Stand) gets top billing here, with series TV veteran Melina Kanakaredes (Providence) by his side.  Carmine Giovinazzo (Blackhawk Down), Hill Harper (The Skulls, Soul Food), and Vanessa Ferlito (24, CSI: Miami) round out the regular cast.  CBS is feeling pretty good about this one -- they're throwing it right into the ring opposite the original Law & Order, which will be losing Jerry Orbach and gaining Dennis Farina (and that doesn't seem like a tit for tat substitution to me).  I smell vulnerability here.  Heaven knows nothing is going to fatally smite L&O's dominance, but the original may be getting a little frayed around the edges (popular opinion seems to be that it's been eclipsed by its spin-offs) and if anybody should be worth watching this season, Gary Sinise is it.  The other two CSIs have been gigantic hits and made huge stars of their lead actors, and nobody deserves a piece of that more than Sinise, who's a better actor than either of them.  God, I hate CSI and I might even have to watch!  Premiere Date:  9/22/04.  

dr.vegas:  Last season wasn't kind to either of the stars of this new series; Rob Lowe's highly-anticipated post-West Wing return in The barely made it out of the gate on NBC, and Joe Pantoliano's The Handler looked good for a few weeks on CBS but ultimately kicked the bucket.  Perhaps Lowe's babyface good looks as the doc and Joey Pants' street smarts as the casino boss will be the winning combination in this Las Vegas -- which obviously is cool again, so sayeth TV -- (nominally) medical drama that probably will feature more glitz than gastroenterology.  Two beautiful young ladies round out the cast, Amy Adams (Catch Me If You Can) as his nurse, and Sarah Lancaster (Everwood) as a luscious but hard-working blackjack dealer.  NBC's successful Las Vegas has gotten together the right glam mix; is there enough of that to go around and make dr. vegas a hit?  Unfortunately it's slated to go against the other new medical drama this season, the less fabulous Medical Investigation; it'll come down to how the audience wants to take its medicine Friday nights at 10pm -- with a little sugar n' sequins or not.  Premiere Date:  9/24/04.  Update 11/9/04:  dr. vegas has crapped out, the Lowe/Pantoliano combination not catching on with viewers.  This is the second losing show for both lead actors after their flops from last season.       

Joan of Arcadia:  Producer Barbara Hall (Judging Amy, Chicago Hope, Northern Exposure) brings this unusual family drama to a Friday 8pm time period that's unusually crowded with new entries.  Boasting some impressive acting talent -- Joe Mantegna, Mary Steenburgen -- and a novel premise -- God regularly converses with their teenage daughter -- JoA might be poised to move into the soft spot that many viewers felt for the recently departed Touched By An Angel.  Amber Tamblyn (General Hospital), daughter of famed '50s musical dancing star Russ Tamblyn, plays the girl with the direct line upstairs; in the show she has two brothers, one of whom has been disabled in a car accident.  It's quite a family stew, and although this is a definitely offbeat concept I'd bet on it having a chance.  Audiences have shown that they like a touch of the spiritual -- so long as its not too supernatural -- and JoA appears to be grounded in a way that will appeal to viewers looking for something with uplifting values, yet with touches of humor that will keep it from becoming too heavy.  Scheduled in competition with new shows on all the networks except UPN, and some of them with good buzz going in (like Miss/Match), the hand of the almighty could come in mighty handy around here.  Premiere date:  9/26.  Review 10/6/03:  CBS has rejuvenated Friday with their winning line-up, starting off the night with the successful and satisfying Joan of Arcadia, a teen drama -- or in this case, a drama with teens -- that somehow manages not to drive off those of us who neither are teenagers nor are raising them.  What's most impressive is that producer Barbara Hall has managed to infuse the family drama, a genre that's already plenty effectively represented on TV these days -- Seventh Heaven, Everwood et al -- with an angle that gives it entree to viewers who might not ordinarily be attracted to the form.  I count myself among the later, but I've been won over by both the sort of appealing, sort of unsettling premise and the terrific performances of the entire cast, particularly Amber Tamblyn who is quite wonderful in the title role.  Tamblyn's down-to-earth good girl good looks make you realize that every teen girl's not a she-vixen out of the movie Thirteen, and she has a nice light touch with her dialogue that manages to keep her away from any kind of Buffy-esque patois which could get annoying.  Jason Ritter, the late John Ritter's son, does a good job with his role as the newly-disabled teen son; it will be interesting to see him coming further to grips with his limitations as the season progresses.  He's got a nice bitter edge that's probably as much a cliche as a saintly portrayal might be, but it feels more authentic, at least.  I really like the super-smart youngest son, cursed by nothing but his own prodigious intellect and having enough wit to know it.  Mary Steenburgen and Joe Mantegna as mother and father are also working hard at the parent thing, and  viewing the unfolding of their relationship with their touched-by-a-deity daughter will be worth waiting for.  Except for a little too much reliance on acoustic guitar music with soulful lyrics to signal teen angst (but of course that's not unique to this show), Joan of Arcadia expertly manages to weave a comfortable blanket of otherworldly mystery, 21st Century real-world issues including crime (courtesy of the dad's police chief job), teenage insecurity, parental pressure and a whole lot in-between.  Comfortable, yes, but with enough snags and problems to satisfy even the most cynical among us.  Family drama it may be, but it's also just plain good drama.  Update 10/17/03:  Reflecting Joan's somewhat unexpected strength against all competition, a full season pickup is expected shortly; so far CBS has at least ordered more scripts.  Update 10/28/03:  Not surprisingly, Joan has been picked-up for a full season by CBS.  This show is one of their most gratifying successes, ratings-wise and critically.  Update 5/04:  Joan will stay in its current slot for its second season.  Update 7/05:  Joan has been cancelled and will not be back for a third season, belying CBS' former gung-ho support of the show and without any time period changes or other let's-try-to-save-this-show strategies.  While popular opinion seems to be that the show's second year wasn't quite up to the heights of its gratifying first season, Joan was far from played out and pretty much the only uplifting drama on the CBS schedule.  CBS abandoned the show and its fans, and it's a mistake.  

Listen Up:  Jason Alexander tries again, this time in a sitcom based on the real life exploits of sportswriter/radio & TV personality Tony Kornheiser.  Alexander's got a wife -- to be cast, pilot actress didn't make the cut -- a golf pro son played by Will Rothhaar (Jag), and a soccer-crazed daughter, Daniella Monet (8 Simple Rules, American Dreams).  Malcolm-Jamal Warner (The Cosby Show, Jeremiah) is on tap as Jason/Tony's on-air sidekick, a quick-witted former pro footballer.  CBS is tucking this one next to Raymond on Monday night, but unfortunately on the front end not the back.  The network seems to have a good handle on what the audience wants in their Monday night comedy line-up; perhaps Listen Up will break the Seinfeld curse for Alexander.  Premiere Date:  9/20/04.    

Navy CIS (NCIS):  The solid and successful Jag has finally spawned, and if people get the initials of this new show confused with that other top-rated franchise, hey, who's complaining?  Sliding into Jag's timeslot and hopefully inheriting its loyal audience, NCIS' focus is on the investigation of Navy crimes, which then presumably Jag, in its new Friday at 9pm berth, will sometimes handle in the courtroom.  Mark Harmon -- longtime TV favorite (The West Wing) who made a guest appearance on Jag in April to introduce his character -- stars, along with the legendary and uniformly superb David McCallum, who will always be Illya Kuriakin to those of us of a certain age.  Michael Weatherly from the cult series Dark Angel also stars.  Jag, which has been the quiet little engine that could for the past eight seasons, may be one of those shows you've never watched, but rest assured that plenty of folks do, and they'll be thrilled to have a spin-off in the offing.   Update 7/1/03:  Official show title now seems to be NCIS.  Update:  Title is officially Navy NCIS.  Premiere date:  9/26.  Update 10/28/03:  The show has gotten a full season pick-up from CBS.

Two and a Half Men:  Charlie Sheen is one lucky guy; CBS has handed his new show the best time slot on the entire schedule.  Unless the thing is a steaming pile of dung (and maybe even if it is), this is a sure thing if ever there was one.  Nestled in tight between Mr. Romano's personal 40 million dollar bonanza Everybody Loves Raymond and David "The Comeback Kid" Caruso's CSI: Miami, Sheen's new family comedy appears sure to please everybody from audiences to the more-important advertisers.  Charlie (Sheen), a hotshot commercial writer living in a Malibu Beach dreamhouse, has his life turned upside down -- novel idea, that -- by the arrival of his nearly-divorced younger brother and his 10-year-old son.  In addition to Sheen, who's proven his comedy chops on Spin City and in many movies during his shockingly prolific career, the cast features Jon Cryer (quasi-Brat Packer, veteran of several well-reviewed but unwatched sitcoms over the past decade or so) and the always welcome Blythe Danner, who's as good in comedy as she is in straight drama.  After her short-lived experience in Presidio Med last year, it's about time this terrific actress gets a chance to stick around awhile.   Update 7/8/03:  Bye bye Blythe, hello Holland Taylor!  Ms. Danner has been replaced in the role of Charlie and Jon's mother by veteran actress Holland Taylor, who's been a TV and movie favorite for over twenty years.  If you're old enough you no doubt remember her as Tom Hanks' boss in Bosom Buddies way back in 1980; lately she's been a regular on The Practice and in the Spy Kids feature films.  Always a delightful and mordant presence, Ms. Taylor will no doubt be wonderful in the show but it's a shame that another wonderful actress had to get pushed aside.  That's show biz....  Premiere Date:  9/22.  Review 10/7/03:  CBS' Monday night is their bastion of family comedy, and lo and behold they've even managed to turn bad-boy actor Charlie Sheen into a shill for a ten-year-old boy.  Two and a Half Men is impeccably produced, flawlessly acted, and just about impossible to watch if you're not already a fan of the shows that come before it in the schedule.  The kid really stays in the picture here, and any kind of criticism of a show like this, especially one that's well-done, just comes off as churlish.  It's nice to see talented performers doing well with the same kind of trite family schtick -- except for the gay jokes, which are this season's mantra -- that less-talented casts struggle to pull off, and Sheen and Cryer do give their Odd Couple bit some appealing touches.  Two and a Half Men is working like a charm, and even if I'm not going be able to stomach it, hurrah to CBS for adding one more perfectly-crafted half-hour of household hilarity to their arsenal.  Most intriguing thing about the show:  Charlie's obsessed ex-girlfriend is played by Melanie Lynskey; film buffs will remember her amazing performance in Peter Jackson's incredible 1994 film Heavenly Creatures as one of a pair of teenage killers, the other played by Kate Winslet.  Highly recommended, and especially so as an antidote to shows like Two and a Half Men!  Update 10/28/03:  CBS has acknowledged the show's terrific ratings performance with a full season pick-up. 

Mid-season Shows