It’s the time of year where the major US television networks start illuminating their intentions for the next season schedules – cancelling some under-performers, giving the greenlight to some news shows and confirming returns for their existing hits.
CBS appears to have confidence in a lot of existing shows. It will be bringing back several shows based on reboots of older series. The modern versions of Hawaii Five-0 (returning for a tenth season), SWAT (returning for a third), Magnum PI (for a second run) and MacGyver (for a fourth season) are all on the slate alongside police show Blue Bloods (for a tenth season), second runs for FBI and God Friended Me, top-rated NCIS (for a seventeenth year), NCIS: Los Angeles (for an eleventh season) and NCIS: New Orleans (for a sixth year). Criminal Minds will return for a shorter, fifteenth and final season. There is also a sixth and final season for Madam Secretary(which will run to ten episodes), a third for SEAL Team and a fourth for Bull. The latter was considered ‘on the bubble’ for a while as Bull has made more news recently for the $9 million payment made by CBS to Eliza Dushku after she was let go from the series after complaining about inappropriate conduct towards her from series star – and previous NCIS – stalwart Michael Weatherly). This week Steven Spielberg and his Amblin production company confirmed that they were pulling out of their association with the show.
New shows include…
Dick Wolfe’s FBI: Most Wanted (a spin-off from FBI) featuring Julian McMahon and Alana de la Garza and which explores the Fugitive Task Force of the FBI that seeks to ‘…bring the most wanted to justice. not justice to the Most wanted’ according to McMahon’s commander.
There’s Evil, a new drama from Robert and Michelle King (who created The Good Wife and The Good Fight) called Evil ( and which follows “…a skeptical female forensic psychologist who joins a priest-in-training and a carpenter to investigate and assess the Church’s backlog of supposed miracles, demonic possessions and unexplained phenomena“). That show features Westworld‘s Katja Herbers, Luke Cage‘s Mike Colter and LOST and Person of Interest veteran Michael Emerson). See the new trailer below…
All Rise follows the dedicated, chaotic, hopeful, and sometimes absurd lives of judges, prosecutors and public defenders as they work with bailiffs, clerks and cops to get justice for the people of Los Angeles amidst a flawed legal system. The cast includes Simone Missick, Wilson Bethel, Jessica Camacho, CSI‘s Marg Helgenberger, J. Alex Brinson, Lindsay Mendez and Ruthie Ann Miles.
In Tommy, a former high-ranking NYPD officer becomes the first female Chief of Police for Los Angeles and she uses her honesty and hardnose tactics… and a knowing sense of humour to navigate the social, political, and national security issues it involves – even when it annoys others Edie Falco headlines a cast that also includes, Michael Chernus, Adelaide Clemens, David Fierro, Russell G. Jones, Olivia Lucy Phillip and Joseph Lyle Taylor.
There’s also two new comedies Broke – starring another NCIS favourite Pauley Perrette – and Bob Hearts Abishola from The Big Bang Theory creator Chuck Lorre (ratings-magnet TBBT finishes its twelve year run this week).
NOT coming back: The revival of Murphy Brown, the satirical look at modern politics, consistently felt ‘messagey’ rather than ‘funny’ and won’t be back for a new run and Elementary, as previously announced, ends with the current season.
