New Series And New Competitors Are On The Way

CBS, ABC and NBC will switch things up early next year.

The spring schedule for CBS will have few changes from the current lineup. As CSI Files previously reported, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation's lead-out, freshman series Eleventh Hour, has been given the green light for five more episodes. That brings the first season order up to 18. The shorter season will allow for CBS to try out a new series in the prime timeslot in April. Harper's Island will take the 10:00pm Thursday spot on April 9 and will run through midsummer. The series is a 13-episode mystery event:

Harper's Island is about a group of family and friends who travel to a secluded island for a destination wedding. They've come to laugh... to love... and, though they don't know it... to die. As the wedding festivities begin, friendships are tested and secrets exposed as a murderer claims victims, one by one, transforming the wedding week of fun and celebration into a terrifying struggle for survival. In every episode, someone is killed and every person is a suspect, from the wedding party to the island locals. By the end of the 13 episodes, all questions will be answered, the killer will be revealed and only a few will survive.

In place of the cancelled series The Ex-List, CBS is placing the second season of summer hit Flashpoint in the 9:00pm slot on Fridays starting January 9. Flashpoint, which stars Enrico Colantoni, Hugh Dillon and Amy Jo Johnson, "depicts the emotional journey into the tough, risk-filled lives of a group of cops in the Strategic Response Unit (inspired by Toronto's Emergency Task Force)."

The network will also premiere a new hidden-camera series from Ashton Kutcher called Game Show in My Head. Game Show will start on January 3 and air Saturday nights:

Ordinary people must perform extraordinary tasks on an unsuspecting public to win up to $50,000. Under the watchful eye of host Joe Rogan, each contestant performs five outrageous, embarrassing and hilarious tasks worth $5,000 each. In a no-holds-barred bonus round, each contestant has the chance to double their money up to $50,000.

CSI: Miami and CSI: New York will receive some new competition starting in the spring. ABC will premiere Castle, a police procedural, on Monday, March 9. The show will air in the 10:00pm slot against Miami:

Wildly famous mystery novelist Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion, Desperate Housewives), who is bored with his own success, learns that a real-world copycat killer has started staging murder scenes depicted in his novels. Rick is soon questioned by NYPD Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic, The Spirit), a very bright, aggressive detective who keeps her investigations under tight rein. Rick and Kate's styles instantly clash, yet sparks begin to fly, leading both to danger and a hint of romance as Castle steps in to help find the killer. And once that case is solved, he and Beckett build upon their new relationship as they look to solve strange homicides in New York as much fun as one can have with death & murder. Castle is kept grounded by his Broadway diva mother, Martha Rodgers (Susan Sullivan, Dharma and Greg) and quick-witted teenage daughter Alexis (Molly Quinn, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story).

ABC is also placing a new series on Wednesdays at 10:00pm starting April 8. The Unusuals is another crime drama starring Amber Tamblyn. Although it will be on opposite both New York and Law and Order, Unusuals is expected to draw a younger, more female audience than either existing drama. In Unusuals, "it helps if a cop has a twisted sense of humor, because every moment could be your last." Detective Casey Shraeger (Tamblyn), "started her day as an NYPD vice detective before unexpectedly being transferred to the homicide division. She quickly realizes that, not only does everyone in her new department have a distinct sense of humor, but also their own dirty little secrets."

For three weeks starting January 5, NBC reality series Momma's Boys will air opposite CSI: Miami at 10:00pm on Mondays. NBC's Medium will return on February 2 to air against Miami. The two-hour series premiere of Kings airs at 9:00pm on March 19, opposite CSI, but the following week will find the show settled into its usual 10:00pm slot.

Information about the CBS line-up and new CSI competition is from Reuters. Details about Harper's Island, Flashpoint and Game Show in My Head are from The Futon Critic. Details about Castle and The Usuals are also from The Futon Critic. Information about Medium and Kings can be found here, and info about Momma's Boys comes from here

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