CBS Announces Full Fall Schedule

CBS today officially announced its fall schedule for the 2005-2006 television season, confirming that all three CSI shows will remain in their current timeslots.

The Eye network introduced its new shows during the so-called upfront week in New York, a time when all the networks present their fall programming plans to both advertising agencies and the media. CBS chief Les Moonves had much to be proud of at the presentation, as it looks like CBS will finish the season with average viewership levels nearly three million ahead of the nework's closest rival, ABC. But even though CBS has a good season behind it, Moonves still introduced six new shows designed to push the network's ratings even higher. "We want to win it all," the Associated Press quoted Moonves as saying (via Salon).

Two of these new shows will be airing on Mondays, serving as lead-in to CSI: Miami. As this year, CBS will open the night with The King Of Queens, and then follow that at 8:30pm with the new sitcom How I Met Your Mother, a show starring Alyson Hannigan that's told through flashbacks from the future. At 9:00pm, Two And A Half Men will be taking over the old Everybody Loves Raydmon timeslot, while the comedy Out Of Practice, dealing with a family of doctors, will air at 9:30pm. 10:00pm will still be the CSI: Miami hour.

On Wednesdays, CBS made one of its controversial decisions by cancelling 60 Minutes II, the news magazine that was supposed to be the home of former CBS News anchor Dan Rather. The network will now be airing the sitcoms Still Standing and Yes Dear at 8:00pm and 8:30pm, respectively, followed by the new drama Criminal Minds at 9:00pm. Criminal Minds is yet another CBS procedural, dealing with an elite squad of FBI profilers who analyze the country's most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next move before they strike again. The show will lead out to CSI: New York, staying put at 10:00pm.

CBS's Thursday night line-up will be kept completely intact, just like the weekend, which will still feature regular CSI repeats in the Crimetime Saturday rotation. However, the network has decided to almost completely retool its Friday night schedule, leaving only Numb3rs in place at 10:00pm. At 8:00pm, CBS has scheduled Ghost Whisperer, about young newlywed with the unique ability to communicate with the earthbound spirits of people who have died and who seek her help. Alongside Jennifer Love Hewitt, the drama stars CSI's Aisha Tyler (Mia Dickerson). At 9:00pm, the network will be showing Threshold, a new sciene-fiction show about a team of experts who are assembled when the U.S. Navy makes a chilling discovery: an extra terrestrial craft has landed in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. The show was co-created by Star Trek: Enterprise executive producer Brannon Braga.

The network's full schedule for next year looks as follows:

• Monday
  8:00pm - The King Of Queens
  8:30pm - How I Met Your Mother
  9:00pm - Two And A Half Men
  9:30pm - Out Of Practice
  10:00pm - CSI: Miami
  

• Tuesday
  8:00pm - NCIS
  9:00pm - The Amazing Race
  10:00pm - Close To Home
  

• Wednesday
  8:00pm - Still Standing
  8:30pm - Yes, Dear
  9:00pm - Criminal Minds
  10:00pm - CSI: New York
  

• Thursday
  8:00pm - Survivor: Guatemala
  9:00pm - CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
  10:00pm - Without A Trace
  

• Friday
  8:00pm - Ghost Whisperer
  9:00pm - Threshold
  10:00pm - Numb3rs
  

• Saturday
  8:00pm - Crimetime Saturday
  9:00pm - Crimetime Saturday
  10:00pm - 48 Hours Mystery
  

• Sunday
  7:00pm - 60 Minutes
  8:00pm - Cold Case
  9:00pm - CBS Sunday Movie
  

For the full CBS press release, including descriptions of all the network's new shows, and lots of hype about this year's strong ratings, head over to the Futon Critic.

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