All through ‘upfronts’ week, TMINE will be revealing the new shows that are going to be hitting US TV screens from September 2019
It’s that time of year again – the ‘upfronts’. What’s that, I hear you ask?
What are the upfronts, TMINE?
It’s when all the US networks reveal to advertisers the new shows that are going to be hitting the TV screens some time from September 2019 through to nowish 2020. However, this isn’t the same as the international screenings, where buyers from TV networks around the world turn up to see what they’d like to acquire, so we won’t know what will be heading our way for quite some time.
This weekend, US TV networks killed off a whole bunch of existing shows (prompting howls of protest from their fans) and are about to commission a whole bunch of new shows (prompting howls of ‘you cancelled x for this rubbish?’ from said-same fans).
5. CBS’s upfronts
For years, CBS didn’t have to do much at the upfronts, since it was king of the ratings and could renew pretty much everything. However, for the past few years, it’s been flagging, while simultaneously doing its best to acquire a young, new vibrant (or at least under 60) audience to replace its current dying breed.
Last year, CBS went big with nostalgic remakes for the 40+ age-group, procedurals, studio comedies and minoriteams, unveiling:
- Murphy Brown (cancelled)
- Magnum P.I. (renewed)
- Happy Together (cancelled)
- God Friended Me (renewed)
- The Neighborhood (renewed)
- FBI (renewed)
Only two cancellations, then, which is probably the best strike rate of all the networks. That means that this year, CBS has less work to do. All the same, it’s still unveiled four new dramas and four new comedies, which is perhaps a sign of both ambition and the fact that a lot of its longer-running shows are starting to wind down. Or its firm expectation that a reasonable number of them are going to be cancelled by this time next year.
The newbies are:
- All Rise
- Bob ❤️ Abishola
- Carol’s Second Act
- Evil
- The Unicorn
And for mid-season:
- FBI: Most Wanted
- Broke
- Tommy
That’s more new shows for the autumn than for mid-season, which makes a nice change; there’s also only one spin-off from an existing CBS TV show, which also makes a nice change.
Want to know more and exactly when these (and the surviving old shows) will be airing? And do you want to get TMINE’s hottest of hot first takes? Follow me after the jump if at least one of those things interests you…
Continue reading “CBS’s upfronts 2019-20 – a rundown and clips from the new shows: All Rise, Bob ❤️ Abishola, Carol’s Second Act, Evil and The Unicorn”
