CBS FALL 2013-2014 SCHEDULE

The last of the big four networks, CBS, has announced their fall 2013-2014 schedule. Surprisingly, there a decent number of changes to their strong-performing schedule. Gone from Mondays is 'Hawaii 5-0' which finds a new home on Friday. Missing, too, from Monday and being held as a replacement series is 'Mike and Molly'. Thursdays best performing drama, 'Person of Interest' on CBS finds a new home in the troubled 10 PM ET Tuesday slot. Wednesday remains unchanged while Thursday sees an expanded two-hour comedy block with two new sitcoms -- 'The Millers' starring Will Arnett and 'The Crazy Ones' -- which will likely crush any momentum NBC has with their mostly new Thursday line-up. Friday's one change was mentioned earlier with the relocation of 'Hawaii 5-0' while Saturday and Sunday remain unchanged. This is the type of schedule that will make CBS the number one network again for 2013-2014.

CBS FALL 2013-2014 SCHEDULE
(New programs in UPPER CASE; NT=New Time)

MONDAY
8-8:30 PM – How I Met Your Mother
8:30-9 PM – WE ARE MEN
9-9:30 PM – 2 Broke Girls
9:30-10 PM – MOM
10-11 PM – HOSTAGES / INTELLIGENCE (Midseason)

TUESDAY
8-9 PM – NCIS
9-10 PM – NCIS: Los Angeles
10-11 PM – Person Of Interest (NT)

WEDNESDAY
8-9 PM – Survivor
9-10 PM – Criminal Minds
10-11 – CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

THURSDAY
8-8:30 PM – The Big Bang Theory
8:30-9 PM – THE MILLERS
9-9:30 PM – THE CRAZY ONES
9:30-10 PM – Two And A Half Men (NT)
10-11 PM – Elementary

FRIDAY
8-9 PM – Undercover Boss
9-10 PM – Hawaii Five-0 (NT)
10-11 PM – Blue Bloods

SATURDAY
8-8:30 PM – COMEDYTIME SATURDAY
8:30-9 PM – COMEDYTIME SATURDAY
9-10 PM – Crimetime Saturday
10-11 PM – 48 Hours
 
SUNDAY
7-8 PM – 60 Minutes
8-9 PM – The Amazing Race
9-10 PM – The Good Wife
10-11 PM – The Mentalist

ABC FALL 2013-2014 SCHEDULE

ABC is truly taking some chances for the 2013-2014 television season. America's third-ranked network is finally dialing back 'Dancing With The Stars' to one night thus freeing up Tuesday night which the network will aim to rebuild with an entirely new slate of shows including two dramas and two comedies.

Two big showcases for ABC are the Rebel Wilson-starring 'Super Fun Night' getting the post-'Modern Family' slot on Wednesdays and the 'Once Upon a Time' spinoff 'Once Upon A Time in Wonderland' landing in the rather troubled 8 PM (ET) Thursday night slot leading in to 'Grey's Anatomy'.

ABC is also talking about two half-seasons for some of their dramas (12 episodes in the fall, 12 in the early spring) with limited-run series bridging the gap. Absent from the line-up (and likely held back as a replacement) is sitcom 'Suburgatory'. ABC is also holding on to a whole host of rookie dramas and comedies for midseason debuts or replacements as new series surely end in cancellation.

ABC FALL 2013-2014 SCHEDULE
(New programs in UPPER CASE; all times ET/PT)

MONDAY
8 PM – Dancing With The Stars
10 PM – Castle

TUESDAY
8 PM – MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.
9 PM – THE GOLDBERGS
9:30 PM – TROPHY WIFE
10 PM – LUCKY 7

WEDNESDAY
8 PM – The Middle
8:30 PM – BACK IN THE GAME
9 PM – Modern Family
9:30 PM – SUPER FUN NIGHT
10 PM – Nashville

THURSDAY
8 PM – ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND
9 PM – Grey’s Anatomy
10 PM – Scandal

FRIDAY
8 PM – Last Man Standing
8:30 PM – The Neighbors
9 PM – Shark Tank
10 PM – 20/20

SATURDAY
8 PM – Saturday Night College Football
SUNDAY
7 PM – America’s Funniest Home Videos
8 PM – Once Upon A Time
9 PM – Revenge
10 PM – BETRAYAL

FOX 2013-2014 fall new series TV previews

Almost Human — Drama

Produced by Bonanza Productions in association with Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television. From writer/executive producer JH Wyman, executive producers JJ Abrams and Bryan Burk, co-executive producer/director Brad Anderson and co-executive producers Kathy Lingg and Reid Shane:
Brooklyn Nine-Nine — Comedy Produced by Universal Television and 3 Arts Entertainment. From writers/executive producers Dan Goor and Michael Schur and executive producer David Miner: Dads — Comedy Produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Fuzzy Door Productions. From writers/executive producers Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild and executive producer Seth MacFarlane:  Enlisted — Comedy Produced by 20th Century Fox Television. From writer/executive producer Kevin Biegel and executive producer Mike Royce:   Rake — Drama Produced by Fedora Entertainment and Essential Media & Entertainment in association with Sony Pictures Television. From writer/executive producer Peter Duncan, executive producers Peter Tolan, Michael Wimer, Richard Roxburgh and Ian Collie, director/executive producer Sam Raimi and co-executive producers Gret Kinnear and Leslie Tolan:   Sleepy Hollow — Drama Produced by K/O Paper Products in association with 20th Century Fox Television. From writers/executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, director/executive producer Len Wiseman, writer/supervising producer Phillip Iscove and executive producer Heather Kadin:  Us & Them — Comedy Produced by Sony Pictures Television, BBC Worldwide Productions and Baby Cow Productions. From writer/executive producer David J. Rosen and executive producers Jane Tranter, Julie Gardner, James Corden, Ruth Jones, Steve Coogan and Henry Normal:

FOX 2013-2014 television schedule

Coming off of a lackluster season with only one legitimate hit ('The Following'), FOX is going big with their typical and complicated split-season schedule with shows jumping nights and staggered launch dates due to World Series obligations. Gone, essentially, is the first half of their two-hour Tuesday comedy block. Rookie 'Ben & Kate' was canceled earlier this year and the coasting towards syndication 'Raising Hope' lands on Fridays. In their place are newcomers 'Dads' and the promising cop comedy starring Andy Samberg 'Brooklyn Nine Nine'. If 'Brooklyn Nine Nine' can live up to its promise as a zany and slapstick comedy, it could do wonders for the entire night as FOX will begin the season without comedy competition from inferior NBC.

The only other standout, to me, is the J.J. Abrams-created 'Almost Human'. Set 35 years in the future with comps paired with human-like cyborgs, the futuristic police procedural has an interesting premise and if acted and written properly, it could draw a dedicated audience.

Finally, look for American Idol to enter its final season. With an entirely new judging panel, gaining new audience members watching the drawn out, filler-laden singing competition will be a battle. A run of over a decade is plenty.

MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM BONES (fall) / ALMOST HUMAN (new; late fall)
9:00-10:00 PM SLEEPY HOLLOW (new; fall) / THE FOLLOWING (midseason)

TUESDAY
8:00-8:30 PM DADS (new)
8:30-9:00 PM BROOKLYN NINE-NINE (new)
9:00-9:30 PM NEW GIRL
9:30-10:00 PM THE MINDY PROJECT

WEDNESDAY
8:00-10:00 PM THE X FACTOR (fall) / AMERICAN IDOL (midseason)

THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM THE X FACTOR Results (fall) / AMERICAN IDOL Results (midseason)
9:00-10:00 PM GLEE (fall) / RAKE (new; midseason)

FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM JUNIOR MASTERCHEF (wt) (new; fall)
9:00-10:00 PM SLEEPY HOLLOW encores (fall)
Late Fall:
8:00-9:00 PM BONES (late fall)
9:00-9:30 PM RAISING HOPE (late fall)
9:30-10:00 PM ENLISTED (new; late fall)

SATURDAY
7:00-10:30 PM FOX SPORTS SATURDAY
11:00 PM-12:30 AM ANIMATION DOMINATION HIGH-DEF

SUNDAY
7:00-7:30 PM NFL Game (fall)
7:30-8:00 PM THE OT (fall)
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM BOB'S BURGERS
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD
Scheduling to be announced for the following new series slated for midseason: GANG RELATED (new), SURVIVING JACK (new), US & THEM (new) and MURDER POLICE (new).

NBC 2013-2014 fall schedule

First out of the gate to announce their Fall 2013 television schedule is NBC. Still heavy on the comedies but with fewer night scheduled than the preliminary schedule for 2012 showed, NBC cleaned house on the majority of their 2012-13 comedy line-up and axed Whitney, Guys With Kids, Go On, The New Normal, 1600 Penn as well as this year being the final season for veterans 30 Rock  and The Office. Absent, for the time being, from the 2013-14 NBC television schedule are veteran Celebrity Apprentice, cheap-to-make Betty White's Off Their Rockers, critical darling and fan fave Community and recent critical fave Hannibal whose fate is still undecided. Community, though, was officially picked up for 13 episodes and seems to be ready to play the part of utility guy and standing by to plug a hole for one of the sure-to-be-canceled sitcoms.

All told, NBC is slowly making some progress but placing Revolution in the first hour of primetime seems to be a waste when a more fitting player would be family drama Parenthood which seems to be wasted in the final hour of primetime on Thursday. Also baffling is the inclusion of The Biggest Loser getting a slot after the one-hour Tuesday edition of The Voice. A mass-appeal drama would be a great fit there in the fall but The Biggest Loser *has* to be nearing its end.

Monday:
8 The Voice
10 The Blacklist (James Spader as a former fugitive turned FBI agent)

Tuesday:
Fall
8, The Voice
9, The Biggest Loser
10, Chicago Fire
Midseason
8, The Voice
9, About A Boy (Based on the movie)
9:30, The Family Guide (A blind father and a family divorce as seen through the eyes of a family member)
10, Chicago Fire

Wednesday:
8, Revolution (New Night)
9, Law & Order: SVU
10, Ironside (reboot of the 1967-75 series with Blair Underwood as the wheelchair-bound detective)

Thursday:
8, Parks and Recreation
8:30, Welcome to the Family (Culture clashes among a interracial family)
9, Sean Saves the World (Sean Hayes returns to TV as a single Gay dad with Linda "Alice" Lavin playing his mother)
9:30, The Michael J. Fox Show (Fox returns as a TV newsman with Parkinson's)
10, Parenthood (New Night)

Friday:
Fall
8, Dateline NBC
9, Grimm
10, Dracula (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in an all new twist on the Bram Stoker classic)
Midseason
8, Dateline NBC
9, Grimm
10, Crossbones (John Malkovich as the infamous pirate Blackbeard)

Saturday:
Drama repeats

Sunday:
Fall
7, Football Night in America
8, Sunday Night Football
Midseason
7, Dateline NBC
8, American Dream Builders (Designers are given the chance to show off their plans in front of host Nate Berkus)
9, Believe (A young girl with special gifts is being protected by a wrongfully convicted inmate)
10, Crisis (A national crisis erupts when a school bus is taken hostage and the people involved are thrust into the conspiracy involving it)

Also picked up
Chicago PD (Spin-off from Chicago Fire, this time focusing on the men and women of Chicago's finest)
The Night Shift (Drama set in a San Antonio Hospital)
Undateable (A group of guys are getting challenged in the world of dating by a slacker)
Food Fighters (Reality competition that pits amateur cooks against experienced chefs)
The Second Million Dollar Quiz (Game show that will take 12 days, a gigantic structure and at-home interaction to win $10 million)

ABC's 2012-13 TV schedule

ABC seems to be following the lead of rival NBC in adding more comedies on similar nights to its schedule. Going head to head with "The Voice" on both Monday and Tuesday nights should prove to be interesting but I tend to think that those two shows have audiences in vastly different age groups and the sandwich of reality-comedy-drama on Tuesday will probably spell doom for both "Happy Endings" (which I truly love) and "Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23" which is growing on me this year. Their fortunes may change when paired with a new duo of comedies in the first hour of primetime after Christmas but the damage may already be done by that point.

On the drama front, "Last Resort" sounds like the best of the new ABC drama offerings.

500 feet beneath the ocean's surface, the U.S. ballistic missile submarine Colorado receive their orders. Over a radio channel, designed only to be used if their homeland has been wiped out, they're told to fire nuclear weapons at Pakistan.

Captain Marcus Chaplin (Andre Braugher) demands confirmation of the orders only to be unceremoniously relieved of duty by the White House. XO Sam Kendal (Scott Speedman) finds himself suddenly in charge of the submarine and facing the same difficult decision. When he also refuses to fire without confirmation of the orders, the Colorado is targeted, fired upon, and hit. The submarine and its crew find themselves crippled on the ocean floor, declared rogue enemies of their own country. Now, with nowhere left to turn, Chaplin and Kendal take the sub on the run and bring the men and women of the Colorado to an exotic island. Here they will find refuge, romance and a chance at a new life, even as they try to clear their names and get home.

MONDAY:   
8:00 p.m.  “Dancing with the Stars”
10:00 p.m. “Castle”

    In January:
8:00 p.m. “The Bachelor”
10:00 p.m.  “Castle”
       
TUESDAY:   
8:00 p.m. “Dancing with the Stars the Results Show”
9:00 p.m. “Happy Endings”
9:30 p.m. “Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23”
10:00 p.m. “Private Practice”

    In January:
8:00 p.m. “How to Live with Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)”
8:30 p.m. “The Family Tools”

WEDNESDAY:   
8:00 p.m. “The Middle”
8:30 p.m. “Suburgatory”
9:00 p.m. “Modern Family”
9:30 p.m. “The Neighbors”
10:00 p.m. “Nashville”

THURSDAY
8:00 p.m. “Last Resort”
9:00 p.m. “Grey’s Anatomy”
10:00 p.m. “Scandal”

FRIDAY:   
8:00 p.m. “Shark Tank”
9:00 p.m. “Primetime: What Would You Do?”
10:00 p.m. “20/20”

    In November:
8:00 p.m. “Last Man Standing”
8:30 p.m. “Malibu Country”
9:00 p.m. “Shark Tank”
10:00 p.m. “Primetime: What Would You Do?”
       
SATURDAY:   
8:00 p.m. “Saturday Night College Football”

SUNDAY:   
7:00 p.m. “America’s Funniest Home Videos”
8:00 p.m. “Once Upon a Time”
9:00 p.m. “Revenge”
10:00 p.m.“666 Park Avenue”