It occasionally still freaks me out that for as minor a footprint as I concede that I have I do indeed have a “gold card” fan base. On days when I struggle to find a topic worth musing about, I’m usually prompted by private messages from a couple of the more proactive ones to consider reacting to something they came across on many of the same resources I typically reference that I may have overlooked or not at the time considered all that big a deal. But I figure that if I can at least put something out there that SOMEONE gives a crap about my efforts don’t completely fall into the void.
So I’ll preface this with the caveat that initially I didn’t give much thought to the story that somehow was one of DEADLINE’s top trending stories on Friday, yet again courtesy of the intrepid Nellie Andreeva:
CBS has finalized its 2026-27 lineup of returning scripted series, canceling the two shows on the bubble, sophomore drama Watson, headlined by Morris Chestnut, and freshman comedy DMV, led by Harriet Dyer. Their season — now series — finales will air May 3 and May 11, respectively. The news comes a week and a half before the network is slated to unveil its 2026-27 schedule on April 15.
Honestly, it had slipped my mind that in recent years the braintrust at what still is America’s most-watched network, even if their news programming appears to be in freefall, had eschewed the legacy timeline of waiting until upfronts week in mid-May to let the world know what they will be watching in the fall, so the concept of urgency was off my radar. And as Andreeva continued, these were not exactly surprising decisions:
Watson and DMV‘s pending cancellations were telegraphed back in January when, after a blitz of early renewals, they were the only CBS on-air scripted series left in limbo. Among the network’s lowest rated shows, their survival faced long odds and depended on how CBS’ then-upcoming midseason dramas Marshals and CIA would perform and how the network’s comedy pilots Eternally Yours and Tillbrooks (fka Regency) would come in.
But then I got a PM from a couple of my gold cards who provided me with a redundant link to this story with these sorts of commentaries:
Hmmm. THE NEIGHBORHOOD’s already going away. So is BET+. Now this. And the Ellisons continue to want to appease a guy who refuses to stand next to a Black military officer so that their acquisition of Warner Brothers can be fast-tracked. Coincidence?
I have to tell you, despite my initial knee-jerk reaction to dismiss this, I had to give it more than a little thought. Here’s where I net out: I’d like to believe the answer is no.
For one thing, it’s my sense Andreeva covered those bases with these datecdotes:
Watson, a medical mystery drama set in the Sherlock Holmes universe, did respectable business in its midseason launch last season on Sundays behind Tracker, earning a Season 2 renewal. The series was initially held back for another midseason run on Sundays before being summoned to the fall schedule to fill in for the delayed CIA, landing behind FBI on Mondays. Watson saw its ratings decline in the new Monday berth. It was eventually sent back to Sundays this spring. Single-camera workplace comedy DMV, whose ensemble cast includes Tim Meadows, also got off to a solid start. It ranked No.9 among all broadcast series for CBS’ Oct. 12-19 premiere week with 10.1M Live+35 Day multi-platform viewers. That is above its lead-in, The Neighborhood, and half of the series the network has renewed for next season. While DMV‘s Live+Same Day linear ratings have remained relatively steady, its delayed multi-platform viewing has declined.
To me, in both of these cases this conclusively shows there was a rainbow coalition of rejection.
If there’s any reason to be upset at CBS’ creative direction, it might be better aimed at the current management team’s seeming obsession with GHOSTS, which they somehow think is this decade’s answer to THE OFFICE, which propelled NBC to built out a like-minded lineup including spin-offs. This is what will be supplementing it come October-ish, drawing in part from El Intrepido’s earlier detailed coverahe:
- Eternally Yours…is an eternal love story about two vampires… who have been married for five hundred years, and their struggles to accept the human who is dating their daughter…Eyed as a companion to Ghosts, filming in the same Montreal location under the same showrunners, Eternally Yours had been a considered a strong series contender since the script stage, with its frontrunner status now solidified.
- The Tillbrooks… (a) historical spin on the classic multi-cam family sitcom…centers around the upper-middle class Tillbrooks as they navigate life, love, and scandal in 19th Century England…Kate Walsh (Grey’s Anatomy) is returning to her multi-camera comedy roots with a lead role opposite Rhys Darby.
Sure sounds like we’re gonna get a Monday 8-9 play that will feature a relocated GEORGIE AND MANDY and THE TILLBROOKS as a way to better compete with NBC’s broader comedies and Thursday nights devoted to a supernatural combo that no doubt will be aggressively launched around Halloween. In which case, I’d offer more than ever that orange is the new black.
But as to the other “things that make you go hmmmm” thoughts, well, I’ve seen more than enough actual data that conclude that the audience cohorts that contribute disproportionately to CBS’ number one status are older, white, and less likely to reside on the coasts. Which to me means that at least the intentions of retooling news to fit the tastes and ideologies of such a demographic were justified, current management’s desire to bend knees notwithstanding. The fact that the ratings trajectories have been so conclusively negative speaks volumes to the specific choices being made by the inexperienced Team Barium–who most def do not fall into those sort of buckets thmeselves and doesn’t seem to be particularly interested in learning about what actually drives those who are more open to their interpretation of the world. I continue to believe that once the business end of this bulldozing reaches its desired denouement like any corporate executive who fails to deliver results the Enema Within will be held accountable and either fired or reassigned. There are plenty of equally unqualified schmucks out there who can bend a knee. There’s probably a Markwayne Mullen type at a Nexstar station more than willing to genuflect–and probably at a lower salary.
Finally, the whole BET+ nonsense needs to be put aside completely, as THE GRIO’s Brandan Caldwell reminded us on Friday:
Weeks after Paramount announced that it was folding BET’s streamer into Paramount Plus, BET has confirmed that “The Ms. Pat Show” has been renewed for a sixth season. It also signifies that “Ms. Pat,” the first series formerly on BET+, has its latest season premiere on Paramount’s streaming network…Helmed by Patricia “Ms. Pat” Williams-Lee and Jordan E. Cooper, the series has become a foothold for BET+ viewers over the course of five seasons.
In the same manner that the company had previously shifted RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE from less distributed and supported platforms like LOGO and VH-1 to its current home on what still remains of MTV, this is actually a win of sorts. And given Paramount Plus’ track record with half-hours–translated: scant little–it’s a choice they arguably should have made a while ago.
Like I expressed above, I’d like to think this is what drove these decisions of late. But I’m not in these particular boardrooms and those that I knew who were have already become collateral damage. Even adults who were in those rooms like Jeff Shell are now otherwise preoccupied.
If nothing else, I hope I’ve provided a plausible narrative for those that are to lean upon. And perhaps a credible man-splaining for my gold carders to ponder. I still believe the only color that ultimately matters is green. Perhaps piously.
Until next time…