Streaming channels make headlines with mergers and syndication deals, but CBS has reached its level of network television success simply by maintaining a well-stocked lineup of scripted shows.
Boasting consistently high ratings, CBS proves there is indeed a large audience that tunes in for scripted television outside of streaming channels.
This is good news for viewers searching for network alternatives to reality shows.
The potentially bad news is that almost all of CBS’s scripted shows are procedurals and reboots.
Is this narrow focus a conscious decision or just a response to upcoming structural changes at the network?
Two of their biggest comedies (Young Sheldon and Bob Hearts Abishola) are set to end in May. CBS’s procedural landscape will also take a hit when Blue Bloods concludes its fourteen-season run this fall.
CBS has enjoyed impressive numbers over the years by coasting on Chuck Lorre’s sitcoms and all of the “I” franchises: NCIS, FBI, and CSI.
Chuck Lorre was the Shonda Rhimes of CBS for almost twenty years. He created several long-running, highly-rated shows for the network, like Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory.
Lorre recently moved to Max with the series Bookie, which was renewed for a second season. He’s been such a pillar of CBS’s success; how will his departure affect things at the network?
It remains to be seen what original comedies CBS will offer in the future aside from The Neighborhood, which was just renewed for Season 7.
CBS has put in the work over the years to court a vast and reliable block of viewers that streaming channels have either overlooked or willfully ignored.
In addition to family-friendly sitcoms, the network’s focus on formulaic procedurals offers a roster of shows where knowing the intricacies of previous season-long arcs isn’t required to understand what’s going on now.
This type of easy-entry viewing has become rare among the streamers, leaving a sizeable gap that ABC has attempted to fill for years with its variety of medical shows plus the Law and Order franchise, which will outlive us all.
CBS, for its part, holds a virtual monopoly on procedurals with its current lineup of CSI: Vegas plus three versions each of FBI and NCIS.
If CBS’s unofficial slogan is “More of What You Already Like,” there could be no better example than these formulaic franchise shows.
CBS has profited from calculated risks in its remakes of reliable shows with an established audience base, like The Equalizer and the upcoming Matlock with Kathy Bates (which actually looks INCREDIBLE).
The network’s newest hit, Elsbeth, is a spinoff of the long-running Emmy award-winning series The Good Wife, but so far, it’s closer in tone to the ’70s series Columbo.
Remakes of British shows are hit-or-miss, but Ghosts UK was perhaps established enough to seem like a low-risk remake for a US audience.
Ghosts US did exceptionally well from the get-go and continues to deliver high ratings. It is in the middle of its third season and has been renewed for Season 4.
The American version is a clever spin on the original, with continent-appropriate changes to the stock ghost characters.
Because Ghosts has such freedom to reinvent itself, it almost counts as an original scripted comedy, but not really.
That honor goes to So Help Me Todd, the loopy mystery and family dramedy that is CBS’s wildcard.
The show is about a successful lawyer who teams up with her wayward detective son to solve crimes and win court cases in Portland, Oregon.
Each case of the week shares equal billing with complicated family dynamics since Todd (Skylar Astin) and his competitive adult siblings have many issues to work through with each other and their Type A mother (Marcia Gay Harden).
In a way, So Help Me Todd manages to smoosh together the network’s core strengths: procedurals and family-friendly comedies. The offbeat series has drawn decent ratings over two seasons, but it has yet to be officially renewed for a third.
So Help Me Todd may serve as a set of training wheels for the post-Chuck Lorre era at CBS, easing the network’s move into its next generation of original comedies.
But procedural franchises have worked astoundingly well for CBS! So why begrudge their success?
Because that success becomes a template for other networks, waters down the quality of current shows, and leaves no space for risk regarding new series.
This is weird, in a way, because you’d think that this very degree of monetary success would provide a big enough margin of risk for a network to try out a few unconventional, original scripted shows.
In other words, does it really take twelve CSI spinoffs to earn just one quirky comedic mystery series like So Help Me Todd?
CBS is a successful network because its core procedural shows are successful, and that is a result of them being based on proven hits.
This could be bad because CBS can’t afford to move out of its lane, even if it wanted to. It has built an audience that wants exactly what it’s offering, and this doesn’t leave room for much else on the schedule.
So the network’s lineup of shows expands, but only horizontally: NCIS leads to NCIS: Hawaii and NCIS: Sydney, while FBI has the spinoffs FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted.
This could be seen as “normalizing” a pattern of faceless franchising, or if you’re feeling generous, you can say that this type of programming is simply a reflection of the zeitgeist. Whatever it’s called, it’s still wrong in the sense that it leaves room for little else on TV.
The problem is that there isn’t a viable alternative for audiences wanting something different, especially if other networks start adopting CBS’s template.
“Generation loss” describes how each copy of an item degrades by a certain degree until nothing’s left. It often refers to the reduction in quality between subsequent copies of an audio or video recording, but it can apply to anything that’s been repeatedly reproduced, like franchise procedurals.
Even if this franchise method of replication is making money for CBS (and other networks) right now, generation loss suggests there will come a time when there won’t be an image (or idea) left to copy, and then — theoretically and creatively — Where Will We Be??
There’s a rich history of TV shows that poke fun at the “soulless” machine of Hollywood, including 30 Rock, Entourage, Party Down, and BoJack Horseman. Audiences are well used to the idea that entertainment is, above all, a business, and like any business, it avoids risk.
However, the success of CBS is pointing to an even less creative industrial complex than we’re used to based on these TV shows.
The increased absence of network sitcoms has exposed a startling potential view of scripted television that’s stripped down to nothing but recycled procedurals.
Still, CBS has earned its position as a dominant force in scripted television. The question now is if that dominance will — or even should — continue.
The network recently experienced a lot of change due to Chuck Lorre’s departure, last year’s strikes, and the upcoming finales of several long-running successful shows.
The good news is that even if its non-procedural shows are small in number, they are individually impressive. Ghosts remains a strong comedic anchor for the network, while Tracker and Fire Country have performed well as non-franchise (yet!) action dramas.
Elsbeth and So Help Me Todd are examples of the network being somewhat comfortable with experimentation, and the Matlock reboot just might be a hit (seriously: it looks SO GOOD).
CBS has managed to thrive in the streaming era without relying on reality shows, which is a serious achievement. Hopefully, it will maintain its commitment to scripted television for many seasons to come.
What are your favorite scripted shows (including procedurals!) on CBS right now?
Do you miss having more sitcoms to choose from?
Let us know in the comments!
Paullette Gaudet is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. You can follow her on X.