'SEAL Team' Returns To CBS With Two Other Paramount+ Originals In New Strike-Affected Fall Schedule
This was meant to be brought sooner, but it got a bit irritating that the most-relevant CBS-related hyperlink was an outdated schedule
If you thought CBS's fall schedule had a bit too many fresh scripted shows, well, it seems you were right. The network on Monday unveiled a heavily revised version, headlined for many by Paramount Network's Yellowstone, but here is best done so by the return of SEAL Team to the network where it ran its first four and 2/7th seasons before becoming a Paramount+ original.
The idea of CBS infusing Paramount+ shows into its fall schedule where scripted shows would not be ready due to the Writers Guild of America strike which began in May was first floated in June, when network president and CEO George Cheeks said that they were exploring the option at a keynote speech at the Banff Media Festival. “We're spending a lot of time looking at research and figuring out which are the ones that… have the best shot keeping our audience engaged but also that could really help drive awareness." He had even hinted that one of the shows had been on CBS before, and thus has been fulfilled. The SAG-AFTRA strike was called July 14, complicating readiness of CBS's scripted series even further.
SEAL Team, the military drama starring David Boreanaz premiered ten fifth season episodes on Paramount+ for a fourteen episode season, and followed that up with a ten episode sixth season. It has been renewed for a seventh. Its Thursday at 10 PM timeslot had been for Elsbeth, the latest spinoff of The Good Wife. It's being joined by reruns of audience favorites Young Sheldon and Ghosts, and a 9 PM hour occupied by the original British Ghosts, which streams on Max, if memory recalls it’s due to the same BBC deal that brought Doctor Who, its spinoffs and the no-longer-there The Office and Luther to that service. This Thursday schedule specifically comes in after the runs of Big Brother, The Challenge USA, and the new Buddy Games hosted by Josh Duhamel based on his 2019 movie, conclude.
Buddy Games specifically comes in for So Help Me Todd, and sees six contestants engage in a set of dares and games and other challenges with a chance of winning $150,000 while doing so. Or at least that's how the game would seem to go if one was to excise the plot points from the circumstances. There's no specific start date there yet, but the slot SEAL Team will hold is the same one Star Trek: Discovery held when the COVID pandemic put the network in need of programming in Fall 2020.
FBI: True, the Paramount+ docuseries from FBI co-creator Craig Turk, will air Tuesdays at 9, between Big Brother and repeats of FBI. A third Paramount+ original will be taking NCIS Hawai'i's Monday 10 PM timeslot, to which Deadline is suggesting it might go to another former CBS series, Evil. While NCIS stays in the Monday 9 PM slot with reruns, Bob Hearts Abishola and The Neighborhood have been put aside for the game show Lotería Loca, hosted and executive produced by Jane the Virgin's Jaime Camil. Based on the Latin game of chance popularly known now as Lotería, each episode features two players who face off, taking turns picking cards to get four in a row, which is Lotería. Each time a card appears on their unique bingo-style card, they bank. Landing on one of the 'Loca Cards' creates a twist that gives players the opportunity to compete in wild, interactive challenges to bank more money. The player who gets the most 'Loterías' on their board the fastest, moves on to the final round for a chance to win the grand prize.
Yellowstone will air Sunday nights from the very beginning, between 60 Minutes and Big Brother. On weeks where CBS carries one NFL game, there will be two episodes starting at 8. Following doubleheaders, 60 Minutes takes 8 PM and a single Yellowstone airs at 9. It's unclear whether in either circumstance 60 Minutes gets supersized Speaking of sports, Saturday nights will have more primetime college football games, leaving them more immune from the strikes. This season, the SEC is joined by the Big Ten and Mountain West conferences as well as the NWSL Championship Game.
The primetime editions of Let's Make A Deal and The Price Is Right take 8 PM to bide time for S.W.A.T., while another new game show, Raid the Cage takes 9 p.m. where Fire Country would have run, and instead of recent Blue Bloods episodes, it's going to take a carefully curated selection of episodes from across the show's run. Wednesday is already anchored by 90-minute Survivor and The Amazing Race. Start dates for the fall season have not been given yet.
