Comedy is back, baby.

CBS is doubling its comedy series this fall, jumping to eight from last fall’s four and programming two two-hour blocks on Mondays and Thursdays.

ABC, Fox and NBC also are adding more comedies in the hope of getting something to stick. Broadcast has lacked a bonafide comedy hit — a linch pin in the broadcast TV economy, from studios to networks to syndication — since the debut of ABC’s Modern Family in 2009. Other comedies have had staying power and niche fandom — Fox’s New Girl, ABC’s black-ish — but nothing has been a broad hit.

CBS’ three new comedies star very familiar faces, with King Queens’ Kevin James leading Kevin Can Wait; Friends’ and Episodes’ Matt LeBlanc starring in Man with a Plan; and Community’s Joel McHale toplining The Great Indoors.

With that line-up of white men leading the way at CBS, the network had to defend its commitment to diversity during its upfront day on Wednesday.

“Our new series are more diverse this year than last year,” said CBS Entertainment Chief Glenn Geller, according to Variety.

CBS also added five dramas: Bull, starring NCIS’ Michael Weatherly and based on Dr. Phil McGraw’s early career as a jury-selection consultant; a reboot of MacGyver starring Lucas Till and George Eads; Pure Genius, about Silicon Valley billionaire James Bell who recruits the world’s best medical minds, such as a doctor played by Dermot Mulroney, to work in his state-of-the art hospital; Training Day, based on the Oscar-winning movie and starring Bill Paxton and Justin Cornwell; and Doubt, starring Katherine Heigl (Grey’s Anatomy, State of Affairs), Laverne Cox (Orange is the New Black, Rocky Horror Picture Show) and Dule Hill (Psych, The West Wing).

Geller pointed to mid-season entry Doubt, in particular, when emphasizing new diversity at the Tiffany Network. “Doubt, I’m happy to say, is the first broadcast series to feature a transgender series regular,” Geller said.

CBS boasts broadcast television’s most stable schedule and that remains true, but CBS is also shuffling things around a bit with the departure of The Good Wife and Mike & Molly, and the decisions to move Supergirl to The CW and to shop Limitless to other networks. This upcoming season will be the first time since 2000 that CBS won’t have any version of CSI on its schedule, but CBS brass didn’t count out the franchise’s eventual return to the network.

CBS’ new fall schedule is below:

MONDAY

September

8:00-8:30 PM The Big Bang Theory

8:30-9:00 PM Kevin Can Wait (new comedy)

October

8:00-8:30 PM Kevin Can Wait

8:30-9:00 PM Man With a Plan

9:00-9:30 PM 2 Broke Girls

9:30-10:00 PM The Odd Couple

10:00-11:00 PM Scorpion

TUESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM NCIS

9:00-10:00 PM Bull (new drama)

10:00-11:00 PM NCIS: New Orleans

WEDNESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM Survivor

9:00-10:00 PM Criminal Minds

10:00-11:00 PM Code Black

THURSDAY

8:00-11:00 PM, ET/ NFL Thursday Night Football (premieres Sept. 15)

5:00-8:00 PM, PT

8:00-8:30 PM The Big Bang Theory (Starting Oct. 27)

8:30-9:00 PM The Great Indoors (new comedy starting Oct. 27)

9:00-9:30 PM Mom (starting Oct. 27)

9:30-10:00 PM Life in Pieces (starting Oct. 27)

10:00-11:00 PM Pure Genius (new drama) (starting Oct. 27)

FRIDAY

8:00-9:00 PM MacGyver (new drama)

9:00-10:00 PM Hawaii Five-O

10:00-11:00 PM Blue Bloods

SATURDAY

8:00-9:00 PM Crimetime Saturday

9:00-10:00 PM Crimetime Saturday

10:00-11:00 PM 48 Hours

SUNDAY

7:00-8:00 PM 60 Minutes

8:00-9:00 PM NCIS: Los Angeles

9:00-10:00 PM Madam Secretary

10:00-11:00 PM Elementary

CBS picked up Training Day for midseason:

READ MORE: Variety

[Cube image courtesy of Variety]

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