CBS is getting ahead of the premiere-week fray by offering viewers a first-look at the network’s new fall series on Monday, Sept. 1 at 8:30 pm ET/PT.
The special, hosted by CBS Sports’ Jim Nantz (in photo above), will highlight this fall’s arrival of Thursday Night Football as well as the net’s five new series.
The special will air “just in time to serve viewers looking for clear, convenient programming information ahead of the new television season,” according to a CBS statement. “The CBS Fall Preview is an important part of CBS’s strategy to make information about its new shows easy to find amid the increasingly complex programming environment.”
Besides airing on the network, the preview also will be made available on demand to customers of pay-TV services, including AT&T U-verse TV, Bright House Networks, Cablevision’s Optimum TV, CenturyLink Prism, Charter Communications, Cincinnati Bell Fioptics, Comcast’s Xfinity TV, Cox Communications, DirecTV, Frontier Communications, HTC Inc., Mediacom Communications, Midcontinent Commuications, Service Electric Cablevision, Time Warner Cable and Verizon FiOS TV.
CBS-owned and -affiliated stations will be able to air the special in encore showings on both their primary and digital channels, as well as stream it on their Websites, through Sunday, Sept. 21. Viewers also can watch it on demand on CBS.com, the CBS App (http://www.cbs.com/mobile/) and on select CBS Audience Network partner sites through Sept. 21.
CBS’ new series this fall are: Madam Secretary, starring Téa Leoni as the Secretary of State; NCIS: New Orleans, a spin-off of NCIS; Scorpion, about a team of brilliant misfits working to protect the U.S. from high-tech threats; Stalker, starring Maggie Q and Dylan McDermott; and CBS’ only new comedy this fall, The McCarthys, about a sports-crazed family in Boston.
CBS has the benefit of a huge fall promotional platform: it kicks off Thursday Night Football on Sept. 11, with the Pittsburgh Steelers taking on the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Sports programming isn’t necessarily considered the best platform to user in primetime-series viewers, but of all the broadcast networks, CBS’ demographic is probably the closest to the massive football-watching audience. CBS’s James Brown and Bill Cowher, along with NFL Network’s Deion Sanders, also will team up on the CBS and NFL Network primetime pre-game and halftime coverage each Thursday night.
Madam Secretary will premiere in a double-header on Sunday, Sept. 21, following CBS’ football broadcast that day. The hour-long drama will first air at 8:30 pm ET (pushed back a half hour due to football) and 8 pm PT, and then again at 10:30 pm ET and 10 pm PT.
Scorpion, inspired by a true story, premieres Monday, Sept. 22, at 9 pm ET/PT, following The Big Bang Theory and Mom, and leading into NCIS: Los Angeles, which is moving away from its comfy Tuesday night 9 pm ET/PT time-slot following the still hugely popular NCIS at 8 pm ET/PT. That slot will now be occupied by another NCIS spin-off, NCIS: New Orleans, starring Scott Bakula and CCH Pounder, which premieres Tuesday, Sept. 23.
Stalker will premiere the following week on Wednesday, Oct. 1, at 10 pm ET/PT and The McCarthys will hold off, not debuting until Thursday, Oct. 30 at 9:30 pm ET/PT.
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