CBS will make its usual complement of modest changes to its prime-time schedule for the second half of the television season, adding one new series and bringing back an old reliable bench player.
The absence of surprise is underscored by the new show, “Golden Boy,†being yet another crime drama - the only kind of drama CBS now programs - and the returning comedy, “Rules of Engagement,†being inserted on Mondays at 8:30, where it was located in 2010, the only time CBS ordered a full season of the show.
Every other time, the network has used it as a situational replacement for a comedy it had hoped could do better than “Rules.†This time, “Rules,†now in its seventh season of production, will replace the comedy “Partners,†which failed quickly this fall.
“Golden Boy†is a cop show about a young officer and his meteoric rise to police commissioner of New York. It starts Theo James and Chi McBride. The drama will start for two weeks on Tuesdays at 10 (temporarily replacing the crime drama “Vegasâ€) on Feb. 26 and March 5. It will then move to its regular time period, Friday at 9, starting March 8.
The show that has resided there this season is “C.S.I.: NY,†which will have its last episode on Feb 22. That may be the last episode ever, considering the show has seen its ratings diminish for several season - or it may not.
CBS is only calling it the last episode of the season and the network is known for keeping its crime dramas going long after that popularity has faded - because they usually still make money by selling the episodes around the world.
Bill Carter writes about the television industry. Follow @wjcarter on Twitter.
