CBS seeks younger viewers with new fall lineup

CBS seeks younger viewers with new fall lineup

Wednesday May 18 12:27 PM ET


CBS, the most watched U.S. television network overall, on Wednesday unveiled a new lineup of crime dramas and supernatural thrillers to bolster its appeal to younger viewers.

In all, CBS said it was adding three new comedies and five fresh dramas to its prime-time lineup next season. The Viacom Inc.-owned network was set to present the shows to advertisers and affiliates later on Wednesday as part of the annual upfront marketplace to book commercial time in advance of the 2005-2006 broadcast season.

"Sci-fi by necessity gets a younger crowd," CBS Chairman and Viacom Co-President Les Moonves said ahead of the network's upfront presentation. "We're in a position now where we're younger -- we're certainly hipper.

"I can almost guarantee you we're going to be up in 18 to 49," he added, referring to the 18- to 49-year-old audience demographic coveted by advertisers. CBS is expected to finish the current season a close second behind Fox in the ratings race for young adults.

In keeping with trends already emerging from the upfront announcements of rival networks NBC and ABC, the new CBS slate is heavy on celebrities, shows with paranormal themes and stories told from a female perspective.

CBS has slated two supernatural series for next season -- "Ghost Whisperer," starring Jennifer Love Hewitt as a young newlywed who communicates with the dead, and "Threshold," about a team of scientists and military personnel who make contact with an alien life form.

Banking on the success of its many crime dramas, such as "CSI," CBS will add the drama "Close To Home" about a young woman prosecutor who tries criminal cases that take place in her suburban neighborhood. And "Criminal Minds" stars Mandy Patinkin in a crime drama about investigators at the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit.

Industry analysts say CBS could well steal upfront advertising dollars this year from NBC, long the network with the highest take, and outpace its rival with up to $2.5 billion in commercial commitments.

NBC dominated network ratings for nearly a decade, but slipped to fourth place this season after popular sitcoms "Friends" and "Frasier" went off the air.

"We think the (upfront) market is going to be up," Moonves said. "We think we're going to be up more than the market."

'FONZIE' AND 'DHARMA' IN NEW ROLES

On the comedy front, Henry Winkler, best known as the ulta-cool Fonzie from the ABC classic "Happy Days," will star as an elder doctor in the new sitcom "Out of Practice." Tony Award-winning actress Stockard Channing will co-star.

Jenna Elfman, the former co-star of another ABC hit comedy "Dharma & Greg," will star as a single woman juggling the men in her life in "Everything I Know About Men." The sitcom will debut midseason along with a drama called "The Unit" about special military operatives on undercover missions.

CBS's third comedy is "How I Met Your Mother," about a young man's search for love.

Another possibility for the CBS slate, Moonves said, is a comedy starring former "Seinfeld" cohort Julia Louis-Dreyfus, seeking to make her second stab at a sitcom of her own with a show titled "Old Christine."

Fellow "Seinfeld" alumnus Jason Alexander was cut from the CBS roster with the cancellation of his latest show "Listen Up." Other CBS shows that were dropped include "Judging Amy," "Joan of Arcadia" and the Wednesday night edition of "60 Minutes." The Sunday night edition of "60 Minutes," a stalwart in the CBS news portfolio, will remain.

Reuters/VNU