After 18 years at 8 p.m. Tuesday, CBS will move its most popular drama – Mark Harmon's NCIS – to Monday nights this fall.
CBS, which has relied for years on one-hour dramas, radically shuffles its fall lineup with new time slots or night for FBI, Bull, S.W.A.T. and SEAL Team.
NCIS gets bumped from 8 p.m. Tuesday for FBI to lead off a night devoted to Dick Wolf's franchise, including the new FBI: International. (Wolf's company also produces two nights on NBC this fall, the Chicago trilogy on Wednesdays and three Law & Order variations on Thursdays.)
CBS also expands the NCIS franchise with NCIS: Hawai'i starring Vanessa Lachey, and revives the CSI format with original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation cast members William Peterson, Jorja Fox and Wallace Langham on CSI: Vegas. Loveland High School graduate Ann Donahue also returns as one of the CSI executive producers. CSI aired on CBS 2000-2015.
The network has struggled with Monday ratings with dramas airing after the 8-9 p.m. sitcoms, The Neighborhood and Bob (Hearts) Abishola. That's why NCIS will relocate to 9 p.m. Monday.
"How do you help a night? You help a night by moving the No. 1 drama there and use that drama to launch another show. Instantly, our Monday night becomes very, very strong. Our Tuesday night becomes very strong," CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl told Deadline.
In NCIS: Hawai'i at 10 p.m. Monday, following Harmon, Lachey plays the first female Special Agent in Charge of NCIS Pearl Harbor. Scott Bakula's NCIS: New Orleans ends Sunday, May 23, after seven seasons.
The network will replace Allison Janney's Mom comedy, which ended last week, with Ghosts, about a couple who open a bed and breakfast in a haunted country estate. It's the only new CBS sitcom for fall.
CBS canceled All Rise, the courtroom drama which has aired at 9 p.m. Monday for two seasons, along with MacGyer and The Unicorn.
SEAL Team will start its fifth season on CBS this fall. After four episodes it moves to Paramount+, along with Evil and likely Clarice, according to Variety.
The Amazing Race, shut down by the coronavirus last year, has not resumed production due to the global pandemic. It should return at midseason along with Good Sam, a medical drama; Smallwood, a comedy about a pro bowler with Pete Holmes and Chi McBride; Undercover Boss; and the Come Dance With Me competition show produced by LL Cool J.
CBS, which had aired Sunday night movies until 2006, also announced that two original holiday movies for late this year, A Christmas Proposal and Christmas Takes Flight.
THE LINEUP (New programs in bold):
SUNDAY: 7, 60 Minutes; 8 The Equalizer; 9, NCIS: Los Angeles; 10, SEAL Team.
MONDAY: 8 p.m., The Neighborhood; 8:30 p.m., Bob Hearts Abishola; 9 p.m., NCIS; 10 p.m., NCIS: Hawai'i.
TUESDAY: 8 p.m., FBI; 9 p.m., FBI: International; 10 p.m., FBI: Most Wanted.
WEDNESDAY: 8 p.m., Survivor; 9 p.m., Tough As Nails; 10, p.m. CSI: Vegas.
THURSDAY: 8 p.m., Young Sheldon; 8:30 p.m., United States of Al; 9 p.m., Ghosts; 9:30 p.m., B Positive; 10 p.m., Bull.
FRIDAY: 8 p.m., S.W.A.T.; 9 p.m., Magnum, P.I.; 10 p.m., Blue Bloods.
SATURDAY: 8 p.m., drama reruns; 10 p.m., 48 Hours.
For more information, see the CBS 2021-22 TV season announcement.
