CBS CEO Les Moonves used the term “Must See TV” to describe his network’s fall lineup, a move that reads like a jab at competitor NBC.
The line from Moonves came this week during the network’s annual breakfast preceding its upfronts presentation. Moonves used the event to boast of CBS’ lineup heading into the 2017-2018 season.
“We are very bullish about the television business, bullish about CBS,” Moonves said, according to Deadline.
CBS announced it will add eight new series (four comedies and four dramas) to its lineup this season, and six of those will debut in the fall.
New fall dramas include:
- “Seal Team,” starring David Boreanaz
- “S.W.A.T., starring Shemar Moore
- “Wisdom of the Crowd,” staring Jeremy Piven
New fall comedies include:
- “Young Sheldon,” a spinoff of CBS’s “Big Bang Theory”
- “9JKL,” starring Mark Feuerstein
- “Me, Myself and I,” starring “Saturday Night Live” veteran Bobby Moynihan.
Later this year, CBS will debut “Instinct,” staring Alan Cumming, and “By the Book,” starring Jay R. Ferguson.
In addition to announcements around its network, CBS also revealed some more details for the upcoming “Star Trek: Discovery,” which will be exclusive to its All Access direct-to-consumer service. CBS has raised the episode order for the series, from 13 to 15, and said the series will premiere in the fall after its airs on the CBS network.
CBS’ fall lineup announcement and poke at NBC come less than a week after NBC announced its updated programming slate for the 2017-2018 season.
NBC even used its old slogan to describe its new Thursday nights, which will now feature “This Is Us,” the network’s popular new drama returning for its second season, and the return of “Will & Grace.”
“Coming off another stabilizing year, which included the launch of one of the great new dramas in a decade, our upcoming fall schedule is both limited in the number of new series and aggressive in rebooting Thursday night,” said Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment, in a statement. “To create another undeniable night of television, we’re aligning some of our most potent shows on Thursday in order to bring back ‘Must See TV.’ We are also strategically deploying strong new shows in choice time periods on other nights and nurturing our growing comedy lineup.”