CBS adding 5 new series to its fall lineup

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Tea Leoni will portray the U.S. secretary of state in a new CBS drama this fall, the long-running comedy “Two and Half Men” will enter its final season and television’s top-rated network will introduce a new generation of crime procedurals.

CBS said Wednesday it has ordered eight new series for next season, five of them premiering in the fall, with a New Orleans-based spinoff of TV’s most-popular series, “NCIS,” among them.

CBS is doubling down on what its viewers find familiar: five of the six new dramas will be about fighting crime.

The exception is “Madam Secretary,” where Leoni will star as a former college professor turned secretary of state. It will be paired on CBS’ Sunday-night schedule with the network’s most critically acclaimed drama, “The Good Wife.”

“NCIS: New Orleans,” which will star Scott Bakula, gets the prized time slot of Tuesday after “NCIS.” The already established spinoff, “NCIS: Los Angeles,” will move to Monday nights.

For the first time in more than 25 years, CBS’ Monday schedule will not include four comedies. The 9 p.m. Monday time slot, long the home to CBS’ most high-profile comedies, will instead be filled by “Scorpion,” a story about eccentric geniuses fighting crime.

CBS will air NFL football games on Thursday nights through late October, meaning its regular Thursday evening of entertainment shows won’t premiere until Oct. 30. The network will temporarily move “The Big Bang Theory” to Mondays until the Thursday football games stop.

CBS is canceling “The Crazy Ones” starring Robin Williams after one season. The two highest-profile new comedies of last season, starring Williams and Michael J. Fox on NBC, proved to be failures. CBS also ended “Bad Teacher,” “Intelligence,” “Hostages” and “Friends With Better Lives.”

Somewhat surprisingly, CBS rejected “How I Met Your Dad,” the planned spinoff to “How I Met Your Mother” that featured Meg Ryan as a narrator.

“The Mentalist,” “Mike & Molly” and “Undercover Boss” will all return next season; it’s just not certain when. New series starring Matthew Perry, Josh Duhamel and Patricia Arquette were all ordered but won’t appear in the fall.

Other new series planned by CBS:

“Stalker,” starring Dylan McDermott as a detective investigating stalking incidents.

“The McCarthys,” a comedy about a sports-crazed Boston family.

“Battle Creek,” with Duhamel and Dean Winters as a mismatched law-enforcement team in Michigan.

“CSI: Cyber,” a high-tech spinoff of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” starring Arquette.

“The Odd Couple,” a comedy remake with Perry as the slob and Thomas Lennon as his neat-freak friend.