The CBS sitcoms “The New Adventures of Old Christine” starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and “How I Met Your Mother” can each breath a sigh of relief this morning now that CBS has officially renewed them for another season. Both shows were considered to be “on the bubble” despite the fact that I personally think they’re two of the funnier shows on TV not called “The Office” or “30 Rock.”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus won an Emmy for her role in “Christine” which undoubtedly helped that show get another chance. What’s not helping the show is the network’s decision to constantly keep moving it around the schedule so that no one who wants to watch it can ever find it. It’s a funny show that will probably never get a real chance in the long run.
“How I Met Your Mother” was probably, ironically, saved by a couple of guest appearances by Britney Spears. The episodes featuring Spears were no where near the funniest of the season, but they got big numbers which not only prompted the renewal, but also talks of more Britney in future episodes.
Also getting renewed for next season was “Rules Of Engagement” another Monday night comedy and “The Unit,” one of CBS’s best dramas. CBS had already announced the renewals for “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men.”
Not so lucky were “Moonlight” and “Shark” both of which got cut from the line-up.
CBS has also picked up six new shows. According to the industry trade papers, CBS will formally announce today that it has ordered two new comedies — “Project Gary” and “Worst Week” — plus four new dramas — “The Mentalist,” “Harper’s Island,” “The Ex List” and “Eleventh Hour” for the fall season
Project Gary
The multicamera project from ABC Studios centers on an easygoing, recently divorced dad (Jay Mohr) who tries to navigate new waters with his ex-wife, to whom he was married for 15 years, his kids and his new girlfriend.
Worst Week
Show revolves around a young couple, played Kyle Bornheimer and Erinn Hayes, in pre-wedding mode navigating the idiosyncracies of their soon-to-be in laws. “That ’70s Show’s” Kurtwood Smith and “New Adventures of Old Christine’s” Nancy Lenehan star as the bride-to-be’s mom and dad.
The Mentalist
Features Simon Baker, starring in his third CBS drama, as a former “celebrity psychic� who admits the psychic claim was a fraud but now uses his observational skills to work as a contractor with law enforcement.
Harper’s Island
A horror story that unfolds during the course of a season as a group of friends meet on an island off the Seattle coast for a destination wedding and are terrorized by a killer. Directed by Jon Turteltaub
The Ex List
Based on an Israeli series about a woman who’s told by a tarot card reader that she needs to get married by year’s end. The twist is that the man of her dreams is supposedly someone she’s already known in her life. So, of course, the woman must journey through her past to find him.
The Eleventh Hour Elemental
Based on the limited British sci-fi series, centers on Jacob Hood (Rufus Sewell), a special science adviser to the government who, with his female bodyguard Rachel, saves people from the worst abuses of science. Compared to “The X-Files.”
UPDATE
According to Wired, “The Eleventh Hour” has been renamed “Elemental.”
UPDATE TO MY UPDATE
The official CBS press release calls “The Eleventh Hour” simply “Eleventh Hour” and not “Elemental” as was reported on the Wired site. Right now we’re going with “Eleventh Hour” as the actual title.
typically i do not watch a great deal on CBS. However, Two and a Half Men is a great show. I actually think the writing has gotten better over the past two seasons.
This is one of those comedies that surprises you with some of the stuff they are able to get onto network tv.
I am really curious about the Eleventh Hour, but isn’t it called Elemental over here?
@Kory - Yeah, Two and a Half Men seems to fly under the radar somehow with the stuff they put on the air. It’s a funny show but sometimes they storylines are too much even for me. For those who don’t watch it, one recent story centered around one of the “men” spending the whole episode hiring and being with a prostitute. Needless to say, the behavior was not considered bad nor was it discouraged in any way (actually, encouraged would be more accurate). Not exactly family viewing.
Not much on this list I watch besides the Unit, which is on my list, but wasn’t as good this season. Glad to see it’s back for another season, hopefully they can focus more on the military side of the show and less on the women.
Scotty Dubs last blog post..Add more hours to your day
@Jason I dunno if you guys are doing NBC release schedule, but the new show that looks interesting there is a show called Merlin, which is about, you guessed it Merlin…
I just realized that we don’t watch any shows on CBS anymore. Hmmmm….
@ Cap’n - I think we wrote about the NBC shows awhile ago, at least, they did their Upfronts on April 3rd-ish…
I saw the Merlin show, but haven’t read much more about it.
@ Jina - Yeah, once we stopped watching CSI and Without a Trace, there wasn’t anything else.
Um, Amazing Race?
Pretty sure that’s already happening this summer. IT was renewed in December:
http://www.popcritics.com/2007/12/non-elimination-round-the-amazing-race-to-return-for-13th-season/
[...] already wrote a bit on some of the new shows and renewed shows on CBS this coming fall, but there is an official CBS [...]