• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, December 19, 2012

It’s up for debate, but TBS may have made the most successful syndication acquisition ever when it picked up “The Big Bang Theory,” which carried the network during a low point in original programming.

Now, it’s acquired another CBS show, albeit a less successful one.

Turner's TBS has acquired cable rights to “Rules of Engagement,” the comedy starring David Spade, which returns in February. Sony Pictures Television is the distributor. The series, with an estimated 100 episodes in the can, is in broadcast syndication in most of the country.

The series will air in the Monday 8:30 p.m. slot when it returns to CBS, following “How I Met Your Mother.”

In New York, WPIX airs the series on weeknights at 6:30 p.m. The show launched on CBS in the winter of 2007. In 2011, CBS gave the appearance that it may have been willing to let the series wind down, as it was scheduled to air original episodes on Saturdays. However, that didn’t happen, and the show became a replacement on Thursdays.

TBS has used “The Big Bang Theory” as a lead-in to the Conan O’Brien late-night show. Some nights, it runs for two hours in a row.