Commentary

Long TV's Most Traditional Network, CBS Now Challenging Broadcast Traditions

I remember when critics snidely suggested that CBS was short for Can't Buy Success. How times have changed.

Today I would say those letters stand for Creative Broadcasting System. Lately, it looks to me like CBS has simply separated itself from the broadcast pack and is operating on its own terms. 

This is exciting to see, especially at a time when the industry seems all too eager to sound the broadcast death knell, and rumors continue to swirl around CBS' parent company Paramount.

Consider:

CBS was the only Big Four broadcast network not to be included in an extravaganza during Upfront Week in May. The network used to dominate Upfront Week with spectacular presentations at Carnegie Hall. The decision to bolt seems not to have hurt it at all … and likely saved parent company Paramount Global a bundle.

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CBS in the spring effectively used its late 2023-24 season launch of the "Good Wife"/"Good Fight" spinoff "Elsbeth" as a platform on which to promote its new 2024-25 series. For a time, the series' delightful star Carrie Preston became the welcome new face of CBS prime time.

Then, through much of the summer, CBS promoted its new fall shows without mentioning the nights or times they would be on. 
Was that because its schedule wasn't locked, or was the network shrewdly acknowledging that in an era of DVR playback and next-day streaming service premieres such details aren't all that important?

Just get people amped for a new show and they will find it when convenient. Regardless, it worked. The promos were fun in the way that summertime promos of the networks' fall fare used to be fun.

Eventually, while its primary competitors kicked off their new fall schedules in September, CBS brazenly claimed its own Premiere Week -- the week of October 13.

CBS isn't the first network to do this … The CW has for years avoided putting up its season premieres against everyone else's in September and has launched them weeks later.

But if memory serves, CBS is the first of the Big Three (or Four) to lay claim to its own week away from the rest. 

And even if that wasn't the case at some time in the past, it's the truth right now, when the stakes for broadcast television are higher than ever.

And then came the icing on the cake: The "preview" presentation of the network's new fall drama "Matlock." The ratings were as robust as the critical praise that greeted it. Turns out it's a damn good show.

When it was first announced, "Matlock" sounded like a dreary retread. Turns out it is not a reboot, return, reimagining, rehash or revival, either. It may already be safe to say that "Matlock" is the most original and entertaining new series of the season. And it is totally unlike any other series on broadcast right now, for several reasons -- not least the casting in the title role of Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning veteran actress Kathy Bates.

We all know how the television business (and Hollywood in general) all-too-often treats women of a certain age.  Bates in the past has had a few things to say about that (especially after NBC cancelled her legal drama "Harry's Law," reportedly because its large audience was too old).

Well, she is formidable here. I can't imagine anyone else playing her part.

More than 10 million people have watched it, and I can't believe they won't be back for more. Kathy Bates may be the best thing to happen to CBS since Angela Lansbury.

I won't say anything more about "Matlock," as I don't want to circle anywhere near any spoilers. (Also, TV Blog critic Adam Buckman will likely weigh in at a future time.) I will simply note that the show was already top-notch without the big surprise at the end. Fortunately, critics and journalists who have written about the pilot have uniformly avoided even hinting at the deets of that awesome twist.

What's most interesting about these distinctive moves at CBS is that despite them all the network still feels in every way like a great big broadcast entity.

What will it do next?  That may be the most compelling television story of the season ahead.

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