• July 7, 2003

Becker, which had not been announced in CBS's fall-schedule when the rest of the shows had been picked last May, will return to the air paired with The King of Queens. The six-season veteran will be broadcast at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, following The King of Queens. The program announced for that spot during the upfront, The Stones, will become a midseason replacement. "This move is designed to further strengthen our fall schedule and to give The Stones, a freshman series that we are very excited about, the best opportunity to succeed," said Nancy Tellem, president of CBS Entertainment. She said the promotional effort for the new show will be larger in midseason than it would have been in the fall.

"By pairing Becker with King of Queens, we are opening a new comedy block on Wednesday with two proven and successful series. Both of these shows provide instant name recognition for a new hour of comedy," Tellem said. Becker, broadcast last season at 8:30 PM on Sunday, improved the time period by +9% in viewers (10.73 million), +4% in households (7.2/11), +9% in adults 18-49 (2.5/6) and +6% in adults 25-54 (3.3/7). During the 2001-2002 season, when it was broadcast on Monday, Becker ranked 11th among all programs with 16.3 million viewers and was CBS's second highest rated comedy.