CBS Plans Premiere-Week Blitz

Zap2It.com | August 2, 2006

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Network bunches debuts in season's first seven days

While its rivals are staggering their fall premiere dates over the course of a few weeks, CBS will give viewers nearly everything on its schedule in the span of seven days.

The network announced its fall premiere dates on Wednesday, and with the exception of its unscripted shows "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race," the entire prime-time schedule will debut in the first week of the season, which starts Monday, Sept. 18. (That's according to Nielsen, which starts measuring ratings for 2005-06 that day.)

CBS can afford to load up its premieres in a condensed time because its schedule is pretty stable. The network has only four new shows for the fall, and most of its returning series are in the same spots they were last year. The exception is Sunday nights, where "The Amazing Race" moves to the 8 p.m. hour, "Cold Case" slides back to 9 and "Without a Trace" moves over from Thursday.

The 13th edition of "Survivor," which takes place in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific, will premiere Thursday, Sept. 14. The 10th "Amazing Race" will begin three nights later with a 90-minute premiere. And then comes everything else.

Here's a rundown of CBS' premiere dates (all times Eastern, new shows in bold):

Thursday, Sept. 14

8 p.m. "Survivor: Cook Islands"

Sunday, Sept. 17

8:30 p.m. "The Amazing Race 10" (new timeslot; 90 minutes)

Monday, Sept. 18

8 p.m. "The Class"
8:30 p.m. "How I Met Your Mother"
9 p.m. "Two and a Half Men"
9:30 p.m. "The New Adventures of Old Christine"
10 p.m. "CSI: Miami"

Tuesday, Sept. 19

8 p.m. "NCIS"
9 p.m. "The Unit"
10 p.m. "Smith"

Wednesday, Sept. 20

8 p.m. "Jericho"
9 p.m. "Criminal Minds"
10 p.m. "CSI: NY"

Thursday, Sept. 21

9 p.m. "CSI"
10 p.m. "Shark"

Friday, Sept. 22

8 p.m. "Ghost Whisperer"
9 p.m. "Close to Home"
10 p.m. "Numb3rs"

Saturday, Sept. 23

8 p.m. "Crimetime Saturday" (drama repeats)
10 p.m. "48 Hours Mystery"

Sunday, Sept. 24

7 p.m. "60 Minutes"
8 p.m. "The Amazing Race 10" (time-period premiere)
9 p.m. "Cold Case" (new timeslot)
10 p.m. "Without a Trace" (new timeslot)