CBS has issued its fall schedule, and two days of it are basically not TV anymore.
All of Wednesday night is now “reality” programming. I put reality in quotes because it’s scripted reality, the unreal. The shows are “Survivor,” “Amazing Race,” and the new “Real Love Boat,” a dating show for singles on the high seas. CBS says it’s like the old “Love Boat” except there are no aging movie stars from the 1940s and 50s.
Turning Wednesday into a cheap deal is no surprise. CBS can’t compete with NBC’s Dick Wolf “Chicago” night and won’t deal with ABC’s comedy night which will now include “Abbott Elementary.”
CBS has completely abandoned Saturday night, althought that’s been happening for a while now. In the old days, “All in the Family,” “Mary Tyler Moore,” “MASH,” “Bob Newhart,” and “Carol Burnett” was the CBS Sunday line up. But that day is really done forever. Now it’s Drama rerun, Drama rerun, and then the miserable “48 Hours,” which is usually about an unsolved murder in a white trash town.
So that’s it. Oscar and Tony winner Marcia Gay Harden is starring in a series called “So Help Me Todd,” which of course isn’t even about her, but of course it’s not, she’s over 40. So help me God.
