cbs (81 posts)

CBS

The switch is about to be flipped off on a beacon of daytime television.

After 72 years and more than 15,700 episodes on radio and evenutally TV, Guiding Light will dim to darkness on Sept. 18, 2009, CBS announced Wednesday.

The soap opera, which has 69 Daytime Emmy Awards to its credit, served as early experience for many current stars today, including Hayden Panettiere, Brittany Snow, James Earl Jones, Calista Flockhart, Allison Janney, Mira Sorvino, Kevin Bacon, Peter Gallagher and Christopher Walken.

Keep Reading

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

UPDATE: On July 21, 2009, a judge restored Rather's fraud claim.
___________________________________

On the bright side, at least Dan Rather wasn't completely dissed in court.

But glass-half-empty types might focus on the big storyline: A New York Judge on Thursday threw out substantial parts of the ex-CBS Evening News anchor's $70 million lawsuit against the Eyeball and parent company Viacom, most notably all elements pertaining to Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone, CBS President Leslie Moonves and former CBS News President Andrew Heyward.

Keep Reading

Well, she had to do something to pay all those legal fees.

Britney Spears has signed on to guest star in an upcoming episode of CBS' critical darling sitcom How I Met Your Mother. A rep for show runners Carter Bays and Craig Thomas tells E! Online's TV blog that the casting coup "is true."

Spears' role is, for the time being, slated to be a one-episode endeavor, and will likely air toward the end of April.

The casting coup, first reported by Pink Is the New Blog, accounts for why the Blackout artiste was not present for her morning custody hearing. Spears instead spent the morning hours on the Fox lot along with her agent for a read-through of the episode.

Sources tell E! News that Spears will play a character called Abby, who works in the doctor's office of Ted, the main character played by Josh Radnor. Spears' role is described as "sweet and friendly and scattered and a little nerdy—a female Michael Cera."

Papa Jamie Spears no doubt approves of the paying gig. As the coconservator of her estate, he has final say over any contracts or deals his star spawn may enter into, at least until July 31.

The Britney Spears-starring episode of the CBS sitcom will be the third the cast and crew will film since returning from the writers' strike-imposed hiatus, and the 14th of the season. New episodes begin airing next Monday.

How I Met Your Mother, which also stars Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan and Jason Segal, is currently in its third season. It revolves around Ted, who recounts to his children the shenanigans of, as the title suggests, how he met their mom.

CBS is awash in criminal activity, as usual.  

The network announced Thursday its first 11 renewals for the 2008-2009 television season, among them the reliable CSI trio and five other procedurals that presumably will continue to keep viewers happy and Nielsen's top 10 stuffed. 

Also given a new lease on life were the sitcoms Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, the latter the only freshman series to get the go-ahead from CBS so far this year. 

But the reigning most-watched network--during normal, non-strike-afflicted times--knows what butters its bread. 

In addition to CSI, CSI: Miami and CSI: NY, which before the writers walked out Nov. 5 accounted for 51.2 million pairs of eyeballs each week, CBS reupped Cold Case, Criminal Minds, NCIS, Numb3rs and Without a Trace. 

Ghost Whisper, which certainly follows a formula if not exactly a procedure, will also be getting a fourth season. 

The sitcoms still on the bubble are How I Met Your Mother, a fan favorite but never a ratings winner; The New Adventures of Old Christine, which won Julia Louis-Dreyfus an Emmy but hasn't particularly caught on with viewers; and "that show with David Spade and Puddy from Seinfeld," The Rules of Engagement. 

Meanwhile, no word yet on the vampire-themed Moonlight, which returns Apr. 11 with four new episodes but could still end up facing a stake through the heart; Cane, which was not mentioned when CBS announced spring premiere dates for series shut down by the strike; and Jericho, whose nut-fueled return Tuesday attracted about 7.2 million people—lower than the numbers that got it canceled last year (9.5 million), unfortunately. 

CBS' news follows similar scheduling announcements from NBC and ABC. 

To date, the Peacock Network will be heralding the return of Heroes, Chuck and Life this fall, while ABC gave the good news to nine showrunners, specifically the ones in charge of Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Brothers & Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Private Practice, Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money and Samantha Who?

The lights are back on at The Office, Heroes is coming out of mothballs, and CSI is ready to prod some corpses. TV Land is back in business.

With the writers' strike a bitter memory, the folks at NBC and CBS are following the lead of rival ABC and announcing the return of their major series. 

NBC will be out of the box quickly, with a new Saturday Night Live slated to air Feb. 23, featuring Tina Fey as guest host, while Juno's Ellen Page will host the Mar. 1 outing. The long-running sketch-comedy series aims to produce six to eight episodes between now and May.

New episodes of the networks' prime-time scripted shows, which require more lead time to write, shoot and edit, will begin popping up in March and April.

Producers of The Office plan to squeeze in six new episodes before the end of the season—possibly seven, should NBC demand it—with the first episode airing Apr. 10.

Meanwhile, there are five new episodes of 30 Rock in the works, though that could change based on Alec Baldwin's availability, with the show also set to return Apr. 10, along with medical comedy Scrubs and medical drama ER.

My Name Is Earl is due to return Apr. 3, with a one-hour episode, while Law & Order: Special Victims Unit resumes Apr. 15. The original Law & Order will be back Apr. 23.

The network also announced it had renewed Heroes, Chuck and Life for the 2008-09 season.

CBS, meanwhile, is also hustling to get its key shows up and running. The network announced the return dates for 14 prime-time series Wednesday, including CSI, Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother and Cold Case.

How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men are scheduled to return Mar. 17, with each show expected to produce nine new episodes before the end of the season.

CSI: Miami is slated to return to the airwaves a week later, Mar. 24, with producers expected to churn out eight new episodes. Cold Case will follow suit on Mar. 30, with five episodes in the works.

The first week of April will see even more shows back on the schedule, with Criminal Minds and CSI: NY returning on Apr. 2, with seven new episodes each; CSI and Without a Trace returning Apr. 3, with six new episodes apiece; and Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs returns Apr. 4, also with six episodes each.

NCIS is scheduled to return Apr. 8, with seven new episodes in the works, and Moonlight will be back on Apr. 11, with four new episodes. Rules of Engagement is slated to return on Apr. 14, with six episodes.

Fox has yet to unveil its poststrike plans, beyond lots of American Idol. But network sources have confirmed that 24, originally set to count down its seventh season last month, won't be back on the air until January 2009.

ABC got the ball rolling on Monday, announcing that its top shows, including Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and Lost, would resume production ASAP to get as many shows in the pipeline as possible in time for May sweeps—and before a potential actors' strike in June.

CBS is keeping the torch fires burning.

The network has ordered two more installments of Survivor to be broadcast during the 2008-09 season.

The new editions will mark the 17th and 18th seasons of the long-running reality series.

The 16th installment, the stars-vs.-fans Survivor: Micronesia, premieres Feb. 7, while casting for the 17th installment is currently under way.

Khaki-clad host Jeff Probst will be along for the ride, having reupped his contract to continue overseeing the competition.

"I still get excited to get on the plane and travel to another exotic location with another group of adventure-seeking, Type A personalities," Probst said in a statement. "It is without question the best job I've ever had."

Executive producer Mark Burnett was similarly enthusiastic about the renewal, stating he is "looking forward to many more seasons of Survivor."

"It has become an expected treat every Thursday at 8 p.m., and I am glad our loyal fans can continue their appointment television with us," Burnett said.

The 15th installment of the series, Survivor: China, averaged 15.2 million viewers this fall. While those numbers are down from the castaway competition's glory days, the show continues to dominate its time period.

Survivor wasn't the only Burnett-fueled production to receive a pickup order Tuesday.

NBC announced it has ordered a second season of The Celebrity Apprentice, set to premiere January 2009.

The current season of the boardroom showdown will conclude in a live two-hour season finale on Mar. 27.