CBS, the No. 1 network this season, is revamping its schedule for midseason.
"Blue Bloods," the police drama starring Tom Selleck, will get a four-week tryout at 9 p.m. Wednesdays starting Jan. 19, the network said. While the show will move back into its Friday night slot after that, the network has high hopes for "Blue Bloods," the second-most-watched new drama this season after CBS' "Hawaii Five-O."
Starting Feb. 16, "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior" will run at 9 p.m. Wednesday. The crime series is a spinoff of "Criminal Minds," one of CBS' biggest hits.
"The Defenders," the legal drama with Jerry O'Connell and Jim Belushi, will move to the quiet zone of 7 p.m. Fridays starting Feb. 4.
CBS will also unfurl a couple of new series: the sitcom "Mad Love" (Feb. 21), headed for the Monday comedy block, and "Chaos," a one-hour comedy-drama (April 1) slated for Fridays. "Mad Love" will be replacing "Rules of Engagement," which is headed to Thursdays to be paired with "Big Bang Theory." "$#*! My Dad Says," which had been in that slot, will have completed its first-season order.
"We're in the fortunate position of having a schedule with many successful shows and very few holes," said Kelly Kahl, senior executive vice president of prime time for CBS. "This allows us to be very targeted with our midseason series. These are moves that maintain the core stability of a successful schedule, while giving us multiple looks for the future at a few time periods."
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