It looked like CBS was ready to stop for the day after ordering five dramas and two comedies to series for the 2014-2015 season, but late Friday (May 9) afternoon, the network gave out one more series order, picking up “CSI: Cyber.”
“CSI: Cyber” stars Patricia Arquette and despite the title, the series actually will deal with the FBI's Cyber Crime Division. If the basics sound familiar, it's because Arquette's Avery Ryan debuted on the April 30 episode of “CSI.”
A similar process saw CBS' “NCIS: New Orleans” characters and setting introduced in a spring two-parter.
There had been speculation that CBS might only pick up one of the nested spinoffs, but that speculation was incorrect, I guess.
Between those two spinoffs and the Matthew Perry-centric remake of “The Odd Couple,” CBS is banking heavily on familiarity for the 2014-2015 season. [It remains to be seen if an additional semi-spinoff, “How I Met Your Dad” goes to series. On Thursday, a variety of media reports had the order a done-deal, but CBS and 20th Century Fox TV both denied the news and, as of Friday, it seemed like things were far-from-certain.]
While not quite on the level of Abraham fathering Isaac at the age of 100, it's a bit unusual that “CSI” should be spawning spinoffs going into its 14th season. After all, CBS surely that though the days of using “CSI” to spawn new shows was over. “CSI” was a wildly successful stud, with “CSI: Miami” running 10 seasons and “CSI: NY” running a respectable nine, but “CSI” outlived both of its progeny. Far from eating the end of its run, though, “CSI” continues to be unbeatable in its Tuesday 10 p.m. home overall and very tough to top in the key demographic.
The “CSI: Cyber” pick-up returns Arquette to the grounds upon which she briefly stomped after CBS snagged “Medium” from NBC's cancellation pile. Also expected to return to CBS is “CSI: NY” showrunner Pam Veasey, who would run the “CSI: Cyber” ship.
Stay tuned for more news as it breaks… Unless my head explodes…