CBS did some midseason tinkering on Tuesday (November 4) morning, setting a season premiere and series finale for “The Mentalist,” scheduling the return of “Undercover Boss” and announcing spring dates for new installments of “Survivor” and “The Amazing Race.”
Note that none of CBS' Tuesday announcements impact current programming in any way, so don't go looking for cancellations or anything, though both “Madam Secretary” and “The Good Wife” will drop off the schedule for a few weeks rather than airing repeats.
Of most interest to readers of this blog, CBS formally announced a Wednesday, December 17 finale for the current “Survivor: San Juan Del Sur” and a Friday, December 19 finale for this season of “The Amazing Race.” It'll be mighty odd having neither finale on Sunday.
The 30th season of “Survivor” and the 26th season of “The Amazing Race” will have back-to-back 90-minute premieres on Wednesday, February 25, followed closely by the Friday, February 27 time period premiere for “Amazing Race.”
Of course, with “Survivor” and “Amazing Race” off from late December through late February, that leaves the usual gaps in CBS' schedule.
To that end, “The Mentalist” will premiere its final season on Sunday, November 30 at 9:30 p.m. ET/9:00 PT and then and will air in that time period for five weeks while “The Good Wife” is taking its regular late-fall downtime. “The Mentalist” will then move to the “Survivor” slot on Wednesday at 8 on January 7, leading up to a two-hour finale on February 18.
“Madam Secretary” will vanish at the same time and “Undercover Boss” will air three Sunday 8 p.m. installments on December 14, 21 and 28 before going to its familiar Friday 8 p.m. time period until the return of “The Amazing Race.”
And both “Madam Secretary” and “The Good Wife” will be back on January 4.
“One of the goals this season was to keep expanding our lineup of year-round, original programming and have fewer repeat cycles,” blurbs Kelly Kahl, Senior Executive Vice President, CBS Primetime. “We”re fortunate to have two popular, proven ratings winners in 'The Mentalist' and 'Undercover Boss' to seamlessly join our schedule.”
Whee?