What is CBS thinking? I love ...
Threshold
Question: What is CBS thinking? I love
Threshold and will follow it whenever it is on, but I am very afraid that if CBS shuffles it around, viewers will give up on it and we'll lose it. Do they think that this swap will be mutually beneficial to
Threshold and
Close to Home, or is it more geared to one or the other? I can't imagine that this will help
Threshold, as it will be up against the very successful
Law & Order: SVU, which seems to me to be bigger competition for
Threshold than
Three Wishes. I really hate this change, as Tuesday already seems engorged with good shows, while Friday was much less crowded. How can I handle three shows at once with only one VCR?! (This is also a problem in the hour before!) PS. Love the column.
Answer: Lots of questions prompted by this schedule change. Such as Sam's "Is
Threshold permanently being moved to Tuesdays?" The answer: Unclear. For now, the switch has only been announced for the rest of the month, which because of preemptions in the time period this and next Tuesday (for the CMA Awards), covers only the episodes of Nov. 22 and 29 for
Threshold. And Jorge takes the long view in his question: "Do you think
Threshold has any chance of being renewed for a second season, or is this moving around just another way for CBS to be able to say that they did all they could, but that they're canceling?" Again: Way too early to project. But this is the downside of being on a network so fat and sassy with hits. If you're seen as not pulling your weight, it could be premature curtains.
The hope in this switch is not that Threshold could beat SVU or even Boston Legal probably, but that its thriller/sci-fi components could help hold on to the younger demographics of its Amazing Race lead-in (which has shrunk a bit given the much heavier competition this season in that killer time period, not to mention the sluggish nature of the family edition). If Threshold skews young enough, it may not matter so much that this is one of the few 10 pm/ET time periods of the week CBS doesn't win. (But I'm being optimistic here.) With Close to Home, its female-centric leads are seen as potentially more compatible to Ghost Whisperer and the flow is better to fellow crime drama Numbers. Bottom line here: Threshold is unlike anything else on CBS' procedural-heavy schedule, and it may be tough for it to fit in anywhere. But according to Variety, one of the original scenarios when CBS was planning its schedule last May was to put Threshold on Tuesdays and Close to Home on Fridays. So if it does help either or both shows (albeit in different ways and using different standards), maybe it will end up working out after all. But at this point, a second season for either show looks pretty iffy. Not that anyone should give up on them quite yet.
