CBS’ New Schedule: Vampires, singers and swingers

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CBS’ annual press breakfast at the upfronts is usually the Leslie Moonves show, but this year the showy chairman turned the ceremony over to Nina Tassler, the network’s entertainment president, and Kelly Kahl, its scheduling chief. The two executives had a tough task living up to their boss’ past pith -- ‘Ghosts skew younger than God,’ Moonves once said to reporters at this breakfast, when asked why he had canceled ‘Joan of Arcadia’ in favor of ‘Ghost Whisperer’ -- but in the end, it was a lively event. (Tassler mentioned her hot flashes, Kahl said he’s ‘too white’ to roll his ‘r’s’ when talking about ‘Cane,’ CBS’ new series about Cuban gangsters starring Jimmy Smits.)

But more on that later. For the fall, CBS picked up one new comedy, three new dramas and one very provocative-sounding reality show, ‘Kid Nation.’ Here’s the schedule:

Monday
8 p.m. ‘How I Met Your Mother’
8:30 p.m. ‘The Big Bang Theory’ (new)
9 p.m. ‘Two and a Half Men’
9:30 p.m. ‘Rules of Engagement’
10 p.m. ‘CSI Miami’

Tuesday
8 p.m. ‘NCIS’
9 p.m. ‘The Unit’
10 p.m. ‘Cane’ (new)

Wednesday
8 p.m. ‘Kid Nation’ (new)
9 p.m. ‘Criminal Minds’
10 p.m. ‘CSI: NY’

Thursday
8 p.m. ‘Survivor’
9 p.m. ‘CSI’
10 p.m. ‘Without a Trace’

Friday
8 p.m. ‘Ghost Whisperer’
9 p.m. ‘Moonlight’ (new)
10 p.m. ‘Numbers’

Saturday
8 p.m. ‘Crimetime Saturday’ (reruns)
9 p.m. ‘Crimetime Saturday’ (reruns)
10 p.m. ’48 Hours Mystery’

Sunday
7 p.m. ’60 Minutes’
8 p.m. ‘Viva Laughlin’ (new)
9 p.m. ‘Cold Case’
10 p.m. ‘Shark’

More highlights from the press conference after the jump.

Mostly, what CBS wants everybody to know this season is that they’re really trying to be experimental. Their schedule is stable enough that they feel they can go crazy with the new shows.

And they kind of have, other than ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ a new multicamera comedy from Chuck Lorre, the creator of ‘Two and a Half Men.’ Of the dramas, ‘Cane’ is the most conservative, and it stars Jimmy Smits as a shady and ‘Scarface’-like businessman. Tassler also invoked ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘Goodfellas’ when describing its tone and said it will sometimes have Spanish subtitles.

‘Moonlight,’ from executive producer Joel Silver, is about a vampire; ‘Viva Laughlin’ is an American remake of the British ‘Viva Blackpool’ and is a musical mystery.

Most provocative in the short term appears to be ‘Kid Nation,’ a reality series about 40 kids from ages 8 to 15 who create their own society in a town -- one without parents but with adult supervision, CBS executives assured after the press conference was over. Tassler said during her remarks that ‘Kid Nation’ was originally meant to be on the summer schedule, but it was so ‘unique’ that they made room for it on the fall schedule.

Provocation in the longer term will come from ‘Swingtown,’ a midseason replacement that Tassler said is about ‘people exploring alternative lifestyles.’ Meaning, they’re swingers. On CBS!

One more note: ‘Amazing Race’ fans, do not despair. The show will be back. Kahl said that the versatile reality series will be plugged in at some point when they need a fix in the schedule.

-- Kate Aurthur