CBS Midseason Dates: Criminal Minds‘ Final Season, FBI Spinoff, MacGyver Bumps Magnum, NOLA Moves and More
It will be a happy new year indeed for fans of Criminal Minds, which now has a premiere date for its 15th and final season.
The crime drama’s 10-episode swan song will get underway on Wednesday, Jan. 8 at 9/8c (with a two-hour premiere), and eventually wrap up with a two-hour series finale on Feb. 19, at which point SEAL Team will return from a seven-week hiatus to reclaim its time slot. (For those doing the math, yes, there will be another Criminal Minds double-pump in there somewhere. Also, Miss Crabtree commends you.)
CBS also announced launch dates for two freshman series, FBI: Most Wanted (on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at 10/9c) and Tommy (Thursday, Feb. 6 at 10/9c). The former, a spinoff of Dick Wolf’s FBI, centers on the Fugitive Task Force that tracks and captures notorious criminals on the bureau’s Most Wanted list, while the latter stars Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie) as Abigail “Tommy” Thomas, a former high-ranking NYPD officer who becomes Los Angeles’ first female chief of police.
As for returning series, MacGyver will open Season 4 on Friday, Feb. 7 at 8/7c, pushing Hawaii Five-0 back an hour and benching Magnum P.I.‘s sophomore run until MacGyver‘s full season concludes. Additionally, NCIS: New Orleans — which recently bid adieu to an original cast member — is moving to Sundays at 10 pm beginning Feb. 16. (Remember, Madam Secretary‘s farewell season is just 10 episodes.)
Premiere dates for any midseason fare not noted below — including Man With a Plan and the Pauley Perrette comedy Broke — will be announced at a later date.
TUESDAY, JAN. 7
10 pm FBI: MOST WANTED
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 8
8 pm Undercover Boss Season 9 (Survivor Season 40 takes over Feb. 12)
9 pm Criminal Minds final season (special two-hour premiere)
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 15
10 pm S.W.A.T.
THURSDAY, FEB, 6
10 pm TOMMY
FRIDAY, FEB. 7
8 pm MacGyver
9 pm Hawaii Five-0 (new time slot)
10 pm Blue Bloods
SUNDAY, FEB. 16
10 pm NCIS: New Orleans (new night)
Want scoop on any of the above shows? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.
Looks like an all-CBS night for me this spring!
So they’re only going to air a half season of Magnum, then have a full season run of MacGyver… before letting Magnum’s season finish??? What the heck, CBS! You have plenty of time to run these two series at the same time like you always have before. Nobody wants to wait six extra months to see the conclusion of a show they’ve been watching, come on. >-/
Since the move, Magnum has dropped in the demo more than 50%. CBS probably has very little faith in it rebounding.
Well, it sure as heck won’t have any chance to rebound after they do THIS.
It has? Based on the numbers I’ve looked at, Magnum has dropped around 0.3 from last season’s 0.9 18-49 demo rating (0.2 if you take out the outlier 2.4 rating that happened after the AFC Championship game on a Sunday.) That mean’s it’s getting around a 0.6 rating, which isn’t over 50% and isn’t bad for a Friday show.
I have been enjoying Magnum PI this season moreso than last. I really wish they would allow Magnum to conclude its run FIRST and then let MacGyver do theirs. Maybe there aren’t many episodes for MacGyver this season. Maybe….
Agreed! I liked them running together, but if they can’t share the spotlight, then as you say, just hold off on MacGyver until Magnum is complete.
Same here, I am also enjoying Magnum PI more this season compared to last season..and while I missed Macgyver not starting in September / October I would prefer they finish airing Magnum now that they have started before airing Macgyver. Macgyver has 22 episodes in the season.
I am glad CM gets its earlier time slot back. I am disappointed that Magnum was pulled, even if temporary.
Magnum has become one of my favorite shows, but I also love MacGyver, Why can’t they both be on at the same time?
does macgyver have a full season? because i imagine they would air those episodes without a break if they still want magnum p.i. to finish before summer starts?
Sounds like McGyver is probably only 13 episodes. Because they can’t double up. When it returns Magnum PI will run into the summer. I wish they would run the two together. Should move Blue Bloods. But they probably want to air the two comedies they have on the bench and Magnum to give them some fresh content going into the summer… Like they did with Elementary.
I seem to remember someone saying they have a shortened season just to get the show to a full 100 episodes for syndication. Maybe someone can confirm that.
Syndication hasn’t cared about 100 episodes in a very long time. The number has been more like 85-88 for the last 10 years or so.
Yes Macgyver has a full season order…it was initially renewed for 13 episodes…A cast member then posted in November that an additional 9 episodes had been ordered. That brings the episodes to 22.
Talk about a right mess up. Gotta be some of CBS worst scheduling lol
As usual ~2-month wait for SEAL Team return. Effectively handing NCIS: New Orleans and Magnum a death sentence.
Wonder why they’re moving Five-0/MacGyver back to their previous timeslots.
NCIS NO will be renewed
Unfortunately. After what they just did I am not watching it anymore
“They” didn’t DO anything–but accommodate Lucas Black who requested to leave to be with his family and do some Fast & Furious movies. Obviously, you’re not a fan of the show……
If NCIS: Los Angeles can survive on Sunday nights, NCIS: New Orleans can probably do the same. Hawaii Five-O has stronger ratings than Magnum so I figured that is why Five-O was moved to the earlier time slot this past fall, but it really belongs in the later time slot.
Every member of the NCIS franchise is safe as long as the cast want to keep doing it. NCIS goes when Harmon goes, NO goes when Bakula goes (although might have withstood that if Lucas Black had stayed on), LA goes when one of O’Donnell or LL Cool J goes IMO.
Magnum was obviously meant to get a bump from having 5-0 as it’s lead in but it hasn’t really worked. Can’t see Magnum being cancelled any time soon though, as with the original shows they’re obviously planning that when 5-0 ends that Magnum will replace it
Because they saw the move was bad for both show’s. Five-O lost viewership and MacGyver didn’t pick up any. MacGyver is a crappy show, it’s just a weak Five-O. Five-O needs to get rid of Danny, he’s a waste. He could just phone in his part, he emotion, no talent, just a pain in the butt to every on the show. Plus this year he looks like a rooster with that dumb hair cut.
I totally agree about Danny. The episodes that he isn’t in are so much better because they don’t have to slow them down or chop them up for him.
TV is a business, they are right now having problems with the lineup. H5O and Blue Bloods are down, Magnum is dragging them down. They are trying to fix that.
This move may not be so bad for NCIS: NO. It will be following NCIS: LA and will probably hold onto more viewers than Madam Secretary currently does.
I don’t like NCIS:LA even though I watch both of the other two. Madam Secretary is a nice Sunday vibe. I’ll be DVRing NOLA and watching it on Tuesday as normal. I understand why they want to put the new FBI after the current one, though I wasn’t fond of the backdoor pilot. I think I would have rather had NOLA wait and pick back up after a short FBI run in the slot.
NCIS LA is far better than NOLA imo. If one is to go I rekon it will be NOLA especially at 10pm on a Sunday (already low ratings will suffer)
I’m so glad Hawaii 50 and Blue Bloods will be back to back again. I don’t watch Macgyver or Magnum because I can’t relate to anyone else playing them, except Richard Dean Anderson and Tom Selleck. I have no problem with Alex O’Loughlin playing McGarret because I’ve had a thing for him ever since he played a vampire on Moonlight. And truthfully, I’d watch Tom Selleck in anything.
I’ll give the FBI spinoff a try. I haven’t been watching anything on Thursday since SWAT moved to Wednesday.
I’m happy MacGyver will back but why can’t they keep Magnum too? Does that mean Magnum will air in summer now? How many eps MacGyver‘s full season means? 13 or 22? This schedule just doesn’t make sense
Closer to 22 than 13.
But that would mean they won’t finish until the end of June so when Magnum will be back? How many episode will Magnum even have left when MacGyver replace him?
They will probably have a few episodes in January before the move. So probably half the season unless Magnum doesn’t get the full 22. Sounds like they want something to air in the summer. Like they did with Elementary. And it lessens the expectations on Magnum.
You might be right. When I think about it Magnum could work as summer show with Hawaii setting and all. Only thing that worries me is the most of the summer shows get canceled.
I and my husband enjoy the program Magnum PI. All of the characters are like are likable and real. I hope it is returning .We will miss it.
Not surprised about Magnum being pulled (and I do like it); the ratings for Hawaii 5.0 and blue bloods are hitting series lows consistently this season because what’s happening at 9.
I DON’T WANT CM TO END!!!!
Yeah, being reminded of just how quickly the show’s final season will fly by makes me sad.
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Nice to have the official return date at last, though. And I like the bookend of two hours to begin and end it all, too. On to January 8th, then!
I’m pretty sure MacGyver isn’t running a full 20 episode season. I don’t know exactly how many, but I would bet it’s in the 10-15 range. By the time Magnum goes on hiatus I would also bet it would only have 5-6 episodes left in the season, which if my theory about MacGyver is accurate, could put Magnum back on the air by late April, allowing it to finish out by mid to late May. Of course I know nothing, so take it as you wish, but I have a hard time believing CBS would push Magnum off the schedule for 4 months. Its not a terrible show and seems to be doing ok on Friday. I wouldn’t think CBS is trying to kill it. At least that’s my hope.
By looking at how CBS has scheduled past Fridays, it looks like Magnum and H50 will have had 13 or 14 episodes aired by the end of January. If Magnum gets between 18 and 20 episodes, they’ll have 5-7 episodes remaining whenever CBS decides to put them back on. As for MacGyver, I doubt they’ll get a full 22 episode order since if they did, they wouldn’t finish airing until late June or early July unless they did a few nights of double episodes.
How many episodes of Macgyver do we get?
Why does CBS treat Man With A Plan like this? Their first owned comedy to get to 4 seasons in a long time and it gets stuck with a measly 13 episode order two seasons in a row. Looking forward to the return of MWAP and new comedy Broke. Not a fan of FBI but I will be checking out FBI: Most Wanted. Zero interest in Tommy. NCIS: NO on Sunday is probably a better option than MacGvyer would have been.
Looks like I will be watching CBS
Think that’s the end of NCIS NOLA for me. Been debating giving it up and moving it to a time spot where I have to record it means I won’t bother watching it.
Well the disrespect to SEAL Team is not appreciated. CM stopped being relevant years ago, why not stick it in Madam Secretary’s spot and leave the SEAL Team / SWAT combo as it is, guess that would make too much sense.
Yeah right! SEAL Team has never been able to reach CM ratings, nor fandom, nor impact. Don’t worry, you will get your 5 seasons, even if it ends of at 0.4 ratings on Sunday at 10pm. I am so happy to see the 15TH season of CM and how it ends on top.
I used to watch CM, it used to be a great show, unfortunately that IMO ended years ago. The show should have ended after Thomas Gibson was no longer there. Once they started playing with the group, it lost my attention – Gideon, Elle, they should have been there longer (YES, I know Mandy left, but I still enjoyed his character far more than the Rossi characther), the screw up with AJ and Paget, then Shemar laving …. none of the new additions added anything to the show that made me want to stay watching.
SEAL Team is an excellent show that deserves more attention and removing it from the schedule for 7 weeks only ruins the chance of it getting viewers to stay watching, because obviously the network doesn’t care about the show if they play around with the schedule and even having it on air so the casual fan will think, why bother – they probably won’t renew it, which would be a huge mistake. ST addresses issues that need to be seen by the public and lead to changes in how our veterans and active duty soldiers are treated. It is unbelievable what they have to go through and then the “thanks” they receive when they come home … after defending our freedom and helping others get theirs.
As for CM ending on top,, I highly doubt that – has dropped steadily for the past few years now, heck last season the ratings were onl 2/3 of the original season – yeah … go out on top … sure.
Oh, I get it, you are a Hotch fan. No worries, I understand your frustration and hate for the show. Let us that are still fans enjoy it. Long live CM!
I am a Hotch fan, but I am also a Morgan fan and an Elle fan and a Gideon fan (Elle, Gideon and Reid being my favorites) and, although I love Reid and Garcia, they were not enough to keep me around watching when the show just did not seem as good as it was back in the beginning. Call me whatever you want, I don’t care – but the show slipped, ratings show it has slipped, so I am not the only one enamored with the show and thinking it should stay – I think it should have gone away years ago, like back when JLH joined – she totally ruined it.
ST is the better quality show and deserves better treatment and promotion from the network than what it seems to receive. JMO, which I am allowed to have – no matter if it is the popular consensus or not.
Meaningless to compare the ratings of a show that premiered 15 years ago, long before #PeakTV and thus was able to start out MUCH higher, and one that premiered barely two years ago.
+125 Power User points to you! (No cash Value)
I’d still like to know when CBS plans to air the Madam Secretary finale. So far, they’ve only scheduled 9 episodes.
It also seems like CBS is getting rid of a lot of shows this season. And I’m curious to see how NCIS New Orleans will do on Sundays, especially now that they’ve killed Chris.
So upset about Magnum PI being bumped! My favorite show. It had better come back!
Magnum is also my favourite show. In fact it is my favourite show of all time. I think it is well cast and well acted.
Let’s be honest. CBS often schedules their programs poorly. It goes as far back as the mid-sixties when Gilligan’s Island was cancelled because the network couldn’t fit both it and Gunsmoke in their weekly schedule. Blue Bloods, though great, should be scheduled with something like FBI, since MacGyver, Magnum P.I., & H50 are in the same universe. But they never ask we, the viewers.
“Let’s be honest. CBS often schedules their programs poorly.” – Truer words have never been spoken. They have some lucky hits but with other shows, they either have no interest in them or have no idea how to make the most of them.
Because viewers are not their customers and they actually follow the money which is made thru advertising.
The fourth season of MacGyver consists of 22 episodes, so there is going to be a long waiting time for fans of Magnum.
Has Pauley Perrette’s new comedy not been picked up? Thanks
“Premiere dates for any midseason fare not noted below — including Man With a Plan and the Pauley Perrette comedy Broke — will be announced at a later date.”
Sorry missed the last line in the article.
And in the end….. #CriminalMinds
I really don’t understand network programming. Magnum has been great this year, so why not let it finish, then bring in MacGyver? Viewers will lose interest in Magnum with it off the air for so long. This makes no sense. Are they trying to kill Magnum? I can see why so many people have to cable shows. I try to support the networks, then they jerk us around. Let’s see, we have three NCIS shows, now two FBI shows. Viewers may actually want to watch something else. And yes, time for Danny to go, he brings nothing to 5-0, in my opinion. He just whines.
Any word on the return date for Amazing Race?