As Cancelations Keep Coming Down The Pipeline, CBS Admits It's Been A ‘Challenging' Year
Across its full 2024-2025 lineup, which still has yet to conclude amidst the 2025 TV schedule, CBS boasted a wide variety of the most-watched series of any network, and it may also have suffered the largest number of high-profile cancellations during that same period. From axing FBI's two ongoing spinoffs in place of Tom Ellis' CIA to bidding Blue Bloods farewell (also in place of a new spinoff). But don't go linking those shocking decisions to any BTS drama involving CBS or parent company Paramount.
Those keeping up with CBS and Paramount's goings-on are likely aware of recent headlines aimed at both. For one, Paramount is in the process of being acquired by Skydance, and the merging that was first put in motion back in July 2024 is expected to go into effect relatively soon after the FCC's review is complete.
Meanwhile, CBS' weekly cornerstone 60 Minutes has faced various layers of turmoil in recent months, bolstered by the Trump administration's lawsuit tied to the editing of a Kamala Harris interview that aired back in October 2024. Longtime executive producer Bill Owens inevitably resigned from his position in April, citing his growing belief that he'd lost journalistic independence due to Paramount execs' increased level of supervision.
Speaking to press outlets and more at CBS' 2025-2026 Fall TV schedule reveal event (via Deadline), network President and CEO George Cheeks addressed what his professional purview has been throughout the merger process, and why his key goals haven't necessarily been directly affected by what's happening within the entertainment corporation's higher levels. As he put it:
[It's been an] unprecedented, challenging time for the industry and for our company in particular. . . . What's most important as a leader is how you show up in a difficult time. I think my biggest goal is to make sure that the team feels supported, and that we recognize that we have to focus on what we can control, which is building an amazing schedule like Amy and her team are doing, and just really sort of locking arms and saying, 'We are a team. We're family. We're gonna get through this together.'
Considering CBS long ago cemented itself as a network where procedural dramas and multicamera sitcoms could thrive for for ages, the laundry list of cancellations made in the past year has been. somewhat troubling, from NCIS: Hawai'i to S.W.A.T.'s canceled-then-renewed-then-canceled fate. To be fair, the entire industry was completely upended by the 2023 strikes, which served as a notable factor in such make-or-break decisions for shows' fates.
But it sounds like George Cheeks is aware that he may not have much influence on issues happening throughout Paramount and CBS on the whole, and is dedicated to focusing on one of his biggest annual tasks, helping spearhead the Fall TV schedule, and he's quick to credit CBS Entertainment boss Amy Reisenbach for keeping the ship afloat.
Speaking directly to that, Cheeks said:
What's great for us is that in spite of all the disruption, we continue year over year again to have a really strong schedule, and it allows us to make, as Amy said, some really difficult decisions, but to create an optimal schedule. That's what we do, and that was our focus the whole time, the whole process.
As it was touched upon elsewhere during the schedule reveal event, the decision to cancel the two FBI spinoffs, The Equalizer and other projects was made with financial detail in mind. The longer a series stays on the air, and the more success it enjoys during that time, the better the chances are for the series' creatives to negotiate for more lucrative deals, which is often the point where studios and networks balk, regardless of other details.
Of course, sometimes it's a case where confidence concerning in-development projects is so bullish that a freshman drama's potential can outrank the draw of an established drama. At least I'd assume that's the case involving Luke Grimes' upcoming Yellowstone spinoff Y: Marshals, which will be the franchise's first broadcast offering.
But audiences will just have to wait and see whether this year's Fall TV lineup will stack up successfully against CBS' past primetime plans. And if FBI's CIA offshoot doesn't immediately scratch the itch left by its canceled brethren, expect a sternly worded email or two.
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