CBS Takes a Pre-Upfront Victory Lap

Here comes 72 hours of ballyhoo and bluster about the state of the television business. Spoiler alert: Every platform making a upfront presentation this week in New York will find the way to pitch themselves as No. 1 in something.

But the network with the strongest story to tout won’t be part of this week’s parade. CBS staked out an early announcement of its 2025-26 season schedule on May 6. It’s the second year in a row that CBS has opted not to host an event during upfront week, in favor of smaller events in multiple cities.

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CBS leaders George Cheeks and Amy Reisenbach took a hard-won victory lap last week as they unveiled the 2025-26 schedule. The pair made a presentation to media reporters that emphasized CBS’ biggest achievement has been to find new shows that connect with the network’s established linear audience and also stand out on the endless scroll of streaming platforms, specifically Paramount+.

CBS doesn’t need a big stage show at Carnegie Hall to explain its programming strategy to advertisers. CBS has eight of TV’s top 10 most watched series and 16 of the top 25, according to Nielsen’s 35-day multiplatform ratings. As Cheeks noted, CBS’ scripted slate has been bolstered in recent years by new additions, meaning that they have a good runway ahead. Leading the pack for CBS this season has been Season 2 of “Tracker” (averaging 17.5 million viewers in 35-day multiplatform), and the freshman season of “Matlock” (16.1 million). Viewing of CBS programs accounts for nearly half of the total viewing on Paramount+ every month, Cheeks said. And the close of 2024-25 season marks the 17th consecutive year that CBS has prevailed as the nation’s most-watched network.

CBS has had a good run of launching shows that click in analog and digital: dramas “Fire Country,” “Tracker,” “Matlock” and “Watson” and comedies “George and Mandy’s First Marriage” and “Ghosts.” The network’s patented brand of slick procedurals fronted by square-jawed heroes – male and female – with a dollop of humor have proven to be a good fit with streaming audiences. CBS is poised to enjoy similar traction in the coming season with “Marshalls,” the first original Taylor Sheridan drama to land at CBS. It’s “Yellowstone”-adjacent. (Ever the prolific producer, Sheridan has another show headed to CBS this fall with the unscripted music series “The Road.”)

CBS has made shows like “Matlock” work – even at a time of diminishing returns for reboots and remakes – because Reisenbach and Co. know their audience. Stars such as Kathy Bates, Justin Hartley, Max Thierot and Morris Chestnut front case-of-the-week shows that deliver. Call them destination procedurals.

At their best, these shows are binge friendly but episodes also standalone for a more traditional viewing pattern. ABC is developing its brand of procedurals with “Will Trent” and “High Potential.” NBC has its Dick Wolf franchises – the “Chicago” and “Law & Order” universes — but not much else in terms of a brand for its drama programming. Fox has also been in rebuilding mode with its scripted slate. The success of its freshman medical procedural “Doc,” starring Molly Parker, undoubtedly influenced its recent deal with Josh Charles to star in a remake of the U.K. drama “Best Medicine.”

CBS’ recent achievements are also commendable for coming at a time of unrelenting turmoil for the network and its parent company, Paramount Global. Much like Casey Bloys and his team at HBO and Max managed to deliver “Succession,” “The Last of Us,” “The White Lotus” and “Hacks” during the whirlwind of the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger period, Team CBS has kept nose to grindstone amid the real-life drama all around them and in the industry at large.

Cheeks, who is CEO of CBS and co-CEO of Paramount Global, opened the hourlong presentation with a nod to the Donald Trump-size elephant in the room. CBS is under siege from President Trump and his lawsuit against “60 Minutes” and the companion news-distortion complaint investigation in process at the FCC. The legal and regulatory machinations have held up Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance Media. The stress of the situation was clear.

“This is a disruptive and challenging time for our industry,” Cheeks said at the start before vowing that he would only address CBS programming questions. He praised Reisenbach and the rest of CBS’ senior leaders for resilience amid hard times.

“These folks have done a masterful job of playing through rather than to the noise, while remaining laser focused on winning the audience in broadcast and in streaming,” he said. Cheeks added with evident pride that viewership of CBS’ primetime series are up 35% this year compared to 2024.

“The bottom line here is, our broadcast hits are becoming instant streaming hits,” Cheeks enthused.

For all the discussion about streaming, Reisenbach did not ignore the linear side of the house. Yes, scheduling still matters. As someone who grew up as an executive at CBS, the executive who was promoted to entertainment president last year is extremely conversant in the building blocks of television.

“We made some very strategic scheduling moves that will reinforce the schedule that clinched us our 17 seasons at the most-watched network. This is a lineup that’s going to be cohesive and has flow with compatible programming each night and throughout the week, and provides strong launch pads for all of our new series,” Reisenbach told reporters.

Indeed, CBS has as solid of a foundation as exists today among traditional linear outlets. Seventeen years and counting at No. 1 is an incredible feat. The pride in CBS’ achievements was evident in the commentary from Cheeks and Reisenbach, and so was the struggle.

“This is an unprecedented, challenging time for the industry and for our company in particular,” Cheeks said. “What’s most important as a leader is how you show up in a difficult time. 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 our team are doing, and really locking arms and saying ‘We’re team, we’re family and we’re gonna get through this.’ “

(Pictured: “Matlock” stars Leah Lewis, Jason Ritter, Kathy Bates, Skye P. Marshall and David Del Rio)

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