CBS Unveils Fall 2023 Schedule: ‘Survivor’ and ‘The Amazing Race’ Get Supersized; ‘CSI: Vegas’ Delayed Until After Football

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large These are indeed the waning days of the scripted basic cable juggernaut. That may be a strange thing to point out when once again, the most-watched entertainment show of the just-completed 2022-2023 TV season was “Yellowstone,” the modern western that airs on Paramount Network. But “Yellowstone” is wrapping up sometime in the next year, and the only other scripted series from a basic cabler to consistently be ranked among TV’s top shows, AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” has already ended its run. “The Walking Dead,” of course, dominated the season-ender charts for years — even beating football in the 2014-2015 TV season with a whopping 13.2 rating among adults 18-49. But as basic cable is almost completely out of the original scripted series business now (unscripted hits like “Vanderpump Rules” still abound, of course), those brief halcyon days are coming to an end.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large During the early days of the 2007-08 writers strike, even after pens went down, many showrunners were still at work. They weren’t writing, but they were handling other aspects of production as cameras continued to roll on preexisting scripts. Eventually, they realized that showrunners might take themselves out of writing, but there’s no way to take writing out of showrunner duties. “It’s obviously part of the storytelling process, because you need a showrunner to keep a sense of the overall story,” says one high-profile writer-producer. “Every decision you’re making, from a craft servicesdecision to a costume decision, is something only you can make because you’re putting it into a whole story. There’s no part of my job that isn’t storytelling.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Let’s travel back to the summer of 1989. I’m 15 years old and have just put two large movie posters on my wall: One for Tim Burton’s game-changing take on “Batman,” starring Michael Keaton, and the other for “UHF,” the theatrical comedy debut for the one and only “Weird Al” Yankovic. It’s now 2023. Keaton is back as Batman in next month’s “The Flash.” And Weird Al (always Weird Al, not just Al Yankovic!) is the front-runner for this year’s TV movie Emmy, thanks to the Roku Channel parody biopic “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.” “1989 is back again! It’s all cyclical,” Yankovic says in his signature cheery, upbeat tone. Tell my 15-year-old self that one day he’ll be recording a podcast with Weird Al, and first he’d say, “what’s a podcast?” But after explaining that it’s essentially a radio show, my 15-year-old self would lose his mind. And ask about 2023’s flying cars. Sorry kid.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Hasan Minhaj is open to the idea of hosting “The Daily Show” — but it’s not a decision he would make alone. “That’s a family conversation now,” Minhaj tells Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast. “It’s a very different conversation then when I first got hired at the show, when I was 29. My life is in a very different place. And so that’s a bigger convo.” Minhaj’s recent Netflix stand-up special, “The King’s Jester,” includes a deeply personal look by the comedian at the evolution of his family, from being infertile to eventually raising two children with his life — and how that has changed a lot of things in his life, including his career choices and his on-stage routines.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large NBC’s coverage of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and Fox’s FIFA World Cup telecasts were the big winners Monday night at this year’s 44th annual Sports Emmy Awards, winning three Emmys each. ESPN, meanwhile, was the night’s biggest winner among outlets, pulling 13 Emmys. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded this year’s Sports Emmys at a ceremony at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall. Bryant Gumbel will receive the lifetime achievement award for his role in sports journalism. The Sports Emmys took place even as the writers strike has led to the postponement of NATAS’ premiere Daytime Emmys telecast next month. “While we gather together, other parts of our television community stand divided tonight,” Adam Sharp, president & CEO of NATAS said during the ceremony. “You’ll note most of the typically scripted elements of our ceremony have been pared back in acknowledgment of, and respect for, the WGA-represented writers out on strike.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large That’s true for novelists as much as it is for screenwriters. Often those are one and the same — and because we live in an age where pre-sold IP usually makes it easier to sell a TV project, there have never been more series based on books than there are right now.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large As TV Academy members toasted the stars of “Ted Lasso” on May 1, things were about to change dramatically in the Emmy campaign space. Apple TV+ was celebrating the opening of a “For Your Consideration” activation at Goya Studios, where it erected a massive tent to showcase its bevy of contenders. It’s a well-appointed and pristine space, with an almost Apple Store-meets-Emmys vibe. Displays celebrating Apple TV+ shows were front and center, along with an open bar, passed bites and a theater room for screenings and panels for celebrated shows like “Ted Lasso,” “Shrinking,” “Bad Sisters,” and more. But now here’s the problem with FYC: The writers strike has upended everything. The clouds were already forming at that “Ted Lasso” event, as the strike was called at the same moment co-creator/star Jason Sudeikis and team were celebrating the show’s Season 3 on stage. Many of the “Lasso” stars double as writers — Sudeikis, Brett Goldstein and Brendan Hunt included — so the power and importance of writers was on everyone’s minds. Sudeikis even remarked on how surreal it was to be there on stage talking about writing “Ted Lasso” just as the issues facing the town’s scribes took center stage. “Shout out to the writers,” he said. “What a day to be doing this.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched the Season 9, episode 14 season finale of “The Masked Singer,” which aired May 17 on Fox. Like a river, Bishop Briggs kept a steady flow throughout Season 9 of Fox’s “The Masked Singer” — and her perseverance was rewarded with the championship. Briggs, as Medusa, won this season’s top prize and was finally unmasked on Wednesday night’s finale, along with runner-up David Archuleta, revealed as the Macaw. Briggs, who performed the most of any contestant this season, sealed her victory with performances of “Elastic Heart,” by Sia, and “Welcome to the Black Parade,” by My Chemical Romance. Although Briggs said singing under the Medusa costume was a challenge, she pointed out that it was nothing compared to what she did last year.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large As Amazon Freevee’s hoax reality series “Jury Duty” is currently garnering huge amounts of attention, the format originator is staging a comeback. TBS is set to announce Wednesday that it has ordered a revival of “The Joe Schmo Show,” which will air next year on the cabler. The original “Joe Schmo” premiered in 2003 on Spike TV, with a follow-up in 2004 and then a third season revival in 2013. Created by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (both of whom went on to a successful screenwriting career, including the “Deadpool” films), “Joe Schmo” made waves when it first debuted for parodying the then-relatively new and white-hot reality competition genre.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large From the moment an animated “Ted” opened the NBCUniversal upfront, voiced by Seth MacFarlane prior to the writers strike, it was clear this was going to be an abbreviated event. For starters, until a week ago, this was still going to be Linda Yaccarino’s Radio City Music Hall show. But with Yaccarino off running Twitter (“Ted” making a crack about the crazies now at Twitter earned the biggest inadvertent laugh of the morning), it was up to Mark Marshall, NBCU interim chairman, global advertising & partnerships, to make the pitch to advertisers. “In all of our conversations leading up today, regardless of client or category, there has been one constant…this is going to be a very important year for your businesses,” Marshall said, counting 32 pharma launches, 60 auto releases (including 46 electric vehicles) and over 100 movie releases (“which puts us back to pre-pandemic levels”) this year. “We know this is a competitive year. And here at NBCUniversal, we are built for these moments.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large All three series are some of the most nerve-racking shows on television. Peak TV, meet Stress TV. Hold on, I’m not going to dust off the tired “what’s comedy versus drama” debate. I feel like we lost that battle long ago when hourlong comedic dramas (or dramatic comedies) like “Ally McBeal” and “Desperate Housewives” won comedy Emmys. Shows like “Beef” and Peacock’s “Mrs. Davis” have avoided the debate entirely by instead entering the limited Emmy race. And that’s perhaps for the best — Although “Beef” would seemingly land otherwise in the comedy race and “Mrs. Davis” in the drama race… I think “Mrs. Davis” may be the most lighthearted of any of the shows I’ve mentioned so far (and not nearly as stressful, despite the fact that it’s about A.I., the thing that will probably put me out of a job in a few years._

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Freshman drama “Quantum Leap” is taking a quantum leap to Tuesdays, as NBC unveiled a mostly strike-proof fall schedule that features three new series (two dramas and a comedy) and a crowded midseason bench. The Peacock net’s lineup is heavy as always on football and Dick Wolf: And even more so on the pigskin, as NBC’s new deal to cover Big Ten football kicks in with a new Saturday showcase. But with few changes in store, the network will rely on established series to launch its freshman entries. NBC will use unscripted mainstay “The Voice” on Mondays to launch the new Jesse L. Martin starrer “The Irrational,” based on author Dan Ariely’s “Predictably Irrational,” at 10 p.m. On Tuesday, the hit “Night Court” revival will continue to lead off the night and help launch the new comedy “Extended Family,” starring Jon Cryer and Donald Faison, and from Mike O’Malley, at 8:30 p.m.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Melanie Lynskey might be reading this story. The “Yellowjackets” star is a fan of TV, and she’s also a fan of writing and criticism about TV. And that includes reading press about her own shows — and herself. “I love [film and TV] criticism so much,” she tells Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast. “And it would make me sad to not get to read it. You have to put your ego aside for a minute and just be like, ‘it doesn’t matter what I read about myself. When it’s someone you really love reading, and they’re writing about something that you spent six months working on, it’s hard for me to not do it.” Lynskey says the reviews aren’t always great — but they’re usually accurate even in those cases. “They’ve always been right,” she says. “I know when something hasn’t been that good. So I’ve never been like, ‘that’s not fair.’ I’ve never really had that feeling.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched the Season 9, episode 13 of “The Masked Singer,” which aired May 11 on Fox. Pentatonix is pretty easy to recognize, as perhaps the best-known a cappella group performing today. So from the start, it was pretty easy to tell it was them on “The Masked Singer” – and indeed, the five-person group was unmasked as California Roll on Thursday’s show, which also doubled as the Season 9 semifinals. For their first song, “Paparazzi,” group member Scott Hoying said they tried to avoid doing any harmonies at first, “so we could hide the iconic Pentatonix harmony sound for  at least a minute. For the first minute, I was trying to really change my voice. But it didn’t work, because every comment on every video was like, ‘I knew from the beginning it was Pentatonix and I was confirmed as soon as they all came in. We know that sound so much.’ But it honestly it was a compliment. It was very flattering to know that we can’t even hide our voice because it’s become part of what people have heard so many years.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Justin Hartley is heading back to the Super Bowl. Hartley’s new CBS drama “Tracker” has landed the best lead-in imaginable for a series premiere: The show has landed the coveted post-Super Bowl slot next season, launching behind Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024. Hartley, of course, knows a thing or two about that slot. As one of the stars of NBC’s “This Is Us,” he watched a Crock Pot tear his TV family apart in that show’s very special “Super Bowl Sunday” episode, airing right after the big game in 2018. In premiering “Tracker” after the Super Bowl, CBS continues its return to the once-common practice of using the biggest night on TV to launch a new series. The last time CBS ran the game, in 2021, the network premiered “The Equalizer” behind Super Bowl LV. (It worked: “The Equalizer” is still on the air.) The time before that, in 2019, CBS used Super Bowl LIII to premiere “The World’s Best.” (It didn’t work: “The World’s Best” only lasted a season.)

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Roz is back! Marsha Warfield, who played the caustic bailiff on “Night Court” for six seasons, made a surprise appearance on Tuesday night’s episode of the series’ 2023 revival. Warfield’s appearance came on Tuesday during part 2 of the episode “The Honorable Dan Fielding.” In the episode, Dan Fielding (as reprised for the revival by Emmy winner John Larroquette) has taken a job as a judge and is reading what’s next on his docket: “Another fight at a bachelorette party in the French Quarter. OK bailiff, bring in this bride to be!” Turns out it’s Roz, wearing a “bachelorette” banner. “Fielding? They made you a judge?” she stares at disbelief, and then storms out of the courtroom. (Scroll down to watch.)

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Mrs. Davis” may be one of the most surprising and unconventional new series of the spring — and now it’s making a surprising and unconventional move in the Emmy race as well. As the Television Academy deadline for category submissions ends today, Peacock has decided to make a last-minute shift and move the series into the limited/anthology series categories. Betty Gilpin stars in “Mrs. Davis” as Simone, a sometimes nun who takes on her nemesis, the artificial intelligence being known only as “Mrs. Davis,” and strikes a deal with the algorithm — which promises to shut down if Simone finds and destroys the holy grail. This exploration of faith and technology comes from executive producers Tara Hernandez (“The Big Bang Theory”) and Damon Lindelof (“The Leftovers”).

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors has selected 35 winners to award at this year’s Peabody ceremony, including entertainment fare such as “Abbott Elementary,” “Atlanta,” “Better Call Saul,” “Severance” and “We’re Here.” Chosen by unanimous vote of 32 jurors from over 1,400 entries, the 83rd annual Peabody Awards landed on ten entertainment shows, eight documentaries, seven news programs, five from interactive and immersive content, three podcast/radio programs, and one each from arts and public service fare. PBS led the winners circle with six, followed by Apple TV+ and Disney+ with three each, and HBO Max with two. For “Atlanta” and “Better Call Saul,” both shows recieved Peabody honors in their first season — and will receive another for their final seasons. The winners, announced on Tuesday, came out of previously announced 69 nominees in all categories.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Paramount Global is taking over the Hollywood Athletic Club this month to launch its first ever cross-platform “Paramount Showcase” Emmy FYC activation. The event will tout projects from the company’s Paramount+, Showtime, MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount Network outlets, with shows including “Yellowstone,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” “Star Trek: Picard,” “The Daily Show” and “Yellowjackets.” The event will move into Hollywood Athletic Club on Friday, May 12, with a panel devoted to the Paramount+ series (and “Yellowstone” prequel) “1923,” and continue through Sunday, May 21, wrapping with an event devoted to the new Showtime series “Fatal Attraction.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Original Amazon series like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” will be sold off-platform to third parties for the first time, the company announced Monday as it launched the new Amazon MGM Studios Distribution. A revamp of MGM’s pre-existing distribution team, the division will now handle Amazon Studios/Prime Video originals in addition to current and library titles. Chris Ottinger, who led the MGM distribution team for more than a decade, will oversee the new division. Ottinger will report to Brad Beale, the VP of worldwide licensing and distribution at Amazon and MGM Studios; Beale, in turn, reports to Amazon/MGM Studios head Jennifer Salke.