CBS Eyes Reality, Paramount+ Originals For Fall As George Cheeks Talks WGA Strike Impact & Figuring Out A Deal

deadline.com:

On May 10, CBS unveiled a fall 2023 lineup that didn’t factor the potential impact from the ongoing writers strike (and a possible SAG-AFTRA work stoppage).

Besides the unscripted Wednesday, comprised of supersized episodes of Survivor and The Amazing Race, and Sunday anchor 60 Minutes, the announced schedule features all scripted series Sunday-Friday, none of which has episodes in the can.

A month later, CBS brass are looking at alternatives, George Cheeks, President and CEO, CBS and Chief Content Officer, News and Sports, Paramount+, said during a keynote at Banff moderated by Deadline’s Peter White. “We wanted to build our schedule for when the world goes back to normal,” Cheeks said. “Once we had done that, once we locked it in, we spent a lot of time focusing on what it’s going to look like.” He elaborated on the revised CBS fall scheduling plans which are expected to be officially revealed soon. “First of all, obviously it’s going to be very reality-heavy,” he said. “Our core summer franchises, starting with Big Brother, are all going to slide into August, which will leave them into November.” Big Brother, which typically premieres in late June or really July, will not debut its new season until Aug.

2. The only time the summer reality staple did not start before August was in 2020, during the tough first months of the pandemic when the series was used on the Covid-impacted fall schedule. (CBS is launching two other unscripted series in August that will carry over to fall, Superfan, on Aug.