CBS targeting younger audience

Thu., May 19, 2005

David Bauder Associated Press

CBS fall schedule

•Monday: 8 p.m., "The King of Queens"; 8:30 p.m., "How I Met Your Mother"; 9 p.m., "Two and a Half Men"; 9:30 p.m., "Out of Practice"; 10 p.m., "CSI: Miami"

•Tuesday: 8 p.m., "NCIS"; 9 p.m., "The Amazing Race"; 10 p.m., "Close to Home"

•Wednesday: 8 p.m., "Still Standing"; 8:30 p.m., "Yes, Dear"; 9 p.m., "Criminal Minds"; 10 p.m., "CSI: NY"

•Thursday: 8 p.m., "Survivor: Guatemala"; 9 p.m., "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"; 10 p.m., "Without a Trace"

•Friday: 8 p.m., "Ghost Whisperer"; 9 p.m., "Threshold"; 10 p.m., "Numb3rs"

•Saturday: 8 p.m., "Crimetime Saturday" (crime show reruns); 10 p.m., "48 Hours Mysteries"

•Sunday: 7 p.m., "60 Minutes"; 8 p.m., "Cold Case"; 9 p.m., "CBS Sunday Movie"

CBS is canceling “Judging Amy,” “Joan of Arcadia” and the Wednesday spinoff of “60 Minutes” while adding Jennifer Love Hewitt to its prime-time lineup – all in search of a more youthful audience.

The network announced Wednesday that it will add two comedies and four dramas in September.

CBS is the nation’s most-watched network this season for the fourth time in five years, and will narrowly lose to Fox among viewers aged 18 to 49 – a once-unfathomable feat for formerly stodgy CBS.

So it was no coincidence that, except for Sunday’s edition of “60 Minutes,” the shows with the oldest audiences were axed.

“We want to win it all,” said CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves. “Yes, we do want to win in 18-to-49s. Absolutely.”

CBS is convinced it can draw more younger viewers on Friday, where “Joan of Arcadia” had a puzzling decline in its sophomore season and “JAG” finished its last year.

It will try two new supernatural stories: “Threshold” features a team of experts called in when the Navy discovers aliens have landed in the Atlantic Ocean, while Hewitt’s “Ghost Whisperer” finds her talking to dead people.

“I think talking to ghosts may skew younger than talking to God,” Moonves said.

The Wednesday spinoff of “60 Minutes” was doomed by low ratings and its older audience, not its controversial story last fall about President Bush’s military service, Moonves said. With “48 Hours Mysteries” on Saturday, CBS has two remaining newsmagazines.

“Judging Amy,” featuring Amy Brenneman and Tyne Daly, ends after its sixth season. “Listen Up,” the comedy with Jason Alexander portraying a sportswriter, lasted just one year.

With its crime dramas continuing to work well, CBS will add “Criminal Minds,” a thriller about FBI profilers who try to stop criminals, and “Close to Home,” with Jennifer Finnigan (NBC’s “Committed”) starring as a suburban prosecutor.

“Two and a Half Men,” the highest-rated situation comedy left on broadcast television, will move into the 9 p.m. Monday slot vacated by “Everybody Loves Raymond,” which drew a series-high 33 million viewers to its finale this week.

The two new comedies added to Monday’s schedule recall two NBC hits that ended last year. “How I Met Your Mother” is a romantic story described as “Friends”-like by Moonves. “Out of Practice,” about a dysfunctional family of doctors with Henry Winkler and Stockard Channing, is by the creative team behind “Frasier” (Kelsey Grammer directed the pilot).

CBS agreed to pick up two midseason shows: “Everything I Know About Men,” a comedy starring Jenna Elfman (“Dharma & Greg”) as an ambitious secretary and “The Unit,” an action drama produced by David Mamet.