TV Bulletin Board (Feb. 13)
02/13/08 09:14
By ED BARK
Spring will bring CBS' big guns back to life.
The network has announced the "anticipated" air dates and "expected" number of new episodes for 15 scripted series. All were waylaid by the writers' strike, which was settled this week.
Comedies will be back first, with Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory all earmarked for nine new episodes, starting on March 17th. A fourth Monday night laugher, Rules of Engagement, has an April 14th return, with six new episodes planned.
On the drama front, CSI: Miami will be first in line, with eight new episodes beginning on March 24. Here are the other drama specifics:
March 30 -- Cold Case (5 episodes)
April 2 -- CSI: NY and Criminal Minds, each with 7 episodes planned.
April 3 -- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Without A Trace (6 episodes apiece)
April 4 -- Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs (6 episodes each)
April 8 -- NCIS (7 episodes)
April 11 -- Moonlight (4 episodes)
There's no return date yet for Shark, but four new episodes are expected. CBS says that Shark, The Unit and Cane are making way for the midseason re-launches of Big Brother 9 and Jericho (which returned on Feb. 12) and an edited version of Showtime's Dexter that premieres on Feb. 17. Cane likely is a goner, though.
Finally, CBS says that its 1970s-set Swingtown series is still alive and will be resuming production in anticipation of a later premiere.