CBS‘ Watson just wrapped its 13-episode first season in the Sunday 9 PM slot behind the network’s flagship series Tracker. Fans will have to wait a bit for the aftermath of the finale that revealed Moriarty’s fate — the medical drama with a Sherlock twist is not on the fall schedule. Instead, it will once again return in January, airing Sundays at 10 PM.
Following CBS’ fall schedule reveal earlier this month, Deadline spoke with the network’s Entertainment President Amy Reisenbach about the decision to hold Watson until midseason.
“We’ll definitely be pushing viewers to binge it on Paramount+ in the meantime,” she said. “But there truly was a lack of room on the schedule. You look at that schedule, there’s no other real logical place for it.”
CBS’ fall 2025 schedule has its 8 PM -9 PM comedy block on Monday leading to an FBI 9 PM – 11 PM block. Tuesday is NCIS-branded, Wednesday remains unscripted and Thursday is staying intact. On Friday, a Fire Country franchise 8 PM – 10 PM block is followed by Blue Bloods‘ offshoot Boston Blue taking over its predecessor’s signature time slot.
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The only real opening is on Sundays where CBS could’ve kept this spring’s 7 PM – 10 PM lineup of 60 Minutes, Tracker and Watson. Instead, the network is using the post-Tracker Sunday 9 PM slot in the fall to launch the new Taylor Sheridan-produced music competition series The Road. (Because of frequent NFL overruns that push the start of Sunday’s primetime, CBS does not schedule originals in the 10 PM hour in the fall.)
Come January, Tracker will be followed by another Sheridan-produced series, Yellowstone offshoot Y: Marshals starring Luke Grimes at 9 PM, and Watson at 10.
“I’m fairly confident in Tracker and Y: Marshals being very, very big lead-ins for Watson.” Reisenbach said. “Watson does really, really well for us on streaming as well. So we expect that viewers who might not catch it at 10 o’clock will catch on streaming because it’s had such a loyal fan base over on Paramount+. We think it’s the best of both worlds.”
It is unusual for a new scripted broadcast series launching in midseason not to return in the fall (unless it is designed for a limited-run seasons, which Watson is not). That is because a midseason run is not considered long enough to get a new series fully established. Which is why the series held for midseason are typically popular veterans fans would follow anywhere, like The Rookie or Family Guy that have been benched this as well as next season by ABC and Fox, respectively.
Reisenbach put that in perspective.
“The streamers certainly have a lot longer than we do where they’re off air,” she said, referring to streaming originals which often release a new 8-episode season every 18-24 months, with the gap between Seasons 1 and 2 also frequently bigger than a year.