EXCLUSIVE: CBS continues to put a distance between the May upfront week and its own fall schedule reveal and upfront events. The network, in its first year following Skydance’s acquisition of parent Paramount Global, plans to announce its 2026-27 primetime schedule on April 15, Deadline has learned. That is significantly earlier than the last three years (May 10, May 2, May 7) and four weeks ahead of the day CBS had held its upfront presentations for decades, Wednesday of Upfront week.
Like the last two years, the unveiling of CBS’ schedule by CBS executives will be followed by a red carpet party that evening on the Paramount Studio lot featuring talent and producers from new and returning series. The rest of the major broadcast networks are still set to present their fall schedules during Upfront week.
The move is not entirely surprising. CBS has been steering away from the traditional development cycle, shifting to long-term development about two years ago. The network’s new drama series for the 2026-27 have been known for months — Einstein, starring Matthew Grey Gubler, which was originally ordered for 2025-26, and Robert and Michelle King’s Cupertino, which received a full writers room order at CBS’ 2025-26 schedule reveal last May followed by a series greenlight in October.
CBS also had two comedy pilots, Eternally Yours and Regency, picked up by end of 2025. Both are expected to be filmed and ready for 2026-27 schedule consideration before April 15. There are no plans for further pilot orders targeting next season until then, I hear.
The network also already renewed the bulk of its lineup for next season, with drama Watson and comedy DMV the only current series left on the bubble.
As Deadline reported last month, the renewal odds for both series are long, and they will depend on the performance of CBS’ upcoming drama series Marshals and CIA and on how pilots Eternally Yours, from Ghosts showrunners Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, and Regency come in.
CBS is expected to make renewal decisions on Watson, DMV and most — if not all — of its midseason entries, FBI offshoot CIA (debuts Feb. 23), Yellowstone spinoff Marshals (March 1) as well as the unscripted Culinary Cup (March 4).
I hear CBS brass are already high on Marshals, commissioning a Season 2 writers room based on the episodes that have been completed, which is expected to open soon.
Also factoring into CBS’ unusually early 2026-27 announcement date is the network’s decision to share the schedule with advertisers at its upfront events. After the pandemic, CBS opted to forgo its glitzy Carnegie Hall upfront presentation for smaller upfront presentations/dinners with advertisers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Most of them were held before the early May fall schedule reveal; now they will all follow it, with the network’s sales team sharing details of the 2026-27 lineup with advertisers at their upfront meetings.