CBS’ ‘Big Brother’ Back on Familiar Schedule Turf

With “Big Brother” off to a sluggish start at the outset of its 15th edition, CBS is tweaking the show’s thrice-weekly schedule format.

The voyeuristic reality show, which had been scheduled to air into September on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays, will shift to Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays beginning next week. This will put the live eviction show on the more familiar night of Thursday, where it has resided in recent years.

After tonight’s 9 o’clock episode of “Big Brother,” the first and ultimately only episode to air on a Tuesday this summer, CBS will shift to an all-repeat drama lineup of crimeshows that will air on the night in the fall (“NCIS,” “NCIS: Los Angeles” and “Person of Interest”). “Person of Interest” had been airing both Tuesday at 10 and Thursday at 9 in the early going this summer, and now will be playing only on Tuesday.

One possible downside for CBS is that with “Big Brother” now on Thursday at 9, it won’t be able to warm up that hour with comedies heading into the fall — something it likely would have done to get viewers used to the idea of the net airing more comedies on the night. This fall, “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men” will be joined by two new half-hours (“The Millers” and “The Crazy Ones”) as part of a four-pack of comedies.

Through its first two episodes this summer, according to Nielsen, “Big Brother” was averaging a 2.05 rating in adults 18-49 and 6.2 million viewers overall — down 16% and 13%, respectively, from last year when the series began as usual in July.

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