CBS pleased with lineup, has no fear of Leno show

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — The president of CBS Entertainment had a two-word reaction for her counterparts at NBC when they decided to put Jay Leno on in prime time five nights a week.

"Our first reaction when they did that was to say, 'Thank you,' " Nina Tassler said.

The big difference between NBC and CBS in the 9-10 p.m. Mountain Time time slot Mondays-Fridays is that CBS has successful shows and NBC doesn't.

"Our (9) o'clock programs do extremely well. It's a coveted time period," Tassler said.

But, beginning in September, it's a time period that won't be open to scripted shows on NBC.

"The creative community was, quite frankly, shocked when they first heard about it. You have so many top-tier talent that vie for that time period every year. So for us, we looked at it and said, 'Why should one network's failure in development redirect an entire scheduling strategy?' "

In other words, even though NBC is planning to essentially abandon traditional network scheduling, CBS is not.

"It was really important that we continued to develop for (9) o'clock," Tassler said. "In the past, it's been a real target for us season-to-season. So, like I said, we're going to continue to promote, develop, and strengthen (9) o'clock."

WE'RE NO. 1: Given that CBS has been No. 1 in the ratings this season, it's no surprise that the president of the network's entertainment division would brag a bit to TV critics.

Although the ever-charming Tassler did it in the nicest possible way — by trying to debunk conventional wisdom about the network.

"For instance, when I first came to CBS, everyone said CBS comedies never have any back-end value (in the syndication market)," she said. " '(Everybody Loves) Raymond' and 'Two and a Half Men' have since shattered that theory in both syndication revenue and ratings performance. And 'How I Met Your Mother' is certainly earning strong syndication coin as well.

"Many pundits also said CBS could never reach younger viewers. Well, until 'Survivor' and 'CSI' came along, and, of course, our Monday night comedies too."

Conventional wisdom was that CBS had too many crime dramas on its schedule.

"Well, the No. 1 new show of the season, 'The Mentalist' — it's a crime drama. … In fact, seven of the top 15 shows on television are crime dramas," Tassler said. "And six of our procedurals have increased viewership in the time period over last season.