CBS Hands Series Orders to Three New TV Dramas

Thursday has been a massive day for cancellations, renewals, and series orders in the world of network television. CBS has been especially busy, shaping its roster for the fall TV season. The Eye Network has its staples, like NCIS and Young Sheldon, but there’s still a lot of changeover going into the fall of 2022. Magnum P.I., The United States of Al, B Positive, How We Roll, and Good Sam were call cancelled on Thursday, with hit series Bull being axed earlier in the year. Those shows are going to be filled by some new dramas that have officially been ordered to series.

CBS made five drama pilots for the fall season. On Thursday, it handed three of those five a series order, sending the trio into production on their debut seasons. The three shows given orders are Fire Country, East New York, and So Help Me Todd.

Fire Country is a firefighter drama that was originally titled Cal Fire. The series stars SEAL Team‘s Max Thierlot, who also co-wrote the story alongside Tony Phelan and Joan Rater. It’s based on Thierlot’s experience growing up in the fire country of Northern California. 

Thierlot stars in the series as Bode Donovan, a convict who enrolls in a firefighting program to shorten his prison sentence (a real thing that actually exists). Through that program, Bode ends up back in his hometown, bringing up drama from his past as he fights wildfires. Fire Country also stars Billy Burke, Kevin Alejandro, and Diane Farr.

So Help Me Todd is a legal drama starring Pitch Perfect and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist alum Skylar Astin as a wayward private investigator who ends up taking a job as the in-house investigator for a law firm run by his overbearing mother. Geena Davis was initially cast in the role but dropped out during the pilot’s production. She was replaced by Marcia Gay Harden. Scott Prendergast is writing the script and serving as executive producers alongside Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro.

The third new drama from CBS is East New York, a cop drama starring Regina Haywood. According to the official synopsis, Haywood plays a newly promoted police captain in a working class neighborhood at the edge of Brooklyn. She puts her focus on finding creative ways to serve and protect her impoverished community as they’re surrounded by the threat of gentrification. The series is written by William Finkelstein and Mike Flynn and the cast includes Jimmy Smits, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Richard Kind, and Kevin Rankin.

What do you think of these new CBS TV shows? Will you be checking them out this fall? Let us know in the comments!