CBS significantly shifts its Monday night schedule

TV programmers have a basic, brutal philosophy: If you can help your lineup, great; but you must do everything in your power to degrade and destroy the competition.

Hence CBS's announcement today. Mom, the Chuck Lorre sophomore sitcom starring Anna Faris will not be returning to the Monday night schedule this week as planned. Instead, for at least the next three weeks, The Big Bang Theory will show back to back episodes to lead off Mondays. Mom will be returning, but much later in the fall and on Thursdays.

The reason is simple. Monday was a temporary stop for The Big Bang Theory. The idea was always for CBS's biggest comedy hit to return to Thursdays when CBS's Thursday Night Football schedule ends in late October.

But when you've got a big stick, you use it. Even reruns of The Big Bang Theory do better than original episodes of Mom. So by going back-to-back with Bang at 8 and 8:30 p.m., you give a more sustained boost to the new drama Scorpion at 9 p.m.

More importantly you keep Fox's Gotham from gaining any momentum and you hamstring NBC's The Voice, the 8 p.m. time slot competition.

Of course, anytime you move one chip on the schedule, it sets off a game of musical chairs. This gets kind of complicated, so read only until you lose interest or comprehension.

It will be a double Bang on Mondays until Oct. 20, when The Millers makes its season debut at 8:30 p.m.. The following week, 2 Broke Girls assumes the 8 p.m. slot and The Big Bang Theory shifts to Thursdays, leading off the night at 8 p.m. It will be followed there by Mom, which makes its season debut on Oct 30, followed by the year's first episodes of Two and Half Men, The McCarthys and Elementary.

Then in the first week of January, Mom and The Millers will flip flop 8:30 p.m. slots, with The Millers moving to Thursdays and Mom migrating back to Mondays.

Got that? Good. Because there will be a quiz. Sheldon is your proctor

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