TCA Press Tour: CBS

Hello Folks

The TCA Summer Press Tour is upon us, and as of every year, I will put up a resume of the most interesting bits about the executive sessions and the panels of each network. There will be individual articles about major development, but by now we all know that most of press tour is actually quite the snoozefest. And, as some of you know, these things always bring out my more sarcastic side, so bare with me.

Let's start with CBS. The info below is gathered from various sources.

- CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler said that the dreadful GLAAD ratings CBS got has prompted the network to add three gay characters to each "Sh*t My Dad Says", "Rules Of Engagement" and "The Good Wife" in the coming season. However, Kalinda's sexuality on "The Good Wife" will be kept ambiguous for the moment. Nothing ambiguous about CBS' miserable GLAAD track rate, though…

- One other gay character that is added to CBS is - Sara Gilbert. The actress and soon-to-be host of the new daytime talk show "The Talk" (How long did it take to come up with that stellar title?), had her coming-out during the panel.

- To a question about the new "Hawaii Five-O" being "dark and violent", Tassler countered, "It's a crime drama". Doh!
Speaking of the show, the producers stressed to not call it a remake, please use the word "reboot". Now why does this sound like the thing already crashed before it even got to the air?
Anyway, Alex O'Loughlin hopes that the third time is the charm for him at CBS, after "Moonlight" and "Three Rivers" tanked.

- William Shatner has hired a college student to do his tweets. Now, can we be really sure it's actually him on "Sh*t My Dad Says", or might that be a substitute as well?

- Melissa Rauch, who plays Wolowitz' (Simon Helberg) love interest Bernadette on "The Big Bang Theory", will return in some capacity next season.

- Nina Tassler doesn't expect "The Big Bang Theory" to pull the same ratings on Thursday night as it did on Monday - at least not initially. Now, if that's not trying to explain a bad move before the results are in, I don't know what is.

- Of new comedy "Mike & Molly", about people who meet at an Overeaters Anonymous, creator Chuck Lorre says that it's not a show about weight. "If [fat jokes are] something we're talking about by episode six we have a problem, that's not something you can hang a series on by any stretch of the imagination." OK, we're holding you to that, buddy...

OK, that's a wrap for CBS. Let's see what The CW will bring next.