CBS officially launches its fall season in mid-September, but the network already wants to get you excited about your favorite CBS returning shows. To do that, they’ve helpfully put together a short recap for the season finale and a preview of what’s coming up for their various fall returning shows.
SUNDAY
NCIS: LOS ANGELES 8:00-9:00 PM (Premieres Sunday, Oct. 2)
Season Finale: The NCIS LA team traveled to San Francisco after the private school attended by Sam’s son was taken over by Sam’s arch nemesis, Tahir, and his mercenaries. Under the cover of night, Callen, Sam, Kensi and Deeks entered the school and apprehended Tahir.
Coming Up: In the season premiere, the NCIS team is under investigation by the Under Secretary of the Navy due to the identification of a mole in their department. With every move being monitored, the team is assigned a High Value Target case involving a Syrian terrorist.
MADAM SECRETARY 9:00-10:00 PM (Premieres Sunday, Oct. 2)
Season Finale: Elizabeth received word from Russia’s foreign minister that Henry’s trusted political operative, Dmitri Petrov, could be alive. However, in return for Petrov, Russia wanted the U.S. to return a notorious spy. Elizabeth got a reluctant President Dalton to agree to the deal, and she and Henry traveled to Finland to make the trade. Despite risking that it could all be a trick and he was actually dead, Petrov was released to Henry and they had a tenuous reunion. Also, President Dalton asked Elizabeth to run with him as Vice President in the next election, and Stevie decided not to rush into marriage after her boyfriend, Jareth, proposed to her.
Coming Up: This season, Elizabeth will encourage President Dalton’s campaign for re-election, but a proposed shift in foreign policy in response to climate change jeopardizes his candidacy. Henry and Elizabeth worry their family is being stalked after a series of incidents involving Jason terrifies the McCord family. Also this season, Henry returns to work for the DIA and reunites with Dmitri. Academy Award winner and MADAM SECRETARY executive producer Morgan Freeman directs the premiere episode and guest stars as Supreme Court Chief Justice Wilbourne in the episode. CBS News’ Jane Pauley returns to guest star as herself.
ELEMENTARY 10:00-11:00 PM (Premieres Sunday, Oct. 2)
Season Finale: Holmes and Watson formed a tenuous alliance with Holmes’ father, Morland Holmes (John Noble), to find the perpetrator behind an assassination attempt on Morland’s life. Together, they discovered that a clandestine international crime organization once run by Holmes’ former love and nemesis, Moriarty, was behind the attack on Morland’s life. To save himself and Sherlock, Morland orchestrated a secret power play that left him the new head of the crime syndicate, and he departed for London with plans to dismantle it from within.
Coming Up: In the season premiere, Holmes and Watson join the NYPD manhunt for a serial bomber who is active again after going dormant for six years. During the investigation, Watson seeks help from a former criminal, , Shinwell Johnson, whose life she saved when she was a surgeon. Nelsan Ellis joins the cast as Shinwell Johnson, a character who first appeared in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1924 story, “The Illustrious Client.”
MONDAY
THE BIG BANG THEORY 8:00-8:30 PM (Premieres Monday, Sept. 19; Moves to its regular time period Thursday 8:00-8:30 PM, Oct. 27)
Season Finale: Leonard and Penny decided to have a “re-do” wedding ceremony so their families could attend. Problems arose the night before the event when Leonard’s divorced father (Judd Hirsch) hit it off with Sheldon’s mother (Laurie Metcalf).
Coming Up: In the season premiere, after Sheldon’s father and Leonard’s mother share an evening together, everyone deals with an awkward morning the following day. Also, Penny’s family arrives for the ceremony, including her anxiety-ridden mother, Susan (guest star Katey Sagal), and her drug dealing brother, Randall (guest star Jack McBrayer).
2 BROKE GIRLS 9:00-9:30 PM (Premieres Monday, Oct. 10)
Season Finale: When Max and Caroline discovered that Han was in hot water after amassing substantial debt that he couldn’t repay from gambling on women’s tennis, the girls rallied to help him.
Coming Up: Max and Caroline, now part owners of the diner, wait tables while putting the finishing touches on their newly converted Dessert Bar. Han vows to get side jobs in order to repay the girls their $25,000 and take back full ownership. Also, Max deals with the aftermath of her recent breakup with Randy, and Sophie and Oleg prepare for the birth of their baby.
THE ODD COUPLE 9:30-10:00 PM (Premieres Monday, Oct. 17)
Season Finale: Oscar and Felix were heading in different directions romantically. After a blind date with Felix’s ex-wife, Oscar realized how much he cared for Charlotte and showed up at her door, asking her to take him back. Also, after Emily landed the internship of her dreams in London, she and Felix agreed to try to make their relationship work long distance.
Coming Up: In the season premiere, three months have passed, and Oscar and Charlotte (guest star Teri Hatcher) are still happily together, while a heartsick Felix is driving them both crazy as he awaits Emily’s imminent return from London. After Oscar misses their anniversary, Charlotte teases him about not being romantic, and he plans a romantic night that will prove her wrong (with the help of special guest star Boyz II Men). But, when it looks like Emily might extend her stay in London and Felix really begins to fall apart, Oscar must decide whether or not to sacrifice his plans and try to save his best friend’s relationship instead.
SCORPION 9:00-11:00 PM (Special two-hour premiere; Premieres Monday, Oct. 3)
Season Finale: Team Scorpion rescued Toby from the deadly web that their unstable ex-Scorpion member, Mark Collins (guest star Joshua Leonard), built in order to manipulate Walter and the team. Back at the garage, Toby finally proposed to Happy, who was forced to admit she is already married and thus couldn’t accept. After Toby’s devastating predicament, Walter decided to drive to Lake Tahoe to declare his feelings for Paige, who was on a romantic vacation with Tim.
Coming Up: In the season premiere, Team Scorpion must put aside their personal and romantic troubles when anonymous hackers with unknown motives take control of targeted U.S. military aircraft and war ships and point America’s weaponry at its own cities.
TUESDAY
NCIS 8:00-9:00 PM (Premieres Tuesday, Sept. 20)
Season Finale: NCIS, alongside the FBI and MI6, continued their international manhunt for disgraced agent Trent Kort, after his attack on NCIS Special Agent Ziva David. Following the incident, the Mossad Director revealed to Special Agent Tony DiNozzo that he and Ziva had a daughter together, and DiNozzo resigned to spend time with her. Also, the NCIS team successfully located and killed Trent Kort.
Coming Up: In the season premiere, the NCIS team investigates a deadly car explosion in D.C. that connects to NCIS Special Agent Nicholas “Nick” Torres (new cast member Wilmer Valderrama), who disappeared six months ago while on a deep undercover assignment in Argentina. Also, Gibbs asks NCIS Special Agent Alexandra “Alex” Quinn (new cast member Jennifer Esposito) to shadow his team after rejecting eight agents she instructed and referred for the open agent position. Also, Duane Henry joins the cast as MI6 Officer Clayton Reeves.
NCIS: NEW ORLEANS 10:00-11:00 PM (Premieres Tuesday, Sept. 20)
Season Finale: While tracking stolen explosives, Pride and the team discovered Homeland Security Agent Russo was actually the mastermind behind an imminent threat to New Orleans. Special Agent Brody used her personal relationship with Russo to get close to him, clone his phone and obtain information needed to both solve the case and prosecute him. Pride and Percy boarded a riverboat and disarmed the bomb in the nick of time. In the aftermath, a formal investigation on Russo is initiated, and the team was placed on administrative leave.
Coming Up: After a sniper is at large during a crowded festival weekend, the NCIS team partners with several federal agencies on the case. The aftermath of the Russo case continues, as Brody decides to leave NCIS and FBI Special Agent Tammy Gregorio (new cast member Vanessa Ferlito) is sent to investigate Pride and his team. @NCISNewOrleans
WEDNESDAY
SURVIVOR 8:00-9:30 PM (Premieres Wednesday, Sept. 21)
New Season: SURVIVOR returns with “Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X” where 20 castaways will be separated into two groups by their generation and forced to compete against each other with the same ultimate goal: to outwit, outplay and outlast each other. Ultimately, one will be crowned the Sole Survivor and win the $1 million prize. The show is hosted by Emmy Award winner Jeff Probst.
CRIMINAL MINDS 9:00-10:00 PM (Premieres Wednesday, Sept. 28)
Season Finale: Hotch was apprehended at his home in front of his son for suspected conspiracy and, as the BAU raced to prove his innocence, they discovered a larger plot concerning a planned prison break by 13 serial killers, now on the loose.
Coming Up: Adam Rodriguez joins the cast as Luke Alvez, a new recruit to the BAU from the FBI’s Fugitive Task Force tasked with helping to capture one of the escaped killers from last season. Aisha Tyler, who plays Dr. Tara Lewis, becomes a series regular.
CODE BLACK 10:00-11:00 PM (Premieres Wednesday, Sept. 28)
Season Finale: After an explosion at a presidential debate, the two wounded candidates were taken to Angels Memorial for treatment. Dr. Will Campbell threatened to report Dr. Heather Pinkney for using his prescription pad, and she threatened to accuse him of sexual harassment. Dr. Mark Taylor returned to help Dr. Leanne Rorish find money in the budget to keep Jesse Sallander and the other nurses from walking out. Dr. Mario Savetti confronted Dr. Angus Leighton about his Adderall abuse, and ended up going to his brother, Dr. Mike Leighton, when Angus refused to admit he had a problem.
Coming Up: In the season premiere, Col. Ethan Willis (new cast member Rob Lowe) joins the team as part of a program in which the Department of Defense sends doctors to hospitals to teach new techniques and technologies that they learned on the field of combat. Willis and Mike take a harrowing chopper to Malibu to help save shark bite victims; Campbell (new series regular Boris Kodjoe) has become the head of both the OR and the ER in order to save costs, causing strife between him and Leanne; and Jesse welcomes a new round of residents. Noah Gray-Cabey, Emily Tyra and Nafessa Williams join the cast in recurring roles as new residents in the ER.
THURSDAY
MOM 9:00-9:30 PM (Premieres Thurs., Oct. 27)
Season Finale: After all her hard work at school, Christy was distraught when she learned how much it would cost her to become a lawyer. She took Marjorie’s advice about applying for scholarships and was ecstatic when she actually got one. Bonnie sold Violet’s wedding dress and gave Christy the rest of the money she needed for her first semester of college. Also, Bonnie missed Adam while he was working in Croatia, and Christy reached a sobriety milestone and celebrated her third sober birthday.
Coming Up: In the new season, Christy and Bonnie continue to stay strong in their sobriety but will each face other challenges. Both of Christy’s kids engage in questionable behavior, with Violet’s bad judgment forcing her to move back home and Roscoe experimenting with pot. Also, Bonnie is delighted when Adam (new series regular William Fichtner) returns home, but his drinking becomes an issue for her, and Aunt Jeanine (guest star Rosie O’Donnell) returns and encourages Christy to quit school to become a real estate agent.
LIFE IN PIECES 9:30-10:00 PM (Premieres Thursday, Oct. 27)
Season Finale: At a party celebrating the launch of Matt and Colleen’s new children’s book, different family members made a series of surprise announcements that derailed Matt’s plan to propose to Colleen in front of the guests: Jen and Greg revealed they are pregnant with their second child – and that Greg is newly unemployed; John and Joan decided to remarry (after divorcing as a political statement to support gay marriage in the ‘70s); and Tyler surprised his family by eloping with Clementine, his high school girlfriend. Despite the chaos, Matt finally proposed to Colleen, and she tearfully accepted.
Coming Up: In the season premiere, Matt moves into Colleen’s apartment but faces some serious resistance from Colleen’s roommate; Heather and Tim reach out to Clementine’s parents (guest stars Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman) to get Tyler and Clementine’s (new series regular Hunter King) marriage annulled; John lands in the hospital after some medication results in an embarrassing side effect; and Jen and Greg are forced to reveal a secret when they walk into a surprise baby shower.
FRIDAY
HAWAII FIVE-0 9:00-10:00 PM (Premieres Friday, Sept. 23)
Season Finale: In order to stop a meth epidemic on the island, McGarrett and Danny went undercover as drug pilots, but when McGarrett was seriously wounded, Danny was forced to break their cover in order to save his partner’s life and land their airplane on the beach. As McGarrett was wheeled into the operating room, Danny offered to donate half of his liver to his partner and best friend, thus saving his life.
Coming Up: In the season premiere, McGarrett refuses to listen to Danny’s pleas to take it easy while recovering from surgery after the body of a serial killer is left in the Five-0 headquarters with an ivory chess piece in his mouth. When a second serial killer is found dead with another chess piece, Five-0 goes on the hunt for the vigilante as fear grows that it’s not safe to travel to Hawaii. Also, MacGarrett finds comfort in talking to someone with a very special connection to the team. Rosalind Chao recurs as Governor Keiko Mahoe, and Claire Forlani recurs as Alicia Brown, a retired criminal profiler.
BLUE BLOODS 10:00-11:00 PM (Premieres Friday, Sept. 23)
Season Finale: When serial killer Thomas Wilder attached a personal message to his latest victim taunting Danny, their deadly game of cat and mouse became personal when Wilder decided to take a strike directly at Danny by abducting Nicky. Danny ultimately found Wilder and killed him in self-defense.
Coming Up: Danny’s world is turned upside down when Michael Lewis (guest star Michael Imperioli) from the Attorney General’s office obtains new evidence against Danny in the self-defense shooting case of Thomas Wilder. Also, Jamie and Eddie respond to a car crash involving a drunk driver who is a public figure, and Frank is asked by Grace Edwards (guest star Lori Loughlin), the wife of a slain police officer, to keep her only son out of the police force.