Will 'Yellowstone' lose its home with Paramount? CBS announces show acquirement amid uncertainty over Kevin Costner's return

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, when the fall schedule of the shows is wholly jeopardized, CBS brings a ray of new hope with its latest announcement. The network announced recently that it has acquired the rights to broadcast the episodes of ‘Yellowstone’. The show starring Kevin Costner will soon start airing on the CBS channel on Sundays.

As the filming and production of several movies and shows have taken a hit because of the double strikes, networks are inclining towards more reruns and unscripted content like reality shows. 'Yellowstone' is CBS’s one of the latest acquisitions, which will try to keep the audience entertained during the dearth of new productions.

Will 'Yellowstone' lose its home with Paramount?

'Yellowstone' will follow the show's usual plan for Season 5, as per Collider. The Western series will initially be released on Paramount Network weekly, and after the premiere of its finale, the whole thing will be available to watch on Peacock. Currently, Paramount Network hopes to set the release date for Part 2 sometime in November. However, the uncertainties arising from SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes may have an impact on the scheduled date.

Based on CBS’s NFL coverage, the much-beloved Western drama will be broadcast on television. On an NFL double-header day, the show will occupy the 9 pm to 10 pm ET slot. On a single header day, it will start from 8 pm and run till 10 pm. Starting from the pilot episode, the rerun will air all the' Yellowstone' episodes up to the first part of Season 5. While it is not known how CBS acquired the show, it is noteworthy that both Paramount Network and CBS are owned by Paramount Global.

Notably, the show garnered a viewership of about 12.1 million for its Season 5 premiere when it debuted in November 2022. Thus CBS may be banking on the overwhelming success of ‘Yellowstone’ to pass through the shutdown of scripted shows. On the other hand, uncertainty looms over Season 6 of the hit show as the leading man, Kevin Costner, is all set to bow out from it.

Which other shows were acquired by CBS?

The channel has published a new fixture for the fall where it's expecting to air a plethora of reruns in order to make up for the scripted shows, which include 'The Amazing Race', 'Survivor', and '60 Minutes', as per Forbes. Furthermore, selected episodes of the drama, 'Blue Bloods', will also be shown, and on Fridays, viewers can expect to see game shows like 'The Price Is Right at Night' and 'Let’s Make a Deal Primetime'. Interestingly, 'Big Brother' is set to air on Sundays from 10 pm, while the BBC series 'Ghosts' will be on after the US spinoff of the same completes its rerun.

George Cheeks, the CEO, and president of CBS, talked about the selection press of Paramount Plus shows to air on television. He stated, "We’re spending a lot of time looking at research and figuring out which are the ones that... have the best shot keeping our audience engaged but also that could really help drive awareness," as per Deadline.