'Magnum P.I.' gets a goatee as CBS adds 6 shows, including 'Murphy Brown,' for fall

Philly's David Boreanaz's "SEAL Team" will be back, the only one of this season's three military-theme network dramas to win a second season.

Jay Hernandez as Thomas Magnum, a decorated former Navy SEAL who, upon returning home from Afghanistan, repurposes his military skills to become a private investigator in Hawaii. A new version of the 1980s series starring Tom Selleck, it also stars Perdita Weeks as the new Higgins, whose first name’s now JulietRead moreKaren Neal/CBS

by Ellen Gray

Published May 16, 2018, 12:34 p.m. ET

Thomas Magnum will be on CBS this fall, and so will Tom Selleck.

Just not in the same show.

One of six additions to the network's fall schedule, which also includes the return of Murphy Brown, the new Magnum P.I. — which has shed a comma since the '80s — stars Jay Hernandez (Scandal, Nashville) as the title character, a former Navy SEAL and Afghanistan war veteran-turned-private-investigator. Perdita Weeks (Ready Player One, Penny Dreadful) costars as Juliet Higgins. (Yes, Juliet. Get over it.) Early publicity pictures show no signs that Hernandez will be sporting anything as luxurious as Selleck's trademark mustache (you'll have to watch CBS's Blue Bloods for that), but he will have a goatee, according to CBS entertainment president Kelly Kahl and programming chief Thom Sherman, who walked through the new schedule with reporters on Wednesday in advance of the network's annual presentation to advertisers in New York.

One thing the advertisers got to see at the Carnegie Hall presentation Wednesday: Philadelphia's Kevin Hart introducing his new summer series TKO: Total Knock Out. Produced by Mark Burnett (Survivor) and Hart and hosted by Hart, it's an obstacle-course competition.

The new Magnum P.I. and the old(er) Murphy Brown will join a schedule that already includes reboots of MacGyver, Hawaii Five-0, and S.W.A.T.

SEAL Team, starring Philadelphia's David Boreanaz, will again be following Survivor on Wednesdays this fall, and though it appears to have survived easily — it wins its hour, said Kahl — this season's two other military-theme network shows, NBC's The Brave, which starred Warminster's Mike Vogel, and the CW's Valor, have been canceled.

CBS execs told reporters on Wednesday the network will finish the season strong enough to hold on to the title of America's most-watched network, edging past NBC, which had surged ahead with the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics. But they're not happy with their performance on Mondays, where the schedule is getting an overhaul that involves two new comedies, The Neighborhood and Happy Together, the new Magnum P.I., and the move of Bull from Tuesdays.

The Neighborhood stars Cedric the Entertainer, Max Greenfield (New Girl), and Tichina Arnold, and is about what happens when "the friendliest guy in the Midwest" (Greenfield) moves his family to a neighborhood in Los Angeles and tries to fit into a predominantly black neighborhood, where Cedric's character isn't too thrilled to see him. Happy Together stars Damon Wayans Jr. and Amber Stevens West as a couple whose lives change when a pop star (Felix Mallard) moves in with them. It's said to be inspired by an experience of pop star Harry Styles, who's also one of the producers.

On Tuesdays, Bull's former berth between NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans will be filled by FBI, a new procedural from University of Pennsylvania grad Dick Wolf, who also has four shows on NBC this fall: Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Law & Order: SVU. FBI, set in the bureau's New York office, stars Missy Peregrym (Rookie Blue), Zeeko Zaki (Valor), Jeremy Sisto (Law & Order), and Ebonée Noel (Still Star-Crossed). Kahl told advertisers he expected it to be the No. 1 new drama next season.

Murphy Brown, which will feature its original star, Candice Bergen, along with returning costars Faith Ford, Joe Regalbuto, and Conestoga High School grad Grant Shaud, will air at 9:30 p.m. Thursdays. Tyne Daly has joined the cast as the sister of Phil, the bar owner who was played by the late Pat Corley, and Jake McDorman (Limitless) will play Murphy's now-grown son, Avery, who works in news for a competing network.

After 60 Minutes on Sunday, a new drama, God Friended Me, will star Brandon Micheal Hall (The Mayor) as an atheist who accepts a friend request from a social-media account calling itself God, an act that leads to his helping people in need. The show is one of three ordered for next season that will lead producer Greg Berlanti to break a record for number of series on the air, with 14.

CBS also helped Berlanti reach that number with an order for The Red Line, an event series for midseason that he's producing with Ava DuVernay (A Wrinkle in Time) that follows the stories of three families in Chicago in the aftermath of a white police officer's mistaken shooting of an African American doctor.

Returning shows, some of which will be on this summer and some of which won't be back until midseason, include: The Amazing Race, The Big Bang Theory, Big Brother, Blue Bloods, Bull, Celebrity Big Brother, Criminal Minds, Elementary, Hawaii Five-0, Instinct, Life in Pieces, MacGyver, Madam Secretary, Man with a Plan, Mom, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Ransom, Salvation, SEAL Team, Survivor, S.W.AT., Undercover Boss, and Young Sheldon.

Shows that won't be returning include: 9JKL; Kevin Can Wait; Living Biblically; Me, Myself & I; Scorpion; Superior Donuts; Wisdom of the Crowd, and Zoo.