Have I aged into CBS?

Or have the network's shows gotten better over the years?

The King of Queens was the last CBS show I watched regularly. I tuned in foractress Leah Remini, whom I knew from her six-episode stint in on Saved By the Bell as Stacey Carosi, the Zack Morris love interest/cutting teen manager of the Malibu Sands beach club where the gang had summer gigs (deep cut!). I stuck with The King of Queens for Jerry Stiller and his character, Arthur Spooner, especially when he went toe-to-toe with Kevin James.

Since the end of The King of Queens in 2007, my TV habits tiptoed away from live network TV in favor of on-demand episodes and shows created by streaming services. I watched additions to the CBS lineup from a distance: the schlubby white guy/hot wife sitcoms that followed The King of Queens, the sucess of Two and a Half Men, the longevity of Blue Bloods.¹ CBS looked like the network for dads — programming that entertained middle-aged men without offering much in terms of depth, diversity or risk-taking that I gobbled up by cable networks and streaming services.

Then, the pandemic hit.² Lockdown wore down any pretentiousness I felt toward the network TV — I was bored in the house, and I was in the house bored. Any show from any network became an option, which is how I ended up scrolling through Paramount+, CBS’ streaming platform and gateway to its content, on someone else’s password. I scanned titles until I landed on Ghosts, having recognized the actress Danielle Pinnock in the sitcom’s promo image. I knew Danielle from her hilarious social media videos, so I figured any show that she’s on must be funny.

Reader, I was CORRECT.

Guess who the ghosts and real people are (photo via IMdB)

Ghosts is a remake of a British show of the same name. I haven’t checked out the original, but in the American version, a woman named Sam inherits a mansion in New York State, falls down some steps and slips into a coma. Because she was so close to death, she is suddenly able to see ghosts who have not moved on from the mortal realm. So along with her husband, Jay, she lives in the house with a motley crew of ghosts from different eras who have died on the property, including (but not limited to) a Viking, an indigenous storyteller, a hippie, a suburban dad, the wife of a Gilded Age robber baron and a jazz singer (hey, Danielle!).

Ghosts is witty and smart. The jokes are laugh-out-loud funny. And the characters experience real growth throughout the seasons, including the ghosts (spirits — they’re just like us!).

<Carrie Bradshaw voice>

As I let my Roku play another episode of Ghosts, I realized that I loved this show. But it comes from a network that pumps dad-friendly TV into the universe, not content for a hot young (ish) person like myself who has discernment and loves good storytelling. I couldn’t help but wonder — have I aged into liking CBS? Or has CBS gotten… good?

</Carrie Bradshaw voice>

It’s a little bit of both.

While I was busy streaming, CBS began to tell a broader range of stories that centered characters who weren’t… well, schlubby white guys with hot wives. I have been told by multiple people that I need to give The Good Wife a watch, along with its spinoff, The Good Fight³, two shows that center female characters. And yes, we know copaganda television is not great (and I watch it — I’m no saint), the fact that one of CBS’ long-running shows, NCIS, starred a Black man?

I mean, it ain’t perfect, but it’s progress.

Case in point: The Matlock remake has quickly become My Shit™. Check out this list of ingredients:

• The Queen Kathy Bates playing an older lawyer who uses society’s dismissal of women of an older age to an advantage

• Skye P. Marshall leading the ensemble as a complex attorney, wife and mother who has to be vigilant of how the world interacts with her as a Black woman

• Jason Ritter looking just like his damn daddy

• A diverse cast of characters who are actually well rounded and not just slots in a DEI survey

• A pilot that ends with a twist I didn’t see coming

• Beau Bridges??

I have a soft spot for TV shows led by women of a certain age; I’ve fallen asleep many a night to the jaunty piano of the Murder, She Wrote theme song, and I have a cheesecake tattoo in honor of The Golden Girls. But even when I put my own preferences aside, Matlock is still a damn good show.

CBS’ most recent programming is definitely the type of TV I can sink my teeth into, even if it means my tastes are more aligned with an older set. And there are some benefits of tapping into more mature viewing: My dad also loves Ghost and Matlock. He thinks I should give Elsbeth a try next.

1. Full disclosure: When I worked at CNET back in the day, the publication was a part of CBS Interactive. I used to joke that Two and a Half Men money kept us in business.

2. Do many of my essays include a line like this? Yes. But was the pandemic, subsequent lockdown and worldwide refusal to acknowledge its psychological devastation a major event in the past few years of my life that I will turn to again and again? Also yes!

3. The fact that this show stars THE Christine Baranski, who I’ve rocked with since I was 10 years old watching Cybill, and I haven’t watched it yet is shameful. AND Audra McDonald is a cast member?