The new comedy-drama series Einstein, which was originally picked up to series for the 2025-26 season last week, has now been rescheduled for 2026-27.
Matthew Gray Gubler
The move isn’t entirely surprising. As part of the network’s long-term development strategy, CBS picked up Fire Country spinoff Sheriff Country for the 2025-26 season last May. Given the network’s space constraints, it was considered likely that CBS could now pick up a new series for 2026-27, giving it a long production run and a promotional push that could kick off during March Madness 2026, something CBS has done before with shows like Tracker and Sheriff Country.
Still, it’s intriguing that the decision to hold on to CBS Studios’ Einstein came a week after the series was picked up for next season. It’s unclear whether the move was based solely on scheduling — CBS executives are now busy putting together the network’s 2025-26 schedule, which will be revealed May 7 — or whether something was added at the last minute for next season that pushed Einstein off the list.
CBS has yet to make a decision on whether to renew the drama series The Equaliser, which was in the running for a sixth — and likely final — season, but that could be a limited 13-episode season. The network also has Cupertino, Robert King and Michelle King’s Silicon Valley-set legal drama on another development track, with a wildcard in the mix — the potential Yellowstone (2018) spinoff starring Luke Grimes, which could be fast-tracked at any time.
There could also be financial considerations at play in the decision, as cost-cutting is hitting every sector of the broadcasting industry, with CBS under additional pressure following the delay of its parent company’s acquisition by Skydance.
Also worth noting about the move is the fact that Einstein , after producing a pilot, is a fully developed series, which has now been delayed by a year. Meanwhile, the FBI-CIA spin-off from Wolf Entertainment and Universal TV is still on track for 2025-26, without even a planned spin-off episode, with creative issues still in their infancy and only Tom Ellis cast as the lead.
Einstein, adapted from a German format by Monk creator Andy Breckman, was CBS’s only standalone drama pilot this season. The series was an internal favorite and well-received. It fit perfectly into CBS’s mix of procedural drama with humor and a popular CBS star in the lead role.