“Watson” and “DMV” are officially done at CBS. Two Black-led shows out, one replacement in.
CBS made it official. Watson and DMV are done. Series finales locked in — Watson wraps May 3, DMV on May 11 — and that’s pretty much it for two shows that spent the last several months just… waiting to die.
When CBS went on that early renewal spree back in January and these two were the only scripted shows left hanging, everyone already knew. The network wasn’t “evaluating.” They were just waiting for the data on Marshals and CIA to come in before pulling the trigger. That’s how this works.
This isn’t just about two shows getting canceled. This is CBS slowly phasing out Black-led scripted TV on the network. Watson starred Morris Chestnut. The Neighborhood, which is also ending, starred Cedric the Entertainer. That’s two of their biggest shows with Black leads gone in the same cycle. The only replacement coming is Cupertino with Mike Colter — one drama, one lead. That’s the entire bench. Boston Blue has Sonequa Martin-Green in a co-lead role opposite Donnie Wahlberg, which counts, but the math here is thin and CBS knows it.
DMV getting canceled actually tells you more than Watson does. The fact that CBS didn’t wait — didn’t give it another week, another pilot screening — means they feel genuinely good about Eternally Yours and Tillbrooks. Like, confident enough to not need the safety net.
Eternally Yours — the single-camera vampire comedy from the Ghosts showrunners Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, shooting in the same Montreal location — has apparently already been delivered to CBS and the internal reaction has been enthusiastic. That show was considered a frontrunner since the script stage. Now it looks like a lock.
Tillbrooks (the multi-camera family sitcom formerly called Regency) just got its pilot delivered to the studio this past weekend, and word is the taping went well. Whether CBS picks up both is still an open question — but with both The Neighborhood and DMV leaving, there’s actually room for two comedies. So yeah. Don’t be shocked.
There’s a whole corporate angle baked into this decision. Eternally Yours comes from CBS Studios. Tillbrooks comes from Warner Bros. TV. Normally that ownership dynamic matters a lot when networks decide what to pick up. But Paramount’s pending acquisition of Warner Bros. flips the script. They’d be corporate siblings. So the usual “we prefer our own shows” argument? Doesn’t hit the same way here.
CBS unveils its 2026-27 schedule on April 15. That’s less than two weeks away.
Marshals got renewed after literally two episodes. CIA got its Season 2 pickup earlier this week. The drama side is basically settled — 12 dramas renewed, four freshmen included. The comedy side is where the real announcement is coming.
CBS has been running the same old names playbook for years — safe procedurals, broad comedies, nothing that takes a real swing. Watson got shuffled around the schedule like a problem nobody wanted to solve, and DMV never got a chance to find its footing after a genuinely strong premiere. What actually bothers me is the diversity math. Losing Watson and The Neighborhood in the same cycle and replacing them with one drama lead? That’s not a strategy. That’s a gap. And Cupertino better deliver, because right now CBS is banking everything on a show nobody’s seen yet.
So here’s what I keep thinking about — if Eternally Yours lands and becomes the next Ghosts, does anyone at CBS even look back at what they walked away from this spring?
