Inside CBS’s Blitz to Lock in Younger, Hipper Viewers: It’s No Longer ‘The Geezer Network’

Youth-skewing shows — “Scorpion,” “Supergirl,” “CSI: Cyber” — two streaming services and a retooled late-night lineup suggest the network is upping its cool factor

Inside CBS's efforts to get hip
DARTH VOMITUS / PIXEL PUSHER

CBS has long been regarded as your grandmother’sย network — a fact that even company President and CEO Les Moonves has admitted.

“They called us the ‘Geezer Network,’” Moonves told more than 2,000 advertising buyers in 2005.

But fast-forward a decade, and CBS is finally getting a much-needed facelift.

With new, younger-skewing hit shows, two different online services and a fresh, รผber-cool late-night lineup led by Stephen Colbert, the broadcaster once known as “The Tiffany Network” is going from hip-replacement to hip.

Riding that wave — possibly causing it, in part — is Patricia Arquette,ย the star of “CSI: Cyber,” the latest installment in the network’s big moneymaking franchise debuting Wednesday.

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