Why CBS Gave Queen Latifah’s ‘The Equalizer’ the Best Launch Slot on TV, Post-Super Bowl
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CBS is hoping for a bit more luck from the gridiron this time around
When CBS premieres its reboot of “The Equalizer” starring Queen Latifah following Super Bowl LV on Sunday, it will mark something the network hasn’t done in more than twenty years.
“The Equalizer,” a reboot of both the 1980s TV series and the Denzel Washington-led films, will be just the third time CBS has ever used television’s best real estate — the post-Super Bowl time slot — to debut a scripted series. The previous two times came in 1990, with the short-lived “Grand Slam,” which was pulled after only 6 episodes, and the sci-fi series “Airwolf” in 1984.
Traditionally, networks airing the Super Bowl use the prime real estate to debut something network executives expect to be a broad hit (“four-quadrant” appeal in network-speak), or give a fledgling series a super-sized boost.