Programming

Here are some things to know about CBS’s coverage Sunday as well as other Super Bowl-related programming on other networks.

The CW on Thursday went on something of a renewal tear, picking up additional seasons of 10 current series — aka nearly its entire lineup. The list of shows confirmed to return for the 2019-20 TV season includes The Flash, Arrow, Riverdale, Supernatural, Supergirl, Black Lightning and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Freshman entries Charmed and Legacies also scored renewals, as did (wait for it) perpetual cellar-dweller Dynasty.

Fox’s singing competition posts the best ratings since its premiere, doubling the No. 2 show of the night in adults 18-49.

According to industry sources close to the situation but who wished to remain anonymous, Disney-owned ESPN is actively in negotiations with Major League Baseball for an extension of its media rights to show live games. The deal would come on the heels of Fox reaching an extension that runs seven years and begins in 2022 for $5.1 billion. ESPN’s current agreement with MLB expires in 2021 and has a total value of $5.6 billion over an eight-year span.

CBS All Access has seen double-digit growth during the past year, momentum that got a big boost earlier this month from the combination of the second season premiere of Star Trek: Discovery and the NFL’s AFC conference championship. Marc DeBevoise, president-COO of CBS Interactive, said Wednesday during the Television Critics Assciation press tour in Pasadena, Calif., that CBS All Access logged more than 50% growth in total subscribers as well as in total streams delivered and the amount of time users spent watching the service.

Hosted by James Corden, The World’s Best premieres Sunday after Super Bowl 53. Besides impressing judges RuPaul, Drew Barrymore and Faith Hill, contestants have to break through the “wall of the world” featuring more than 50 experts from 38 different countries who score the competition.

During the recent reality television boom, small-time producers that were once “the Rodney Dangerfields” of Hollywood sold their companies for hundreds of millions. Now many are looking for second acts, and for Pawn Stars creator Brent Montgomery, that involves a high-stakes “VC to TV” business, Jimmy Kimmel and an invite-only L.A. “incubator” (just don’t call it a party house).

Dr. Phil was on top of the genre in the week ending Jan. 20, with a majority of the category reporting week-to-week ratings increases.

Tuesday night was initially slated to feature the State of the Union address on the big four broadcast networks. With the federal government shutdown pushing that back a week, the networks mostly aired reruns and specials. The exception was Ellen’s Game of Games on NBC, which aired two new episodes and carried the network to an easy win among adults 18-49.

As it has for the past two years, Yellow Tail will advertise nationally during the Super Bowl by buying local time on CBS stations across the country. The strategy has been a winner for the winery, but not a model that other national advertisers have followed.

Empire filming is continuing as scheduled for the day, a source says, amid the assault and subsequent hospitalization of star Jussie Smollett early Tuesday in Chicago. The Fox show’s production schedule remains “fluid” for the rest of the week, according to the source. It’s not yet known how Smollett’s injuries will ultimately affect production on the current season, which would typically wrap in March.

Nick Cannon, host of Fox’s breakout The Masked Singer and MTV’s Wild n’ Out, has been set as the first guest host for The Wendy Williams Show. He will be subbing for Williams who recently announced that she is taking an extended break from her syndicated daytime talk show while recovering from a fractured shoulder.

The Television Academy is putting its foot down on category flip-flops. Going forward, programs will be allowed to switch categories (say, from comedy to drama competition) in the Emmy race just once. After that, they’re locked in — and won’t be allowed to change categorize again.

9 p.m. ET is where the big dogs roam. Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow are the top two personalities in cable television. They still are, but Chris Cuomo’s Prime Time quickly established itself as CNN’s most-watched program and, with 1.64 million viewers in January, is having its best month, according to Nielsen.

The network on Tuesday picked up its Greg Berlanti-produced freshman dramedy God Friended Me for a second season. The order arrives mere days after CBS renewed fellow rookies FBI, Magnum P.I. and The Neighborhoodfor the 2019-20 broadcast season.