The planted CSI spinoff will join offshoot NCIS: New Orleans on the CBS schedule next season. CSI: Cyber was not on the list of four drama pilots picked up to series by CBS earlier today but as we reported, the project was in final negotiations for a pickup, which now has become a reality. I had heard that CBS would likely not launch the NCIS and CSI spinoffs at the same time, with NCIS: New Orleans more likely for fall and CSI: Cyber for midseason. Written-executive produced by the CSI team of Carol Mendelsohn, Anthony Zuiker and Ann Donahue, CSI: Cyber stars Patricia Arquette as Avery Ryan, Special Agent in Charge at the Cyber Crime Division of the FBI in Quantico, VA, who is tasked with solving major crimes that start in the mind, live online, and play out into the real world. The planted spinoff aired recently as an episode of CSI to a great response. It is a departure from the forensic DNA of the CSI franchise and is darker as it focuses on cyber crime. Another CSI veteran, former CSI: NY showrunner Pam Veasey, is expected to run the new series. Mendelsohn will continue to be in charge of the mothership series as she has been since the beginning. The pickup marks Arquette’s return to primetime at the network where she last starred in Medium.

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2014 CBS Pilots

CBS Picks Up ‘NCIS’ Spinoff, ‘Scorpion’, Kevin Williamson Drama, ‘Madam Secretary’, ‘The Odd Couple’, ‘The McCarthys’ To Series