The three FBI shows have kept Tuesday nights going strong on CBS in the fall 2024 TV schedule, starting each week with FBI Season 7 at 8 p.m. ET, continuing with FBI: International Season 4 at 9 p.m. ET, and concluding as always with FBI: Most Wanted Season 6 at 10 p.m. ET. The series haven’t reached their fall finales yet to end the year, but CBS has already announced when they’ll be back in the 2025 TV schedule. The news reminded me of what Most Wanted showrunner David Hudgins told us about getting to do a full season again this time around.
First things first: just like how CBS packed a ton of content into its Fall Premiere Week, the last week of January is going to be very big for the network. You can expect to see CBS’ three entries in the nine-show Dick Wolf TV universe back on Tuesday, January 28, and it’ll be back to business as usual with the time slots:
FBI – 8 p.m. ET
FBI: International – 9 p.m. ET
FBI: Most Wanted – 10 p.m. ET
Normally, it wouldn’t be much of a big deal for a show to start in the fall, go on a winter hiatus in late November or early December, and then return early in the new year, but the last several years of TV have been far from normal. In the case of FBI: Most Wanted, the 14-episode first season was airing when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the entertainment industry, followed by a 15-episode second season that likely would have been longer if not for COVID production challenges.
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Seasons 3 and 4 both ran for the usual 22 episodes of a network TV drama, only for the WGA writers strike and SAG-AFTRA actors strike to shorten Season 5 to just 13 episodes from February to May 2024. Basically, it’s been a ride to watch FBI: Most Wanted from the start.
It’s like it was for the [previous] seasons where we did 22… I’ve been doing this a long time [with] 22 episodes, although we did 13 episode orders for two seasons on Friday Night Lights. But it’s a grind. It’s a marathon, but you just got to be prepared for it.
Filming a series that runs for so many episodes in a given season is a lot of work, with Most Wanted EP Ken Girotti even telling CinemaBlend previously that “it demands a level of… interdepartmental cooperation” to make 22 episodes of a stunt-heavy show per round. David Hudgins went on, explaining the “marathon” of a full FBI show’s season:
I think as storytellers, if you’ve planned out your season and you know what you’re doing, everybody always gets tired around 18 or 19. It’s just the reality of the business. And I’m talking about the cast and the crew and the writers too. But with 22, I’m used to the rhythm, and I’m glad to put episodes on television. So I’ll take 22 any day.
I think it’s safe to say that fans will also take 22 episodes any day, and that’s seemingly the plan for FBI, FBI: International, and of course FBI: Most Wanted this season. While there are surely different production challenges with each of the three shows – not least because International is based out of Budapest – a lot of work clearly goes into making them.
