Elsbeth will return in October but with a strange scheduling choice

We are certainly looking forward to Elsbeth Season 2. The good news is that it will be part of the fall schedule on CBS. The bad news is that CBS is opting for an odd release, again.

This one isn’t as odd as the decision to air the series premiere and then take a month-long break. However, CBS is still making some strange choices when it comes to the fall 2024 premiere dates. It doesn’t look good for some shows.

Elsbeth starts with a rerun in fall 2024

When it comes to Elsbeth, we have to wait until October 2024 for the premiere. However, the Season 2 premiere won’t be the first episode of the fall schedule. Instead, we’re getting a rerun.

TVLine hasn’t said which episode will be the rerun. That’s likely not been decided yet. The two episodes that make the most sense are the series premiere or the Season 1 finale.

This rerun will air on Thursday, Oct. 10 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. It comes after an encore of the Matlock series premiere, which also has an odd schedule to kick off the new series.

Elsbeth Season 2 premieres in October 2024

The actual Season 2 premiere won’t happen until Thursday, Oct. 17. The episode will air in the regular timeslot, following premieres of Georgie & Mandy’s First Wedding and Ghosts and the second episode of Matlock.

From there, we should see a regular schedule on Thursday nights. The later premiere does match those of NCIS, FBI, and most other shows on the network. It’s Sunday night dramas that will see a longer wait, as we have to wait until the end of the month.

It is an odd schedule for CBS. It’s not clear why this schedule is working out the way it is, but it could be due to many shows no longer getting the full 22-episode seasons. We may see more shows get between 18 and 20 episodes, which will lead to later starts to avoid too many breaks in the second half of the seasonal year.