CBS has officially ended the suspense surrounding the fate of two of its most uncertain scripted shows. The network has now confirmed that Watson and DMV will not be returning for the upcoming 2026-27 television season. This now brings an end to months of suspense surrounding the network’s last bubble shows. The network has now opted to end the medical drama featuring Morris Chestnut after two seasons. The workplace comedy featuring Harriet Dyer will also now be coming to an end after just one season. This now allows the network to bring in a stronger lineup of shows in the upcoming season.
The final curtain calls and what led to the cancellation
For the fans of the show, Watson, the curtains will now officially close with the airing of the already produced season 2 finale of the show on May 3rd, 2026. The show will now officially be coming to an end, even though it was originally designed with renewal in mind. The workplace comedy DMV will now officially be coming to an end with its one-season run concluding on May 11th. This will now see the East Hollywood Department of Motor Vehicles officially closing its doors.
The cancellations were already telegraphed as far back as January, when CBS gave out a major renewal wave and omitted both shows from the list. This immediately made the two shows two of CBS’s most endangered shows heading into spring.
Watson’s decline was precipitous. After launching to huge numbers with an 18.7 million-viewer premiere in 2025, the show never recovered from a scheduling change to move from its lucrative Sunday slot following Tracker to Mondays following FBI. The show dropped 57% in the key demographic as a result of the change and will not be able to regain its footing even when returning to Sundays this spring as CBS’s second-lowest-rated scripted drama.
DMV started well with a 10.1 million multi-platform viewer premiere, but simply never maintained the long-term interest CBS wanted from their dramas. The comedy also gradually lost steam in the Live+35 delayed viewing numbers, which CBS is increasingly considering when determining whether or not single-camera comedies are worth the additional cost of production.
The timing of the cancellation also speaks to CBS’s long-term strategy. Breakout dramas such as Marshals and CIA have quickly become priority shows for CBS, and upcoming dramas such as Einstein and Cupertino are now at the forefront of the network’s 2026-27 strategy.
