Why Young Sheldon, Ghosts and So Help Me Todd aren't new tonight, March 21

Iain Armitage in Young Sheldon
Iain Armitage in Young Sheldon (Image credit: Bill Inoshita / 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc)

If your Thursday night plans usually involve watching CBS shows Young Sheldon, Ghosts and So Help Me Todd, then you may be a bit frustrated this week. Young Sheldon season 7, Ghosts season 3, So Help Me Todd season 2 and new show Elsbeth are not only not airing new episodes on Thursday, March 21, but they won't be shown at all. This is because the annual NCAA men's college basketball tournament, otherwise known as March Madness, is taking over the network.

The first round of the March Madness tournament begins on March 21, with CBS airing games throughout the day, which is also impacting its daytime soaps The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful. That continues into primetime, with Oakland vs Kentucky and NC State vs Texas Tech games airing at 7:10 pm ET/4:10 pm PT and 9:40 pm ET/6:40 pm PT, respectively, on March 21.

It's not just this week either. With CBS slated to also air Sweet Sixteen games of the tournament on Thursday, March 28, new episodes of Young Sheldon, Ghosts and Elsbeth aren't expected to return to their usual times until April 4. It may be even longer for So Help Me Todd, as according to CBS's press site, April 4 is going to see two new episodes of Elsbeth air, including one during what is usually So Help Me Todd's time slot (9 pm ET/PT).

CBS's Thursday night shows are not the only ones that are going to be impacted by basketball. The network's entire Friday night lineup — S.W.A.T. season 7, Fire Country season 2 and Blue Bloods season 14 — are also going to be booted on Friday, March 22, with the expectation that new episodes won't return until April 5.

Other networks aren't shifting their schedules for March Madness. So if you always have to choose between watching CBS's programming and shows like Grey's Anatomy season 20, Law & Order: SVU season 25 and others first, then that decision becomes a lot easier for you these next two weeks.

The one good thing about the break is that anyone behind on the latest episodes of Young Sheldon, Ghosts, So Help Me Todd and Elsbeth have a chance to catch up on the episodes on-demand. You can do so exclusively on Paramount Plus.

Michael Balderston

Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca, Moulin Rouge!, Silence of the Lambs, Children of Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars. On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd.