CBS TV looks to social media for next big hits

Actress Alyson Hannigan (L) and actor Neil Patrick Harris, two of the stars of the new CBS television network comedy series ''How I Met Your Mother'' answer questions during a panel discussion at the Television Critics Association Summer press tour in Beverly Hills July 19, 2005.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler said on Wednesday the top-rated TV network was "restless, motivated and paranoid" about developing new shows and looking increasingly to social networking and the Internet for its next big hits.

At a time when traditional television audiences are being lured away by the Internet, videogames and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, Tassler welcomed what she called the "increasing diversity of source material."

"You never know where your next hit is going to come from. As the world gets smaller and online and social media get bigger, the pool of source material is going to expand dramatically," Tassler told TV journalists as CBS presented its line-up for the upcoming 2010-11 season.

"It is an exciting time to be a creative executive in TV," she said.

CBS Corp's CBS finished the last season as the most-watched network in the United States for the seventh time in eight years, with hit comedies like "How I Met Your Mother" and the crime franchises "CSI" and "NCIS".

As a result, it is introducing just three new dramas and two new comedies to its new prime time schedule, as well as a new female daytime talk show.

"It was a terrific year for us, but we are restless motivated and paranoid," Tassler said.

Tassler noted that the new William Shatner comedy "$#*! (Bleep) My Dad Says" is based on a real life Twitter feed, while new Las Vegas-based lawyer drama series "The Defenders" was first pitched as a reality show.

An upcoming CBS daytime talk show, whose hosts include Sharon Osbourne and Julie Chen, was inspired by a Mommy group that met in the living room of executive producer and co-host Sara Gilbert, best known for playing a rebel teen in the 1990s comedy "Roseanne," Tassler said.

Tassler defended CBS for not making bigger changes to its prime time schedule.

"The fact we have been successful for a number of years indicates that stability is a good thing" she said. "There is no formula. It is not an exact science. The fact we have been able to generate hit shows season after season says we are doing something right."

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)