CBS Announces 90-Minute Episodes of 'Survivor' and 'The Amazing Race' This Fall

While the fate of scripted series are up in the air due to the ongoing writers' strike, reality shows are not only surviving, but thriving. CBS has announced that two of its most veteran shows, Survivor and The Amazing Race, will be airing 90-minute episodes every week in the fall.

Despite both Emmy-winning series being around for over 20 years, this is a marked shift. By and large, every season has a runtime of one hour. Both shows had a preview of the upcoming schedule change on September 28, 2022, where Survivor 43 and The Amazing Race 34 both aired 90-minute episodes during the network's primetime block. Despite fan speculation that this was an idea that CBS was floating out as a trial balloon, subsequent chatter from production revealed that it was due to the network delaying the premiere of the new series The Real Love Boat, leading to a last-minute re-edit of a longer version of that week's programming.

Related: Everything to Know About Survivor 44

Though unintentional, that one day in September ended up being a harbinger for what is to come a year later. CBS announced on Wednesday its schedule for the fall 2023 season. Survivor 45 (which is currently filming) will air from 8:00-9:30 p.m. The Amazing Race 35 (which filmed last fall) will air from 9:30-11:00 p.m. The only change in programming will come at the beginning and end of the Survivor season, which in the past have done two and three-hour episodes, respectively.

Of course, this change was prompted by the current WGA strike, which put a pause on production for many TV shows and movies. CBS was not immune to the effects of the strike, as its fall lineup has only one new show premiering (Elsbeth, airing at 10:00 p.m. on Thursday nights). However, 90-minute episodes of two of its reality juggernauts will certainly ease the strain on the schedule, as the network fills out its schedule with fan-favorite shows like NCIS and Young Sheldon.

What is also interesting is that the schedule tweeted above is for the "2023-2024 season," meaning that, depending on the timeline for the strike, it's likely that the runtime will extend into the spring's airing of Survivor 46 and The Amazing Race 36, neither of which have filmed yet. Premiere dates for both shows have yet to be announced. An additional wrinkle is CBS' third flagship reality show Big Brother. The network has not announced a premiere date nor airing schedule for the summer series.

Next, here's everything you need to know about the upcoming season of The Amazing Race 35.