CBS' 'Lincoln Lawyer' Replacement Officially Doubles Viewership

CBS‘ legal drama Matlock was a smash hit from its first episode, which aired in 2024. With an emotional, engaging mystery and strong performances from the main cast, Matlock attracted over 10 million viewers on average and was renewed soon after. The series returned for another successful second season, but it isn’t on CBS’s fall schedule after Season 3 was pushed to next year. CBS has replaced the Kathy Bates-led series with another legal drama that began airing a few weeks ago.

This new show is also in the world of high-profile corporate litigation, shifting locations from New York to California. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence and tech startups, legal issues in the field have increased, and this show explores them through the eyes of two lawyers. Created by seasoned producers Robert and Michelle King, the series Cupertino addresses timely issues that are becoming more relevant in our world.

New episodes of Cupertino air on Thursdays at 10 pm, following Michael (Mike Colter) and Olivia (Rachel Keller) as they try to build a reputable practice by taking on Silicon Valley giants. While critics gave the series overwhelmingly positive reviews, and it scored a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, it wasn’t a runaway hit like Matlock. The pilot episode attracted 3.19 million live and same-day viewers. While live viewers matter on network television, they don’t tell the whole story because many people now stream on demand, and Cupertino seems to be benefiting from delayed viewing. Recent Nielsen ratings show the pilot episode more than doubled its live+same-day viewership, growing to 7.17 million viewers. With an encore airing on Sunday, October 11, the episode reached 10.58 million viewers.

The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.

You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world’s indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you’re willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family’s weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what’s yours, you don’t escalate — you finish it. You’re not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone’s world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.

You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You’re a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they’ll do to get it. You’re not naive enough to think this world is fair. You’re smart enough to be the one deciding who it’s fair to.

You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you’re not above reminding people that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they’d be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they’re more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don’t need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.

You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you’re the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky’s world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You’ve made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.

What to Expect in Next Week’s Episode of ‘Cupertino’

• Image via CBS

• Image via CBS

• Image via CBS

• Image via CBS

• Image via CBS

• Image via CBS

• Image via CBS

• Image via CBS

• Image via CBS

• Image via CBS

Before AI became the product it is today, thousands of people participated in a training exercise where they were underpaid and overworked. In Cupertino Season 1, Episode 5, “Celeste,” the firm takes on a major case addressing these concerns. “Olivia recruits her friend Celeste to be the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against an AI training company accused of wage and overtime abuse,” while the Bo mystery deepens as Michael, Christy (Ella Stiller), and Natalia (Busy Philipps) track down someone who knows about the agent. “Celeste” is one of the two episodes airing within days of each other after CBS announced a special airing on Sunday, November 8. Episode 6 will air at 8 pm, followed by two encores that same night.

Watch Cupertino on CBS on Thursdays and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Cupertino