CBS joins pickup party with 'Person of Interest,' 'Two Broke Girls'

CBS has given the green light to two new series for next season, adding drama "Person of Interest" and comedy "Two Broke Girls" to the deluge of series pickups that happened Friday (May 13).

The network is expected to add a couple more dramas and maybe one other comedy to its roster for 2011-12 before its upfront presentation to advertisers on Wednesday (May 18). The Eye's news may not be as splashy as the 12(!) new series orders by ABC or the flurry of pickups and cancellations at NBC. But then again, CBS doesn't have as many holes to plug.

The J.J. Abrams-produced "Person of Interest" stars Michael Emerson ("Lost") as a billionaire who is waging a personal war on crime and hires a presumed-dead former CIA agent (Jim Caviezel, "The Prisoner") to help him. Taraji P. Henson ("Boston Legal," "The Karate Kid") plays a duly sworn detective who gets tied up with the two men. Jonah Nolan, a co-writer of "The Dark Knight" and brother of the film's director Christopher Nolan, created the show and is executive producing with Abrams, Bryan Burk and Greg Plageman ("Cold Case").

"Two Broke Girls" stars Kat Dennings ("Thor") and Beth Behrs as good friends trying to scrape by in the rather expensive city of New York. Comedian Whitney Cummings is one of its co-creators, but since she is now committed to the NBC comedy "Whitney," co-creator and former "Sex and the City" EP Michael Patrick King will take the reins.

Other leading contenders for a pickup at CBS are the dramas "Rookies," "The Rememberer" (that one's a working title) and "Hail Mary" and the comedy "How to Be a Gentleman." Another pilot developed for CBS, the Sarah Michelle Gellar drama "Ringer," is now headed to The CW.