CBS is on the verge of premiering its biggest shows in the fall 2024 TV schedule, with the returns of drama franchises like the FBIs and NCIS as well as comedies like Ghosts and The Neighborhood. Throw in highly anticipated new shows like Young Sheldon spinoff Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage and NCIS: Origins, and there's a lot to look forward to on the network as October continues. As it turns out, the network found a fun and decidedly unique way to promote the premieres: the Comfy Blue Sofa Tour.
Starting in late September and continuing up to the beginning of CBS' premiere week – which starts on October 13 with the Season 2 launch of Justin Hartley's Tracker – the Comfy Blue Sofa Tour has been a national endeavor to spread the word to viewers all across the country. I had the chance to speak with CBS Marketing EVP Ariel Parker before the tour arrived in my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, and she explained the origins of the tour before I went to experience it for myself.
What Ariel Parker Told Us
When news of the Comfy Blue Sofa Tour broke back in September, it was described by CBS as an "innovative and inviting way to connect with fans across the country," with stops in locations including St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Tulsa, and of course Cleveland, the latter of which involved floating an inflatable sofa down Lake Erie (seen above).
The goal was to promote the network's week of premieres, would would include the returns of existing shows, premieres of new shows, and time slot debuts of shows like Kathy Bates' Matlock and Manu Bennett-hosted The Summit. So, when I had the opportunity to speak with CBS Marketing EVP Ariel Parker, I had to ask about the origin of this unconventional tour. She shared:
It does have a lot of moving pieces. The origin really came from we wanted to generate excitement about CBS premiere week, and we have an insight that audiences are out of the fall TV habit. We really wanted to generate a signal for fall. I equate it to a pumpkin spice latte or all the pumpkin ingredients that come into the Trader Joe's and whatnot, and you immediately know that fall is here. We've been looking for our own version of that.
With the advent of on-demand streaming and streaming services (including a Paramount+ subscription), shows aren't necessarily appointment television in primetime as much as they once were. The Comfy Blue Sofa may help to change that for CBS' premiere week, as Parker continued:
For the Comfy Blue Sofa – obviously C, B, S – using our brand color fell out of that. The tour itself came from the idea that we just want to meet our audiences where they are and bring that little bit of comfort on the road to really drive that excitement and signal, if you see this comfy blue sofa, that means that CBS fall is near. We have the giant open sofa that's really meant to be eye-catching and engaging, and we are in all sorts of places.
In order to spread the word, engage, and catch eyes, CBS didn't just have stops in the large markets like Los Angeles and New York, but also places that don't usually get attention from national tours. Parker explained that the goal was to "go to where our audiences are" in a grassroots effort, resulting in "a lot of smiles" and "a lot of happy faces." She went on to share what she's particularly proud of from how well the tour was doing when we spoke:
The comprehensiveness of the tour, I'm particularly proud of. We could easily have done maybe just one stop, or just the LA stop, if you will, but being able to be where the fans are and everything, and just showing up in those unique ways is something I'm really proud of. And just the team effort. We really have worked across a lot of different teams across CBS, as well as the affiliate stations. That's always something that I think we do really well on the CBS side.
I spoke with Ariel Parker on the Friday before the tour was set to arrive in Cleveland, and she previewed what the event was bringing to each stop in addition to elements unique to each location, saying:
It'll be the oversized sofa. There's going to be a photo opportunity, brand ambassadors handing out promotional items. We'll have TVs with our content playing, and then within each of the other stops, there's some stop-specific things that will be taking place. The throughline is the photo moment and the premium items... It'll be really fun. We also have – which have been very popular at previous ones – standees, life-size cutouts of a lot of our CBS fan favorites. People have had a lot of fun just taking pictures with those and interacting with those. It makes for some pretty good shots.
Add in the plans to float an inflatable Comfy Blue Sofa down Lake Erie, and it sounded like an event that would draw plenty of eyes in downtown Cleveland on the day of the stop... that is, if not for a poorly-timed meteorological complication.
My Experience In Cleveland
In a twist that was nobody's fault whatsoever, the weather in Cleveland on the weekend of the stop on October 5 was pretty rotten due to rain and hurricane winds that were blowing north to Lake Erie. It was no time to be floating anything inflatable on the lake or nearby Cuyahoga River, forcing the inflatable couch to be postponed and a fairly dreary stop for CBS and attendees. I actually had to delay when I would be going downtown due to some heavy rain on that morning.
As noted, though, it was nobody's fault and weather in Cleveland is often beautiful in October, so this was just some bad luck in timing. The oversized blue sofa was still set up, as well as some damp standees and the special van with some CBS representatives on hand to snap photos for people and hand out promotional items. In the photo above that I took from the stop, the cutouts of Matlock's Kathy Bates, Blue Bloods' Tom Selleck, Fire Country's Max Thieriot, and Ghosts' Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar were standing tall... but a bit damp.
Other standees included cutouts of Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. for Poppa's House, Carrie Preston from Elsbeth, and Justin Hartley for Tracker. So, the event as scheduled wasn't a total loss at all, and the tour managed to reschedule the inflatable's float on Lake Erie for the next weekend. When asked what should draw people to check out the float when it did arrive, Ariel Parker explained:
The spectacle of it all, quite frankly, makes this unique visual to see a giant sofa floating on a lake feel like a once in a lifetime opportunity. [laughs] That might be overselling it, but I don't think it's too often, I imagine, that as you're standing at the waterfront you see that spectacle and that scale. It's a novelty. It's fun, and again, it signals fall and signal comfort. And I think it's a fun activity that is just unique.
As shown in the image toward the top of this story, the weather actually was beautiful for the day that the inflatable Big Comfy Sofa toured Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River, so there's no denying that CBS has put a lot of care and effort into plans going off without a hitch... even if those plans have to change due to a hurricane. Instead of just cancelling the part of the tour with the most spectacle for Northeast Ohio, the team still made it happen as soon as possible.
And the Comfy Blue Sofa tour isn't ending until Tracker is back on the airwaves on Sunday, October 13 at 8 p.m. ET. The event can be found at the State Fair of Texas from October 10 - October 17, and will travel to Albuquerque for the Hot Air Balloon Festival including activities and live music as well as the other perks on October 12. Whether or not you're able to check out the tour, you'll be able to soon find some of TV's biggest shows back in primetime with CBS' fall premiere week and beyond.
