Super Bowl 2021: Will ‘Survivor’ Air After the NFL Showdown Between the Buccaneers and Chiefs

Once Super Bowl LV is over and the Lombardi Trophy has been presented to either the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Kansas City Chiefs, television viewers will get to see the debut episode of CBS’ The Equalizer reboot starring Queen Latifah. Survivor fans will be a bit disappointed, but the show’s 2021 season has not even been filmed yet due to delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic. CBS has put Survivor in the post-Super Bowl slot twice, but not since 2004.

CBS announced back in December that The Equalizer nabbed the coveted post-Super Bowl timeslot on Sunday, Feb. 7. The show is set to start at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, although it could be pushed back, depending on how long the game and post-game coverage goes. After The Equalizer, CBS will air a special episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The new Equalizer stars Latifah as Robyn McCall, a divorced single mother who becomes a vigilante. The cast also includes Chris Noth, Tory Kittles, Lorraine Toussaint, Liza Lapira, and Adam Goldberg. It was created by Andrew W. Marlowe and Terri Edda Miller (Castle), and the original series was created by Richard Lindheim. The Equalizer‘s regular timeslot is Sundays at 8 p.m. ET, starting Feb. 14.

The Super Bowl now rotates between CBS, NBC and Fox, which have all used the post-Super Bowl timeslot to promote shows they have high hopes for. Hopefully, for CBS and Latifah, The Equalizer has a better fate than the show CBS aired the last time it had a Super Bowl. In 2019, the network aired the first episode of the talent show The World’s Best. The show lasted just one season. Last year, Fox aired the Season 2 premiere of The Masked Singer.

Survivor is one of the few shows to air multiple times after the Super Bowl. The show’s second season, Survivor: The Australian Outback, launched after Super Bowl XXXV in January 2001. Survivor: All-Stars kicked off in February 2004, after Super Bowl XXXVIII. CBS has also aired episodes of Criminal Minds, Undercover Boss, Elementary, and The Late Show after the game in recent years.

Survivor Seasons 41 and 42 were supposed to air during the 2020-21 TV season, but production was put on hold due to the pandemic. Season 41 is set to be filmed in the Mamanuca Islands, Fiji. “Though Fiji has no reported cases and is beautifully remote, our crew numbers 400 and are flying in from 20 different countries, creating a need for more time to fully analyze and create our new production safety plan,” host Jeff Probst said in a statement last year. “The situation is unprecedented and we are learning more information every day. It is out of concern for the well-being of all of you that we have taken this step.”

Super Bowl LV will air live on CBS from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The Weeknd is performing the halftime show, with Eric Church and Jazmine Sullivan performing the national anthem. The Super Bowl will be available for free online this year at CBSSports.com.