I think direct profit from a show is far less knowable now. It used to be ad dollars in during the Mon. night 7:30 slot v. money spent on show.
(And yes, I know there were still accounting sleights-of-hand: Do we bill the construciton of the Enterprise to the Cage or amortize it over 79 eps, etc.?)
Now they instantly know second-to-second how many streams are going. But they get their money from subscriptions. More must be inferred now, I think, as to what is causing revenue. Anyone w/ REAL industry/metrics knowledge, jump in at any time. New subscriptions when a new show premiers would be a "tell."
Anyway, I think it is a good inference that CBS execs are pleased with their shows. Perhaps they ARE loss leaders. Remember that in the new economy you can lose money for years (cough, Amazon, Twitter, Uber, cough) but if you become THE one, you assume profits will eventually happen.
And as to being satisfied with not-quality product/storytelling, remember that many people like these iterations and think they're good. So if CBS leaders are in that camp, they're not tolerating crap for corporate reasons, they're producing good stuff, and meeting corporate goals. Because of "investment bias" and groupthink, I'd actually bet those in the CBS offices think they're producing good stuff, not mediocre. It's only natural.
So the suffering-of-mediocre-for-corporate-goals idea itself is probably off base.
Though it's true, We generally get what we tolerate.
