2017 Upfronts Preview Part 3: If I scheduled the CW’s Schedule

This year’s television upfronts are a week away and, now that a writers’ strike has been averted, television network executives are busy watching pilots, determining which shows to renew/cancel, and piecing together next year’s schedule.

I’ve given the chances at renewal for this past season’s shows, evaluated some of the pilots in contention, and looked at how I would schedule ABC and CBS‘s schedules for next season. Now it’s the CW’s turn.

The CW hasn’t had a great season. The pillars of their schedule—DC superhero shows—are down across the board in ratings and their new shows struggled out the gate, none of them capturing the critical acclaim that Jane the Virgin or Crazy Ex-Girlfriend did. Word is the network is trying to re-balance the gender skew, once a network that seemed to exclusively cater to young females with fare like Gossip Girl and 90210 now seem to more heavily favor young males with The Flash and Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. There’s still another DC superhero show in the crop of pilots though.

Monday
Current Schedule: Supergirl/Jane the Virgin
While Supergirl may have instantly provided a boost to the time period for the CW, it, like the rest of the CW’s superhero lineup, has seen decreasing returns throughout its second season. Though the rate at which Supergirl has drop is cause for alarm: its latest episode pulled in half the 18-49 rating that its season premiere did (0.5 from a 1.1). None of the other CW DC shows’ drops have been as steep: LoT has stayed around 0.6-0.7; The Flash 1.0-1.3; the Arrow’s also hit a 0.5 for its last few episodes but it started the season at 0.7. Supergirl‘s fortunes are fading fast, but that doesn’t mean its position as the Monday night lead off has lost all merit. It would be hard to see where best to re-schedule given the CW is already squeezed for DC space. While 9/8c Thursday is enticing to follow Supernatural, it’s better to leave Supergirl in place at the start of the season after having already recently been transplanted from CBS.
Jane the Virgin however, is a prime candidate to move. While the reviews suggest the show hasn’t lost a step in its 3 seasons, its ratings, while never great, are at Friday levels. So move it to Friday and launch Life Sentence in the post-Supergirl period.

Tuesday
Current Schedule: The Flash/iZombie
With perhaps 5 DC shows next season, it would take a lot of scheduling gymnastics to avoid doubling up on a night. Sod that, follow up The Flash with Black Lightning to give the show the best lead-in.

Wednesday
Current Schedule: Arrow/The 100
Arrow‘s ratings (and reviews for that matter) have fallen enough the CW may want to re-think its position as Wednesday anchor. But for now, it’s serviceable enough to provide a launchpad for a new show.

Thursday
Current Schedule: Supernatural/Riverdale
Thursdays on the CW have had the most volatile scheduling, moving programs around from season to season as well as having multiple iterations within a season. There are plenty of ways to program this night (keep Riverdale for fall?) but including Legends of Tomorrow during the fall launch gives it the opportunity to benefit from a late-autumn crossover bump with the rest of the CW’s DC shows.

Friday
Current Schedule: The Originals/Reign
Originals is surprisingly seemingly on the brink of cancellation, especially so with the CW’s packed slate. It may very well get the axe but, operating under the assumption it’ll at least get a forewarning for a truncated final season, it leads off Friday night into a relocated Jane the Virgin. If it doesn’t get another season, make last season’s Monday line-up (Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) into next season’s Friday line-up.

2017-18 CW television schedule
new shows in italics

Monday: Supergirl/Life Sentence
Tuesday: The Flash/Black Lightning
Wednesday: Arrow/Searchers
Thursday: Supernatural/Legends of Tomorrow
Friday: The Originals/Jane the Virgin

2016 Upfronts Preview Pt 3b: If I scheduled the CW’s TV Schedule

Upfronts, the annual ritual when TV network execs trek to NYC to pitch their upcoming television schedule and hope advertisers are enticed enough to buy time to run commercials during those shows.

In my preview of the 2016 Upfronts, I’ve taken a look at the pilots (aka first episode) under contention for a full series pick-up as well as the prospects for renewal/cancellation of the shows currently on air at each of the networks. Note: these posts could already be out of date with renewal/cancellation & pilot pickup/passed over news since they’ve been published.

In the last part of the Upfronts Preview, I’ll play backseat network executive and lay out how I would program the television schedules for each of the networks.
ABC’s 2016-17 schedule
Next up: The CW

The CW is doing pretty darn well for itself this season. So well, in fact, that it went ahead and renewed every scripted show (excepting Containment which hadn’t aired at the time, but could very well be a contender as a summer show in the future). That makes it simultaneously easier and trickier to program its upcoming television schedule. Easier as the template for its schedule is laid out, trickier because how to slot any potential new series?

On to the hypothetical scheduling!

Monday
Current Schedule: Reign/Jane the Virgin
Keep Jane the Virgin. Save Crazy Ex-Girlfriend for winter (the writers could probably use the time to write all those songs too). Slot in Riverdale as a lead-in for Jane.

Tuesday
Current Schedule: The Flash/Containment
I see CW moving iZombie to another night to give a new show The Flash as its lead-in, but my fandom for iZombie is too strong. Keep this night as is.

Wednesday
Current Schedule: Arrow/Supernatural
Although ratings have atrophied a bit in the spring, that’s par for the course for most shows in spring. Keep as is.

Thursday
Current Schedule: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow/The 100
Keep DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, slot in the Untitled Mars drama behind it as the sci-fi aspect of it meshes well with LoT.

Friday
Current Schedule: The Vampire Diaries/The Originals
Keep as is, moving The Vampire Diaries and The Originals to Friday has been a boon to Friday CW ratings and hasn’t hurt ratings for either show too significantly.

2016-17 CW television schedule
new shows in italics

Monday: Riverdale/Jane the Virgin
Tuesday: The Flash/iZombie
Wednesday: Arrow/Supernatural
Thursday: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow/Untitled Mars drama
Friday: The Vampire Diaries/The Originals

2015 Upfronts Pt. 3e: If I Scheduled the CW for 2015-16

Whew, the last part of my preview of Upfronts 2015, that daily ritual where the networks trot out to NYC to present next season’s television schedule to advertisers in an effort to entice them to buy commercial time upfront. I’ve taken a look at what shows look likely to be cancelled or renewed (the fates of which have pretty much all been revealed by now), the pilots under contention to be picked up to series, and how I would schedule the upcoming seasons of ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX. Time for the last network to schedule!

CW is a bit easy to schedule, and not only because it only has 10 hours of programming as opposed to 19 hours on the Big 3 and 14 on Fox. It renewed pretty much every scripted program not named ‘Hart of Dixie’ or ‘The Messengers’ from this past television season. While it launched one of, if not the most successful shows in CW history with The Flash, the ratings trends in Spring bring some cause of concern: The Vampire Diaries are hovering around series lows, Reign somehow is still alive, and Monday’s are modestly rated. Still, CW is in a stronger position than last year (evidenced by early renewals for the bulk of its shows), has opportunity, and more importantly, momentum to grow.

Monday
Current Schedule: The Originals/Jane the Virgin
Jane the Virgin has been a modest performer for the CW. But, it is easily, hands down the most critically acclaimed show broadcast on the CW…ever (granted the CW’s only been around for 9 years, but still). While that’s a low bar to clear, it’s also been one of the best-reviewed network shows this season and won a Golden Globe for star Gina Rodriguez. That’s all to say, the CW will keep with a modest performer if it can shine a light and garner awards/nominations. A minor uptick in the ratings following Rodriguez’s Golden Globe win didn’t really sustain through the rest of the season but its 18-49 ratings are on par with lead-in The Originals. At some point the CW may want to reconsider the time-slot, going up against femme-skewing shows like The Voice/Dancing with the Stars/The Bachelor(ette), but for now, let JtV stay put and let the audience find it (especially after potential Emmys). The lead in is the one that might need to adjust as the Vampire drama is an odd bedfellow for the dramedy. Let’s get comedy in front of comedy and use Whose Line is it Anyway to kick off the night. Tonally it’s more similar, and WLIIA has showed itself to be a reliable ratings draw no matter what day or season it airs. WLIIA has been wont to use CW castmembers as guests so kick off premiere week with 2 episodes of Whose Line featuring Jane the Virgin actors leading into the season premiere of Jane the Virgin.
(I see a strong possibility that the CW will slot very compatible musical-comedy Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (originally developed for Showtime(!)) with Virgin)

Tuesday
Current Schedule: The Flash/iZombie
The Flash stays put…but what follows it? Will iZombie get a 22-episode order? Does the CW want to use Flash to launch a new show or prop up ratings for a current show? Where will The Originals go? Let’s use Flash to help launch Cordon. There’s only 2 new shows on the fall schedule and some short-order shows. iZombie, The Originals, Legends of Tomorrow (Flash-Arrow spinoff) are waiting in the wings and the CW can move around the schedule a bit in Winter/Spring to keep things interesting.

Wednesday
Current Schedule: Arrow/Supernatural
This combination works well, it’s been faltering a bit in recent weeks but still a potent combo. Leave it be.

Thursday
Current Schedule: The Vampire Diaries/Reign
Reign’s gotta go. Keep Vampire Diaries here and slot Cordon (which shares executive producer Julie Plec with Vampire Diaries) after it. Stick in Super Ex-Girlfriend. If iZombie gets another short 13-episode order, use The Flash to launch a show and the buzzier more compatible show would be Cordon.

Friday
Current Schedule: Whose Line is it Anyway?/The Messengers
Banish Reign here, but give it America’s Next Top Model has some sort of lead-in. ANTM starts early in summer, wraps up in mid-to-late fall then The 100 takes over.

2015-16 CW television schedule
new shows in italics

Monday: Whose Line is it Anyways?/Jane the Virgin
Tuesday: The Flash/Cordon
Wednesday: Arrow/Supernatural
Thursday: The Vampire Diaries/Super Ex-Girlfriend
Friday: America’s Next Top Model/Reign

Last Year’s Upfront Preview:
Part 3: CW
Part 3: FOX
Part 3: NBC
Part 3: CBS
Part 3: ABC
Part 2: Pilot Preview
Part 1: Cancel/Renew

Upfronts Preview Pt. 3a: If I Scheduled the CW for 2014-15

This is the last part of my preview of Upfronts, the yearly ritual when network executives trek to New York City to pitch their upcoming television season to ad buyers. It’s basically a deadline for knowing which of your favorite shows are cancelled or renewed (but really the deadline is a week or so before Upfronts) as well as what new shows to look forward to next season.

The first part dealt with what shows have been cancelled/renewed on the 5 broadcast networks as well as prospects for the remaining shows (FOX’s Almost Human has since been cancelled from when it was first posted).

The second part examined some of the pilots being considered to be picked up for a series order, listing the ones I find most interesting or best fits for the networks and ignoring those already picked up to series.

This past week saw two articles about some of the pilots looking good in terms of getting picked up including this one from Variety and one from The Hollywood Reporter titled “10 TV Pilots Likely to Score Series Pickups.” Kevin Hart’s pilot (ABC), How to Get Away with Murder (ABC), Gotham (FOX), Tina Fey’s Cabot College (FOX), another CSI spinoff (CBS), The Flash and iZombie (both CW), and Mysteries of Laura (NBC) all get mentioned on both lists.

For the third and final installment of my preview of Upfronts, I’ll play backseat executive and take a stab at scheduling the fall schedules for each of the 5 broadcast networks (except for Saturdays, because who cares). First up, I’ll start with a relatively easier network with only 5 days of programming 2 hours each: the CW.

The CW did decently this year, successfully launching Vampire Diaries spin-off the Originals which paired nicely with Supernatural to give their Tuesdays consistently solid ratings (by CW standards anyways). Arrow has dropped off a bit in recent weeks but is still solid, however, they’re still trying to take advantage of the post-Arrow slot. First scheduling The Tomorrow People before shipping it off to Mondays after its ratings fell from a decent start. Then came The 100 whose ratings have also fallen from a strong start. The Vampire Diaries remains potent kicking things off on Thursday but the CW has still struggled to find a show to take advantage of following the CW’s highest-rated show. Since debuting in 2009, The Vampire Diaries has had a different lead-out program every year (Supernatural, Nikita, The Secret Circle, Beauty & The Beast, and now Reign). While Supernatural has gone on to thrive on Tuesdays, the new shows launched after TVD haven’t had as notable a fate: Nikita was shifted to Fridays where it limped along to 4 seasons, Secret Circle was cancelled after 1 season, Beauty & The Beast made it to 2 seasons and isn’t likely to get a 3rd while Reign has been renewed for a second season with decent-if-unspectacular ratings. The question is whether to keep Reign there or trying to find a more compatible schedule-mate for TVD. Fridays have been a good spot for Whose Line is it Anyways along with America’s Next Top Model and a place to burn off 4th/last seasons of low-rated shows.

Monday
The biggest sore spot for CW is Mondays. NBC dominates it with The Voice, ABC pulls in female viewers with Dancing with the Stars/The Bachelor(ette), CBS’s comedy line-up has been very strong until showing some weakness this past season, and FOX’s The Following/Bones/Sleepy Hollow is acceptable/decent/strong in the ratings while skewing towards males. Ever since Monday staple Gossip Girl left the airwaves in 2012, Mondays became the place where CW shipped off low-rated series such as Hart of Dixie, Beauty & the Beast, and The Tomorrow People with the 2 new shows premiering on Monday (The Carrie Diaries and Star-Crossed) not faring so well. They can continue shifting low-rated shows over to Mondays (The 100/The Tomorrow People, whichever one survives into the new season), continue launching more femme-skewing shows (Carrie Diaries, Star-Crossed), OR, they can take a chance with one of their hotter prospects (iZombie, The Flash, Supernatural: Bloodlines) helping to push up their Monday average ratings. While doing the latter would probably not get iZ/TF/S:B as high of ratings launching it after The Vampire Diaries or Arrow, it could get them a toehold to build upon on Mondays. Personally, iZombie sounds great (from Veronica Mars/Party Down creator Rob Thomas it “centers on a medical student-turned-zombie who takes a job in the Coroner’s Office in order to gain access to the brains she must reluctantly eat so that she can maintain her humanity. However, with every brain she eats, she inherits the corpse’s memories.”) and I’d rather they not launch it on Monday and have it follow one of their bigger shows. It’d be natural to launch Supernatural: Bloodlines after Supernatural, but that might just be too much for some. I’d say, first episode, or first two episodes of S:B launch after Supernatural, then shift it to Mondays, followed with The 100/The Tomorrow People/Reign.

Tuesdays
The Originals-Supernatural combo has been good to the CW and they probably don’t want to tinker with it too much. Still, The Originals has shown itself to be a self-starter so I could see them moving it to bolster their Mondays and doing a double-shot of Supernatural (again, that’s probably a bit much, since it would make the CW’s Tuesdays totally alienate non-fans of Supernatural).

Wednesday
Wednesday has been the CW’s more male/action-skewing day for the past 2 years, with Arrow kicking off the night followed by Supernatural/The Tomorrow People/The 100. They’ve been trying to find something that clicks with Arrow and The Flash (which I’d say is pretty close to being a sure thing for a pick-up at the CW for a full series) will definitely click. So long as it matches the quality of Arrow (I gave up after half a season of awful, awful, awful dialogue but people seem to really like it) it looks like the best shot of retaining Arrow’s audience to give CW 2 consistently strongly-rated hours on Wednesday instead of just the 1.

Thursday
Could the CW do something dramatic and shift Vampire Diaries to a different night to help it? No, it won’t. Probably.
So the question is, what do they launch after The Vampire Diaries? They could keep Reign there, but why keep a modestly-rated show there when they could potentially do better with a more compatible show than a teenage period piece. iZombie seems to match TVD (in terms of genre at least). Vamps and Zoms. Sounds like a good fit. And if iZombie is as good as the past shows of creator Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars, Party Down), they’ll probably be keen to give it the best chance of survival.

Friday
Most likely it’ll be America’s Next Top Model followed by Hart of Dixie and then swap out ANTM for Whose Line is it Anyway come Winter/Spring, but they might switch it up and put in WLIIA a bit earlier.

So the 2014-2015 television schedule (according to me) looks like this:
new in italics

Monday: Supernatural: Bloodlines/Reign
Tuesday: The Originals/Supernatural (The Originals/Supernatural: Bloodlines or Supernatural/Supernatural: Bloodlines for first 1-2 weeks before shifting S:B to regular timeslot)
Wednesday: Arrow/The Flash
Thursday: The Vampire Diaries/iZombie
Friday: America’s Next Top Model/Hart of Dixie