Fall Schedules: The CW

And for our final new schedule of the week: the brand new network The CW. It looks a lot like The Brady Bunch starring UPN as Mike and The WB as Carol. Sure they had to kill a few kids on the way but now everyone will be happily coexisting… in mediocrity. (Press release here.)

Good move: Launching a new network is confusing enough so even though the debut schedule is deadly dull I think it’s smart to keep as many established shows in place as possible. People can still get their Heaven on Mondays, Gilmores on Tuesdays, Models on Wednesdays and Superboy on Thursdays.

The only significant shift—creating an "urban comedy block" on Sundays—is smart counter-programming for a tough night. And even though slating Everybody Hates Chris at 7 provides a more limited audience it saves the show from having to battle tough family-audience competition at 8 from The Simpsons, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and The Amazing Race.

Bad move: It’s tempting to call the renewal of Veronica Mars a poor decision since the show ranks 23rd in the ratings out of all WB/UPN shows (lower than any scripted show that wasn’t an instant disaster like South Beach or Bedford Diaries). But it will give the network some much needed support from TV critics (and pairing it with Gilmore could help expand its audience, although what sort of creative state the Girls will be in next season is anybody’s guess).

What’s really questionable is pairing the network’s one new drama—Runaway, another of those conspiracy thriller hours—with the back-from-the-dead 7th Heaven. The closest The WB ever came to finding a suitable match for Heaven was with Everwood (which The CW has rather improbably cancelled). Other than the fact that they’re both about families I can’t see any thematic or stylistic parallel between Heaven and Runaway. And Runaway will have the added obstacle of trying to find an audience against Fox’s easier-to-promote conspiracy thriller Vanished (and then 24 in January, if by some miracle Runaway lasts that long) and NBC’s new superhero hour. I know there’s nowhere else for a new show on the schedule (with Supernatural staying put Thursday at 9 and Sunday at 9 being an impossible slot), but why is it there at all?

I’m looking forward to…: The CW only ordered three series—Runaway, Girlfriends spinoff The Game and midseason teen soap Hidden Palms—none of them interesting.

…but not: See above.

What they didn’t pick up: The CW did not order a Nick Lachey/Lindsay Sloane/Lacey Chabert relationship comedy, a Wayne Brady workplace comedy, a teen drama from Aaron Spelling and the widely reported-on Smallville spinoff, Aquaman. Nothing else was even ordered to pilot.

Say goodbye to…: Who’s gonna miss UPN’s: Cuts, Eve, Get This Party Started, Half & Half, Love Inc., One on One, Sex Love and Secrets, and South Beach? Raise your hands! Yeah, I didn’t think so…

The WB’s casualties include: nonstarters The Bedford Diaries, Just Legal, Modern Men, Pepper Dennis, Related and Twins, and placeholders Blue Collar TV, Living With Fran and What I Like About You. Plus the leaving-on-its-own-terms Charmed and sacrificial lamb Everwood (sure to inspire much CW hate mail).

…but not: 7th Heaven, which aired a "series finale" over a week ago but will return for an 11th season anyway (apparently it’s still the most watched show on either WB or UPN, how scary is that?). And Reba, which was renewed for season six despite reports that The CW would cancel the show (which would’ve meant paying a penalty in the neighborhood of $20 million due to a two-year contract between The WB and Reba’s studio, 20th Century Fox Television). Now the network will have to find something to pair Reba with (it’s not gonna fit in on Sundays), or maybe they’ll just run back-to-back episodes for six weeks in that soon-to-be-open post-7th Heaven slot.