Gossip Girl Moves Out of Idol's Way, Plays with Dolls
Fearing that its beautifully trendy kids will get crushed by the
American Idol juggernaut - and also looking to get the best play from an upcoming rash of strike-induced repeats - the CW is moving
Gossip Girl to Mondays at 8 starting Jan. 28. The thinking is that while in reruns, the show might get exposed to a different crowd on a new night, thus broadening its reach. "There's great buzz and a great reaction to
Gossip Girl," a CW scheduling exec explains to
Variety. "Now we just want to grow the audience a bit."
Serena, Blair and the bratty bunch won't be alone on Mondays for long. Starting Feb. 18,
GG's lead-out will be
Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious, which will seek to form a brand-new (and presumably girlicious) girl band.
One other major CW programming note: any remaining new
Reaper episodes (there are two, by
Ausiello's count) will piggyback
Smallville starting Feb. 28. But don't fret,
Supernatural fans - a CW rep assures me the series will be back Jan. 31, as planned, to air three or four new episodes in a row.