Hi, Matt! Love the column! I ...
Question: Hi, Matt! Love the column! I was wondering if there is any confirmed news, or even reliable speculation, about which current shows will be on CW in September. I've never been a fan of UPN, so personally, I'm more concerned with the current WB shows. Also, do you think that a possible reason for these individual networks' financial downfall is the money lost on mid-season replacement shows that are eventually canceled? As I said, I don't watch UPN, so I don't know if they have mid-season replacements, but it seems to me that if they just sucked it up and aired repeats instead of producing new shows to run for a couple months, viewers wouldn't lose interest in shows that go on a three-month hiatus (
Everwood) and money wouldn't be lost on mid-season replacements that are just going to be canceled anyway. I did like
Related, which aired in
Everwood's time slot, and it was nice to see something new instead of repeats, but I'd rather have seen repeats if it meant I wouldn't have to be concerned about losing some other shows I love. Thanks!
Answer: Nothing confirmed on the CW schedule that I'm aware of, although it seems a slam dunk that
Gilmore Girls,
Smallville,
Supernatural,
Beauty and the Geek and possibly
Reba will carry over from WB, and from UPN: wrestling,
America's Next Top Model,
Everybody Hates Chris,
Veronica Mars and another comedy or two (
Girlfriends and/or its spin-off) will likely convey. The rest of the current shows, unless I'm missing something, are on the bubble or worse. We'll just have to wait and see. Plus there are brand-new shows from WB's and UPN's development in contention (including the
Aquaman series), so it's going to be tight. Whatever ends up on the fall lineup, there will be backup shows ordered, some of which will end up running as mid-season tryouts. That's how the network-TV biz works, at least for now. And some serialized shows like
Everwood are unlikely to repeat in any circumstance, because their repeats score so low. (But it doesn't deserve to disappear for months on end. That's just wrong.) And for all those wondering why the CW doesn't expand to a three-hour-a-night schedule, that's not going to happen. It's a matter of economics and resources. Besides, look how much trouble Fox has filling its limited lineup for much of the year.
