Normally I would post a picture of someone for eye-candy purposes, but I’m doing things a little different today. The picture on the right is Dawn Ostroff, the head honcho of The CW right now. Why is there a picture of her? Well I want you to recognize the person that’s currently running a network to the ground! Yes, if you want a definition of epic fail when it comes to running a television network, look no further, she’s right there.
After a disasterous attempt to boost ratings by letting Media Rights Capital create primetime shows on Sunday night, the CW has decided to give up its Sunday lineup and focus on the five weeknights instead.
“As we plan our 2009-10 fall launch, we are in talks with several of our top affiliate partners about a number of creative and mutually beneficial actions that will build on our growing record of success. These discussions include an evolution of the strategy, which began this season, to focus the CW’s resources on Monday through Friday nights. As a result, we are now exploring the transition of Sunday night to our affiliates,” the network told The Hollywood Reporter.
Given the current lineup of Jericho reruns with a Sunday night movie, perhaps letting the affiliates fend for themselves isn’t so bad afterall. Plus, we don’t have to be exposed to crapfests like “Valentine” and “Easy Money”. However, this might be troubling news to those promising pilots that are in contention for this fall. Oh who am I kidding, half the pilots sound like crap already. Click here to see the pilots up for grabs this season on The CW. With only five nights of programming, there is little room for new shows, especially since the network renewed Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, 90210, America’s Next Top Model, Smallville and Supernatural. That only leaves 4 hours of programming open (assuming the bubble shows like Privileged and Reaper are gone). I think it’s safe to say the rehashed version of Melrose Place and the Gossip Girl spinoff is a safe bet. Vampire Diaries could make it too since the network is trying to milk whatever is left from the Twilight series. I do like Body Politic starring Minka Kelly and Jason Dohring. It’s the only pilot that sounds remotely promising, however, I have a feeling they might pick Beautiful Life just to target that female 18-34 audience.
Here’s what the schedule might look like:
Mondays:
8 pm: Gossip Girl
9 pm: Untitled Gossip Girl Spin-off (it’ll probably retain 70% of the GG audience)
Tuesdays:
8 pm: 90210
9 pm: Melrose Place 2.0 (it’ll retain 25% of what MP used to draw.. even that sounds a bit high to me)
Wednesdays:
8 pm: America’s Next Top Model
9 pm: One Tree Hill (it used to work in this timeslot, why not throw it back in?)
Thursdays (the formula works, no need to mess with it):
8 pm: Smallville
9 pm: Supernatural (let’s hope this will be the last season as promised by Kripke, but I’m sure The CW will try to keep it going like OTH and Smallville because they’re desperate for viewers)
Fridays:
8 pm: Vampire Diaries (vampires has “cult following” written all over it and Friday nights are designed for cult TV, just look at FOX’s Dollhouse and The Sarah Connor Chronicles)
9 pm: Beautiful Life
Possible mid-season replacements: Body Politic, Privileged
There’s still two weeks before the upfronts, any guesses on what pilots will make the cut?
It’s really sad to see The CW struggle, but at the same time it’s nice to see the predictions I made a few years ago come true. Seriously cancelling Everwood already got the network to a bad start. In fact, getting rid of a consistent performer like WWE Smackdown on Friday nights is a huge misstep too. Hey Ms Ostroff, I got a solution for you! Steve and I have plenty of ideas going, perhaps you should let us do some programming for you. Heck, we even have a nice talk show template going on. You got nothing to lose… just look at the current state of The CW! Targeting females 18-34 isn’t getting you anywhere, you need to broaden your target audience. Your “hit” shows like Gossip Girl and 90210 are struggling with about 2 million viewers per week… I’m sure it can’t get any worse… or can it?
After seeing all this happening, it begs the question: Could this be the network television primetime apocalypse? First, NBC is getting rid of 5 hours of programming by overloading us on Jay Leno, now CW is cutting it’s Sunday lineup! The ratings are down across the board and the ratings gap between network TV shows and cable shows are narrowing (even some cable networks are outdrawing The CW). I don’t know about you, but it certainly sounds like the end is near.
Alright guys, time to play a game of Over/Under.
How long would it take for The CW to give up on Friday nights? I say about 2 years.
How long would it take for The CW to die and cease to exist? I give it 4 years. (Even that sounds a bit optimistic eh?)
What do you think? Speculate away!
UPDATE: Turns out the affiliates weren’t happy with The CW’s plan for Sunday nights (featuring more repeats and movies) and the affiliates decided that they can make more money doing the programming themselves. Yeah, The CW is crashing and burning. Why is Dawn still running the network again? (The Hollywood Reporter)
The Lowdown 
I’m hoping the CW brings a little diversity to the network and picks up the Body Politic for the fall. Not only does it have a diverse main cast, as well as several embedded fan bases, but it would standout as a show not just about pretty 20-somethings, but those that go to DC because they believe in something and care about more than themselves or the latest fashion.
If the CW wants to move beyond the shallow, party girl image that is getting overplayed (2 million views Gossip Girl, really?), they should try a show like Body Politic that features characters with a little more purpose and depth, hidden within the sexy drama, so not to scare anyone! Not to mention, with the cancellation of The Game and Everybody Hates Chris, Body Politic would be one of the (few? only?) shows on the CW that has non-white people (Gabrielle Union, Brandon Scott, Jay Hernandez) as main cast members and even Minka Kelly and Jason Dohring’s characters are not the CW standard of rich, white kids (even if they’re as pretty as the rest of Body Politic’s cast!).
As for the Gossip Girl spin-off…why would the CW want to spin-off a show (and a pre-qual no less, so the ending is pre-determined) of a show that is already struggling? They would have done better to do their Justice League spin-off from Smallville as at least that would have the potential for drawing it’s own cult following.
Vampire Diaries on Friday’s may play off Twilight, but both Dollhouse and Sarah Connor are on the verge of cancellation, so is that a cult the CW really wants to join? I read script for Vampire Diaries and not only is it cliche, it’s boring..and it sounds like the fans of the book aren’t fans of the pilot version or the majority of it’s casting. If they really want to do justice to the books, they should pull the script, re-write and re-cast it, so it’s not the 99 cent generic rip-off of something that was actually good.
Btw, Kutcher’s Beautiful life sounds like exactly ‘Gossip Girls + Models Inc’ or Melrose and Models Inc…basically nothing new…what about another season of Punk’d (although MTV probably has the rights) or Beauty and the Geek?
I’ll admit that I’d probably watch Melrose Place, even if it is a remake, but other than Body Politic and Supernatural, nothing else they have on air now or as a potential series sounds interesting.
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The CW can definitely use a bit of diversity in its lineup to appeal to a larger audience. Body Politic does have a diverse cast (which is certainly an appealing factor) and a story that -doesn’t- involve rich teenagers partying 24/7. The show does have a neat platform where it can raise attention to current issues while being an entertaining drama at the same time. It just doesn’t seem like it fits what Dawn Ostroff is trying to do with the network, which raises a bit of a concern.
The familiar faces in the Body Politic cast certainly helps boost ratings too. Like you said, the embedded fanbases can lift The CW out of its current hole. Plus, it can actually add some cred to the network at the same time. I’m sure there are a lot of loyal viewers that are willing to follow their favourite actors to whatever shows they’re on (VM fans did follow Jason Dohring to Moonlight). In fact, wouldn’t it make it easier for Brian Austin Green to make guest appearances on 90210? Since Body Politic does air on the same network and both shows are produced by CBS, it wouldn’t be difficult for CW to pull some strings and cross promote.
The Gossip Girl prequel is a bad idea to begin with. There is a predetermined ending, which would turn off a lot of viewers already. It certainly wouldn’t benefit from the struggling Gossip Girl right now. In fact, the promotional pictures for the spinoff doesn’t look that great either.
Do you remember the show Mercy Reef? It was an attempt to launch a Smallville-like origins show for Aquaman. It was one of the most buzzed about CW pilots, and then Dawn just dumps it. It never made it to the air. The producers put it up on itunes and it was the number 1 download for several weeks. I watched the pilot and thought it was a decent show. In fact, it had the potential of drawing a steady audience like what Smallville is doing nowadays.
The Vampire Diaries script is pretty bad. It certainly needs reworking if it wants to survive the thrashing from critics and VD fans. The cult thing seems to be working for CW on Thursday nights. Supernatural seems to be holding onto 3-4 million viewers in a competitive timeslot against CSI AND Grey’s Anatomy! If you look at the ratings for T:SCC and Dollhouse, it would be considered a hit on CW. In hindsight, I do see why Dollhouse isn’t doing well right now, but it’s such an intelligent show. It raises so many ethical questions while it engages viewers in an awesome thrill ride. Unfortunately, people prefer to turn off their brains while watching TV, which would explain why so many reality shows are big hits.
I believe the CW described Beautiful Life as “looking at the dark side to the modelling/fashion business”. While it might fit the timeslot following ANTM, it certainly doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a good show at all.
I’m sure many will watch the pilot for Melrose Place. 5 million viewers did tune into the 90210 pilot to see what it’ll look like.
Reaper did outdraw 90210 in overall viewers in the past 3 out of 4 weeks… too bad it keeps losing to the latter in key demographics. There goes another decent show on The CW.
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A series about models?? Hello?? Central Park West, anyone? Done. Over. I like the sound of The Body Politic and can see it on Monday night after Gossip Girl (isn’t that the night smart people watch the CW?). And all the buzz about the GG spin-off is bad.
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