The first year of the new network didn't see the double figure boost it hoped to achieve by fusing The WB and UPN, but still did well enough to keep it chugging along. With two of its keystone series ending though - "7th Heaven" and "Gilmore Girls," the CW now only has two real flagships left - "America's Next Top Model" and "Smallville."
The good news is "Supernatural" continues to grow and build both in audience and quality that it looks set to become its own flagship in another year or two. Sadly "Veronica Mars," the network's smartest show, didn't find a ratings boost so it may not be back - but a cancellation decision is yet to be made official.
One of the ideas for 'Mars' however, which was to retool the show and set it several years into the future of the characters, has been applied to another series - "One Tree Hill." The Chad Michael Murray-led teen soap will be back mid-season with a new look, attitude and will be set four years later.
This year sees quite a lot of new shows to fill the assorted empty slots. Last year the network's only new drama "Runaway" was a dismal failure, but comedy "The Game" managed to get renewed. This year the network has launched three dramas, one comedy, a half-hour entertainment news magazine show called "CW Now" and "Online Nation" which plays user generated videos.
There's also "Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants", an eight-episode reality show featuring multiple mother-daughter teams working together as pairs to win a beauty pageant competition. Also "Farmer Wants a Wife," a reality show about ten women fed up with big city dating who are introduced to a country-fried bachelor.
Notable omissions of pilots that didn't get picked up include "Hell on Earth" which has a bitchy socialite getting a second chance on life as a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, "Spellbound" about a life coach/witch in New York City, and "I'm Paige Wilson" about a senatorial page so despondent with her boss she decides to run against him.
Aliens in America(Comedy, Mondays 8:30pm)
Justin Tolchuk (Dan Byrd) is a sensitive, lanky 16-year-old just trying to make it through the social nightmare of high school in Medora, Wisconsin, with the help of his well-meaning mom Franny (Amy Pietz), aspiring-entrepreneur dad Gary (Patrick Breen), and his popular sister Claire (Lindsey Shaw), who is sweetly unaware of how good-looking she is.
When Franny signs up for the school's international exchange student program, she pictures an athletic, brilliant Nordic teen who will bestow instant coolness on her outsider son. However, when the Tolchuk's exchange student arrives, he turns out to be Raja Musharaff (Adhir Kalyan), a 16-year-old Pakistani Muslim.
Despite the cultural chasm between them, Justin and Raja quickly develop an unlikely friendship that just might allow them to navigate the minefield that is contemporary high school. It's going to be a very interesting year for Raja, Justin, his family and the entire population of Medora. Justin Shenkarow, Matt Hill, and Haran Jackson also star.
Gossip Girl(Drama, Wednesdays 9pm)
The privileged prep school teens on Manhattan's Upper East Side first learn that Serena Van Der Woodsen (Blake Lively) is back in town the way they learn all the important news in their lives - from the blog of the all-knowing albeit ultra-secretive Gossip Girl.
No one knows Gossip Girl's identity, but everyone in this exclusive and complicated vicious circle relies on her text messages for the latest scoop. Serena's closest friend, Blair (Leighton Meester), is just as surprised as everyone else to find that Serena has suddenly ended her self-imposed exile to boarding school and returned to Manhattan.
The tension between Blair and Serena isn't lost on Gossip Girl, who is determined to uncover and fuel any and all scandals. Does it involve Serena's brother Eric (Connor Paolo), Blair's boyfriend Nate (Chace Crawford) or Nate's buddy Chuck (Ed Westwick)? Maybe it has something to do with Dan (Penn Badgley) and his sister Jenny (Taylor Momsen), whose middle-class background keeps them on the fringes of this exclusive clique.
Even the parents - from Serena's mother Lily (Kelly Rutherford), a former ballerina/rock-groupie, to Nate's high-powered father Howie "The Captain" Archibald (Sam Robards), to Dan and Jenny's dad Rufus (Matthew Settle), a former rocker turned art gallery owner - are aware that their sons and daughters are constantly checking their Sidekicks to read Gossip Girl's latest sightings and overheard tidbits. Overriding all the shifting friendships, jealousies and turmoil in this wealthy and complex world, the central mystery remains -- Who Is Gossip Girl?. "The OC" creator Josh Schwartz produces.
Life is Wild(Family Drama, Sundays 8pm)
Katie Clarke (Leah Pipes) may never forgive her veterinarian father, Danny (Brett Cullen) for dragging their entire blended family out of New York City to spend a year living in a broken-down lodge called The Blue Antelope in a game reserve deep inside South Africa.
Everyone in the family, including Katie's 11-year-old brother Chase (K'sun Ray), Danny's second wife Jo (Judith Hoag), her rebellious teenage son Jesse (Andrew St. John) and 7-year-old daughter, Mia (Mary Matilyn Mouser), is sure Danny has lost his mind. But Danny's reasons go beyond his desire to keep his troubled family together while making a difference in the lives of the people and animals of South Africa: his deceased first wife Claire grew up at The Blue Antelope and it's still home to her reclusive father Art (David Butler).
After just a few days in South Africa, the family has already encountered an injured lioness, a lost cub, and a gentle giraffe. They've also met a few locals, including a handsome young Brit, Oliver Banks (Calvin Goldspink) and his twin sister Emily (Tiffany Mulheron), whose father Colin Banks (Jeremy Sheffield), runs a safari business for wealthy tourists, and Tumelo (Atandwa Kani), a teen who dreams of becoming a veterinarian.
While they are definitely outsiders, Katie and the rest of the family are nevertheless beginning to love the breathtaking vistas of the bush country and the vibrant culture enveloping them. A year in this strange but beautiful place might not be so bad after all.
Reaper(Supernatural Dramedy, Tuesdays 9pm)
For the first 20 years of his life, Sam (Bret Harrison) wondered why his parents went so easy on him. Whether it was school, sports or career choices, Sam's mom (Allison Hossack) and dad (Andrew Airlie) always let him get by with the least possible effort, while at the same time pressuring his younger brother Keith (Kyle Switzer) to excel.
As a result, Sam skipped college, took a dead-end job and now wastes endless hours playing video games and wishing he had the guts to ask out his pretty co-worker, Andi (Nikki Reed). Everything in his slacker world changes the day Sam turns 21 and discovers the ungodly reason his parents let him slide: they sold his soul to the devil before he was born.
Satan himself (Ray Wise) drops by to personally explain that Sam must now serve as his bounty hunter, tracking down evil souls that have escaped and returning them to Hell. At first, Sam refuses to accept his bizarre fate, but after getting just a glimpse of Satan's temper, Sam realizes that breaking a deal with the devil has consequences that are very, very bad.
Armed with a constantly changing series of vessels - starting with a Dirt Devil mini-vacuum - to collect the escapees, Sam immediately finds that the work is dangerous and frightening, even with the goofball help of his friends and fellow slackers, Bert "Sock" Wysocki (Tyler Labine) and Ben (Rick Gonzalez), along with Sock's former-girlfriend-turned-paralegal, Josie (Valarie Rae Miller).
Still, as weird and scary as his life has become, Sam is surprised to find that he somehow feels good about his newfound "mission" - removing evil-doers from the world and sending them back where they belong. With his friends and his trusty vessel-of-the-week at his side, Sam is ready to face his destiny as the Reaper.
Renewals include "America's Next Top Model," "Beauty and the Geek," "Everybody Hates Chris," "The Game," "Girlfriends," "One Tree Hill," "Pussycat Dolls Present," "Smallville," "Supernatural," "WWE Smackdown."
Cancellations include "7th Heaven," "All of Us," "Gilmore Girls," "Reba," "Runaway."
The nightly The CW schedule will be as follows:
MONDAY
8pm: "Everybody Hates Chris"
8:30pm: "Aliens in America"
9pm: "Girlfriends"
9:30pm: "The Game"
TUESDAY
8pm: "Beauty and the Geek"
9pm: "Reaper"
WEDNESDAY
8pm: "America's Next Top Model"
9pm: "Gossip Girl"
THURSDAY
8pm: "Smallville"
9pm: "Supernatural"
FRIDAY
8pm: "WWE Friday Night Smackdown"
SUNDAY
7pm: "Online Nation"
7pm: "CW Now"
8pm: "Life is Wild"
9pm: "America's Next Top Model" (encore)
