Yesterday the CW held its annual Upfront Presentation for the 2010/2011 television season. They showed trailers for their two new programs, Nikita and Hellcats, and rolled out some of the network’s biggest stars to read scripted banter touting their programs. It was a big show, with a lot of pomp and circumstance (Katy Perry gets a room full of advertisers to stand up!), and little else beyond promising ten hours of original programming for its upcoming season.
Both of the network’s new shows do look promising, with Nikita the obvious choice to become a big hit. It is the sort of show that, as President of Entertainment Dawn Ostroff put it, is the “female empowering action adventure show” that the network has been trying to develop since day one.
It was also officially announced that Smallville will end its ten-year run next season.
“I want to announce this will be Smallville’s tenth and final season. But we’re going to go out with a bang; we’re going to make sure of that. On behalf of the producers, cast and crew we’ve had a great run,” series star and Executive Producer Tom Welling explained.
Ostroff did confirm that the CW would promote Season 10 as the final season because, “The idea is that the fans really would want to see the show go out in a big way and we intend to give that to them.” The final season of Smallville also will not see a budget reduction from the level it had in Season 9.
2010/2011 CW Schedule
Monday
8-9 90210 (new night)
9-10 Gossip Girl
Tuesday
8-9 One Tree Hill (new night)
9-10 Life Unexpected (new night)
Wednesday
8-9 America’s Next Top Model
9-10 Hellcats (new series)
Thursday
8-9 The Vampire Diaries
9-10 Nikita (new series)
Friday
8-9 Smallville
9-10 Supernatural (new night)
Believe it or not, the CW got their new fall schedule, with a variety of night changes, absolutely, perfectly right. While Thursday night is utterly crowded, placing Nikita after last season’s new hit The Vampire Diaries should prove successful. This may be the sort of pairing that can help propel the CW forward once Smallville retires. Additionally, placing the network’s other freshman series, Hellcats, after America’s Next Top Model will probably be a relative success.
Of course, both new dramas can fail if they can’t produce quality entertainment. Nikita could jut end up another in a long line of spy dramas being launched this year. If it can’t maintain the production value of the pilot that was evidence in the trailer, it will fail. But as it stands, Maggie Q will be the CW’s next big star and Nikita may be the first show developed by the CW that is worth the outlandish promotion it’ll receive.
And Hellcats must remain a quirky, fun program and not fall into the typical “soap opera” format of the network’s other “pretty young people” shows. If it can be more Glee, less 90210, the CW just may have a hit on its hands. With Disney Channel grads Aly Michalka and Ashley Tisdale anchoring the show, Hellcats shouldn’t shy away being kitschy, goofy fun. The second it starts to take itself too seriously is the second it’ll become just another CW drama.
The rest of the CW’s schedule is as sound of a schedule as you’ll find. Pairing up 90210 and Gossip Girl on Mondays seems like a perfect fit since both shows attract the same audience. Likewise, One Tree Hill and Life Unexpected are a natural fit, even if One Tree Hill is aging and has probably seen better days. With Wednesdays and Thursdays set by offering successful (by the CW’s standards) programs to lead into new series, the final piece of the puzzle for the network was Fridays.
Reuniting Smallville and Supernatural on Fridays was probably the most obvious move of this week’s Upfronts. Obvious and smart. Both shows attract a similar audience and have proven to be a formidable team when airing together. On its first season on Friday, Smallville saw its best ratings for the season when the network ran reruns of it after new episodes. But Smallville and Supernatural’s pairing should prove mutually beneficial. Now, viewers won’t just have one reason to stay in on a Friday night, they’ll have an entire block of programming, which could help the night retain more live viewership. Which is all the CW can really hope for.
