By Karen Woodward
I know I'm not the only one waiting breathlessly to see who will be invited to the CW, the new network formed as a result of the WB and UPN merging. It's like being in a cafeteria with your eye on the cool kids' table. But on March 15, we got a little nibble of things to come. On that day, the CW suits had their first development meeting with advertisers, and played at this get-together was a montage featuring clips from various shows currently on UPN and WB. Was this a sign of things to come? The CW has 13 hours of programming to fill, and although unconfirmed, it's pretty official that 6 ½ hours of programming is being filled by America's Next Top Model, Gilmore Girls, Smallville, Everybody Hates Chris, and Beauty and the Geek. On the bubble are my personal favorites Veronica Mars, One Tree Hill, and Everwood, as well as the Monday night sitcoms Girlfriends, Half and Half, and All of Us.
So who gets to be a member of the cool crowd? "When it gets down to it, it will be about what fits with what, what are the ratings, or if you have something you haven't given a shot, and it's something you really believe in," said Dawn Ostroff, CW's new President of Entertainment. "There are so many different pieces to the puzzle."
Add to the puzzle the fact that the CW is also producing at least six new pilots. So now we have 6 ½ hours out of a possible 13 already filled, and we have to make space for new shows, wherever they may fall in the schedule. According to Ostroff the clip presentation was just a "hypothetical" schedule. Ok then, as long as we're talking hypotheticals, here is my hypothetical CW schedule:
Sunday: Smallville, Supernatural, and a new show that fits with this paranormal theme.
Monday: Girlfriends, Half and Half, All of Us, and some new sitcom.
Tuesday: Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars.
Wednesday: One Tree Hill and some new show that I won't watch because I'll be watching Lost.
Thursday: Everybody Hates Chris, Eve, Everwood. (Maybe not the same demos, but I have to fit in Everwood somewhere.)
Friday: America's Next Top Model, and two dramas - or four sitcoms - that I won't be watching because I'll be watching InJustice and Conviction.
Saturday: Since no one has original programming on Saturday anymore, how about re-running Everwood? Seems pretty perfect for that audience staying home on a Saturday night. Another idea would be to bring back those MOW's that featured stars from the network. Those were fun.
There you have it; my two cents. But since no one made me a network honcho, I'll just wait impatiently with my eye on that cool kids' table. Goooo Veronica! Go Everwood!
