THURSDAY
Shilo’s Picks: 8:00 The Vampire Diaries, 9:00 Reign
Craig’s Picks: 8:00 The Vampire Diaries, 9:00 Reign
Actual Schedule: 8:00 The Vampire Diaries, 9:00 Reign
CRAIG: We called it. I think it was smart to keep this pairing together, at least for this season.
SHILO: The CW was wise to keep their Thursday lineup together. The Vampire Diaries was never a good lead-in and season five found the series noticeably weakening for the first time, so debuting something new behind it would have been suicide, especially with Scandal and The Blacklist both scheduled to air at 9:00 next season. It might not be the sexiest move in the world, but it’s some much needed stability and should be one of the least worrisome nights, assuming The Vampire Diaries can stop the bleeding and make a creative rebound in season six.
FRIDAY
Shilo’s Picks: 8:00 Hart of Dixie, 9:00 America’s Next Top Model
Craig’s Picks: 8:00 America’s Next Top Model, 9:00 Hart of Dixie
Actual Schedule: 8:00 Whose Line Is It Anyway?, 8:30 Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Encore), 9:00 America’s Next Top Model
SHILO: During the summer of 2013, The CW rebooted Whose Line Is it Anyway? to great success, as the improv comedy debuted with startlingly strong ratings and solid reviews. However, instead of concentrating that spark in summer and using it to build the network’s schedule during the warmer months, The CW brought it back this spring to underwhelming ratings and will use it in several different time slots this summer. And air it for what could be 8-9 months straight.
Granted, it’s cheap and infinitely repeatable, but it just feels like lazy scheduling that will cause one of the more valuable network assets to burn out before its time. With two reality series (The Amazing Race, MasterChef Junior) in the hour, as well as ABC’s comedy duo, Whose Line doesn’t quite have the breathing room it did even this spring, so how it holds up should be interesting to watch. If The CW was going to be this conservative with their scheduling and essentially lay down every night but Tuesday, why not throw some cheap scripted product here and curry favor with both advertisers (who generally pay more for scripted series) and fans alike? Would, say, a third season of The Carrie Diaries really be that worse an option?
CRAIG: I’d probably recommend encores of one of their shows from earlier in the week for Friday nights, over Whose Line? which could wear out its welcome if they run it too much. Having it on in what feels like the entire season does seem to diminish the whole event feeling of a Whose Line? return. At the very least, enough with the back-to-back Whose Line? thing… let’s see something to pair with it.
But mostly, I’d like to see The CW actually trying again on Fridays. I have a feeling that’s last priority, though.
Next: Superlatives… and seeing how we ultimately did. Navigate below, we’re almost done:
1 Comment
The Originals is basically facing the same competition it had all year with The Voice and a superhero show (Shield/Gotham). Big Bang Theory is only there for a few weeks till it goes back to Thurs and DWTS is no juggernaut lol