THURSDAY
CRAIG: 8:00 DC’s Legends of Tomorrow; 9:00 Mars Colony
SHILO:Â 8:00 DC’s Legends of Tomorrow; 9:00 Frequency
CRAIG:Â I suspect Legends of Tomorrow will end on a cliffhanger so that fans will HAVE to see what happens 4-5 months later rather than waiting for midseason again. Who knows? Maybe they’re even shooting for a 22-episode season. In any event, I’ve slotted Legends as coming back in the fall. For 9:00, I’ve slotted the still unnamed Mars colony drama starring Georgina Haig. Tonally, it does sound a little bit too much like The 100 to me, but then again, that may also make it a great timeslot-warmer until The 100 could return at midseason. Also, again, being a CBS drama, that probably increases its chances of getting picked up.
SHILO: I know that rumors have abounded about Legends of Tomorrow being expensive, but the show is a solid performer for The CW with crossover and synergistic possibilities aplenty, so I don’t think they’ll push it to midseason. While I do understand the worry about football dinging the show, I would rather stick with male-friendly shows vs. trying to program for female viewers and running up against the TGIT brick wall that is ABC. So while Legends of Tomorrow might not necessarily get 22 episodes this season, I think it has a flexible enough cast and premise to at least match its first season run and further flesh out The CW’s growing franchise.
Initially, I had the Mars drama at 9:00 as well, but after reading reports of pilot reshoots, I got scared off and decided to go with Frequency instead. It’s a project that’s generated a fair amount of buzz the closer we get to upfronts and I think it could be a novel way for the network to introduce a cop drama while doing something more with the format. The story of a detective in 2016 who realizes she can communicate with her estranged father who died in 1996, it shares the emphasis on time with Legends of Tomorrow, thereby making the night thematically sound, while its premise could be casual viewer friendly enough to survive a tough slot.
The only thing giving me pause is that both Frequency and Riverdale are produced by Warner Brothers, meaning that CBS wouldn’t have a new fall show this season. Would Crazy Ex-Girlfriend returning in the fall be enough to satisfy the studio until midseason, when at least one of their new dramas would premiere?
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What I wish is that they would go back to early(er) September premieres. I’ve had this feeling for a while that too many people are already hooked into their nightly schedules by the time The CW premieres come. Getting out of the gate first would breed loyalty.
It would be a great thing, although it’s rare for a show to have more than 9 or 10 episodes done before December, which is what they usually run all the way through to before reruns. If they started filming sooner, that would be a great solution.
Though, that also brings up the other problem CW viewers especially seem to have, and that is breaks. If people think three-week breaks between episodes in March are bad imagine what happens if they have to stretch 22-23 episodes between September and May.
Maybe, though, with so many shows on the schedule, they’ll have to start a little earlier.