FURTHER THOUGHTS FROM SHILO
Most Surprising (Possible) Renewal: Every renewal from The CW this season has made sense, either because of syndication reasons, studio politics, or linear ratings. What was surprising to me was that they renewed everything at once, since I assumed they would highlight their strongest shows first and wait for more data to come on their bubble dramas. But I would be surprised if we got more Containment; not only has it been slapped with the Limited Series Event tag, the Event part of that screaming “one-and-done,” it’s produced by Warner Brothers, which has a more than healthy presence on The CW. If Containment were from CBS and held fairly well after The Flash signed off for the season, I could maybe see it coming back as a summer show, considering that the network has wanted to expand their summer scripted presence for a while. As it stands today, though, I just can’t see Containment moving forward.
Show That Likely Won’t Be Renewed But Should Be: Well, the only show The CW hasn’t renewed is Containment, but I don’t know how good a renewal argument that show has.
Possible Scheduling Disaster: Look, I think the premise of No Tomorrow sounds lovely and it’s assembled a cast that I would like to watch perform together. And I was one of the 11 Americans who watched (and adored) You, Me and the Apocalypse, so I say bring on more apocalyptic-set projects. But if The CW orders this show, it will be the most self-defeating series order in some time; they simply don’t need another quirky dramedy with a niche premise, so unless they’re fishing for a third Golden Globe winner in a row, back away from No Tomorrow, CW. Monday won’t make progress if you keep throwing the same type of show at it and this is a show that wouldn’t make sense any other day of the week.
Possible Biggest Surprise: I would be surprised if Legends of Tomorrow wasn’t back on in the fall. The crossover between Arrow and The Flash has become a yearly thing and both benefit each time the shows intertwine, so to not allow the third member of the franchise to reap the same ratings rewards would be strange. These shows are spun-off so that they can cross back over and Legends wasn’t able to get the crossover bump during its first season; a crossover would relieve some of the football pressure the show will be facing and give it a nice jump start heading into the remainder of the season. Plus, if Legends is going to be a lead-in, The CW needs to treat it like one and not like a fill-in drama they ordered simply to round out their schedule.
Safest Bet: The Flash will air with something new. iZombie had some pretty awful retention from it (sub-40% a lot of weeks), so The CW will want to utilize that show’s insular audience on a more troublesome slot on the schedule. It’s likeliest that Riverdale airs behind The Flash, but I could see a scenario where Transylvania or Frequency find their way to that slot. While the former sounds like a genre procedural not unlike 1880s Supernatural, a show The Flash aired with last season, the latter is a show The CW is high on that lacks the name brand recognition of Riverdale, so they might want to give it a boost behind the thematically similar Flash.
Project I’m Rooting For: Normally, The CW is one of my favorite networks when it comes to development, but this year has left me mostly cold. While I would watch a majority of what they’ve got in development (e.g. I would try Riverdale because of my love of teen soaps, Kevin Williamson’s paranormal drama sounds fun and unusual for broadcast, etc.), there’s nothing there that’s really exciting or that I would be massively disappointed if it didn’t get ordered. The Mars drama is probably the closest I come to that, just because I think the idea of a show inspired by the Lost Colony of Roanoke to be fantastic, but I don’t know if The CW would have the budget to do a space drama the right way.
ESSENTIAL LINKS
Upfronts 2016: Assessing Each Network’s Needs
The CW’s 2015-2016 Schedule: Thoughts & Predictions
Analyzing the 2015-2016 Schedule: The CW
2 Comments
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.