Analyzing the 2016 Fall Schedule: The CW

THURSDAY

CRAIG’S PREDICTIONS: 8:00 DC’s Legends of Tomorrow; 9:00 Colony
SHILO’S PREDICTIONS: 8:00 DC’s Legends of Tomorrow; 9:00 Frequency
ACTUAL SCHEDULE: 8:00 DC’s Legends of Tomorrow; 9:00 Supernatural

CRAIG: We correctly deduced that DC’s Legends of Tomorrow will be back on Thursday nights in the Fall; if I had known, though, that Supergirl was moving to The CW, I would have slotted that there and made Legends wait. Asking TV audiences to invest in FOUR DC Universe shows in a week seems like too much of a good thing, and it’d be disappointing if people give up on one or two just to keep up with their favorites. That said, I’m excited for the Justice Society in Season 2, and the four-show crossover should be cool.

At 9, I already really said what I think of Supernatural’s move. Yes, it’s a strong show that could even possibly help Legends’ numbers, but I’m still not feeling it.

SHILO: If you’re going to mess with Supernatural, you better have a great reason to do so and honestly, plugging a hole on Thursday and airing with Legends of Tomorrow doesn’t feel like this show’s divine calling. It just makes me think that The CW wasn’t satisfied with the numbers that Legends was pulling this season and that they were worried that it would turn into a dumpster fire this fall against football, so they decided to put something sturdy and casual viewer-friendly at 9:00 in hopes of steadying the ship. If they were this antsy about what Legends was doing, they honestly should have either left it a midseason show or pushed it to Wednesdays at 9:00, assuming they were dead set on moving Supernatural. Because while this pairing isn’t necessarily bad, it feels wasteful; why are you okay with potentially damaging Supernatural for something that shouldn’t need this type of lead-out in order to be successful?

If The CW wanted to move Supernatural to have it launch a new show, I would’ve been begrudgingly okay with it. The network can’t keep it behind Arrow forever and if they use the show’s last gasps to find another solid player, I think it would be worth the trouble. It’s just that Legends isn’t the show that Supernatural should be moved for, both in terms of its position within the Arrow-verse and long term potential, so they might end up permanently denting the show with nothing to really show for it, which is a shame.