Analyzing the 2016 Fall Schedule: The CW

FRIDAY

CRAIG’S PREDICTIONS: 8:00 The Vampire Diaries; 9:00 The Originals
SHILO’S PREDICTIONS: 8:00 The Vampire Diaries; 9:00 The Originals
ACTUAL SCHEDULE: 8:00 The Vampire Diaries; 9:00 Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

CRAIG: This one is kind of weird too, and I wonder if this, too, is a product of the CBS/Warner Bros. split. I would think The Originals would be a show that the network would want to nurture as it probably has more time in it than Vampire Diaries does, but I guess there are only so many slots, and this was a casualty.

As for Crazy Ex at 9… I don’t hate it. Hart of Dixie did well on Friday nights. I don’t know that there’s a lot of Vampire Diaries crossover audience, but I think it’ll work better than we’d expect.

SHILO: The decision to push The Originals to midseason when it and The Vampire Diaries were doing similar business on Fridays is strange to me. The CW tends to give short fourth seasons to marginal shows like Hart of Dixie and Nikita, where they’re just trying to hit syndication and want to do less damage to the schedule. The Originals was doing pretty decently considering its time slot and the fact that it’s been jerked around the schedule all its life, so it not being in the fall feels like the wrong move to me. If they didn’t want 22 episodes, okay; The CW has a lot of stuff coming midseason and they want to be able to fit everything in, so taking a performer like The Originals and shaving some episodes off wouldn’t necessarily be a bad move. It’s just that I think the show has performed well enough, and has enough synergistic juice with The Vampire Diaries, that it should’ve been on in the fall.

Now, let’s talk Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. In a vacuum, I understand the decision to move it to Fridays. They wanted to make over Mondays now that they have Supergirl and Fridays at 9:00 is the slot that Crazy‘s ratings can do the least amount of damage, so this way, they can air the show in the fall for award consideration while not taking the ratings hit it gave them on Mondays. However, The Carrie Diaries, Hart of Dixie, and Reign were able to overperform on Fridays by airing at 8:00, thereby taking advantage of the affiliate lead-in, and being the only shows of their kind in the hour, whereas Crazy Ex-Girlfriend will have a greatly diminished, incompatible lead-in in The Vampire Diaries and a potential female viewer magnet in The Exorcist to deal with, in addition to airing in an hour that doesn’t promise great results if you’re on The CW.

Plus, Friday isn’t exactly known for its buzz-y projects or shows that dominate the cultural conversation, so I fear that the one thing keeping Crazy Ex-Girlfriend alive will evaporate come season two. The acclaim that the show was able to generate helped it push into the awards races, which subsequently helped get the show renewed, so if less people are writing/talking about the show, it could lose traction with the Golden Globes, the Critics’ Choice Awards, etc. And if Crazy Ex-Girlfriend doesn’t have the online ink or the award nominations/wins, why is The CW hanging on to it, especially with it not being near syndication? This move to Friday feels like the stake through Crazy‘s heart and unless the show manages an Emmy nomination/win, I genuinely don’t see how it makes it to a third season.