CW-related stories
Posted May 15th 2009 10:32AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Emmys, Reality-Free
They have feuds. They have babies (at least one of them). They have daily debates. But the ladies of
The View have no sway with
the Daytime Emmys. Well, that's not entirely correct. The ladies themselves, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Barbara Walters, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck, received an Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Talk Show host(s), but their show was snubbed.
Whether it's deemed a Talk Show/Entertainment or Talk Show/Information, it's not deemed worthy. But
The View's missing nomination is merely one of the many oddities of
the 36th Annual Daytime Emmy nominations. Something is really bizarre in the batch of noms.
Continue reading Weirdness in the Daytime Emmys nominations
Posted Apr 1st 2009 12:25AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reaper, Reality-Free
(S01E05) "Lookin' sharp, Buffy, lookin' sharp." - Devil to Sam while he was holding a wooden stakeSeason two of
Reaper continues to entertain: it's funny, smart and unexpected, while still delivering all the things we loved about
Reaper in season one. From using Sam's zombie dad to scare the poop out of Ben in the car, to the tongue-in-cheek shout-out to
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this episode delivered.
One thing this episode did suffer from, though, is something I feared. Because they've introduced so many characters, we only saw a brief bit of them this week (and we didn't see Nina at all), and I was left wanting more of some. I guess we got a good fill of the dad, and it was so great to have demon Tony back. But I missed Nina, and I craved more Morgan. I'm wondering, too, if Kristen will end up being more than a bizarre sex symbol for Sock.
Continue reading Reaper: I Want My Baby Back
Posted Mar 25th 2009 1:02AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reaper, Reality-Free
(S02E04) Reaper pulled it out again with another winner of an episode. Something tells me they know exactly what they are doing this season, and I'm loving every second of it.
Although I enjoyed the addition of Morgan, the Devil's other son, very much, I was getting a bit irritated that they kept introducing new characters -- Kristen, Nina, Morgan -- and just left the whole storyline with Sam's dad floating out there. I was getting nervous that they didn't really know what to do with it, so they were just going to drop it and hope we didn't remember. Well, they got back to it tonight, and I can't wait to see it all come together.
But we'll get to that later. Let's talk about the rest of the episode first...
Continue reading Reaper: The Favorite
Posted Mar 11th 2009 1:10AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reaper, Reality-Free
How'd
Reaper do this week? As much as I enjoyed it, this episode has left me with a few longings for more. Don't worry, I wasn't wishing I was watching the 13
American Idol wannabes performing over on FOX, but I do think there are places that
Reaper could go that would be extremely satisfying.
In fact, they went there at the end of season one. The conspiracy with Sam's dad (um, does Sam even know that his dad is alive?), the demon rebellion, Sam's true parentage ... I want more! When I saw Andrew Airlie's name in the opening credits, I got excited, thinking we were headed back to the darker side of
Reaper, to the secrets of Sam's family (remember his mom digging up his dad at the end of season one?) and really getting to some good stuff.
Bah, I guess I'll have to wait for that, but I'm hoping they'll deliver.
Reaper did deliver laughs and a bit of a story arc tonight.
Continue reading Reaper: Dirty Sexy Mongol
Posted Mar 9th 2009 3:04PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free
I've never seen Ashlee Simpson-Wentz act. I know she played a janitor or something on
7th Heaven, but I kind of missed the entire eleven-year run of that series. I've also never purchased and Ashlee Simpson album, so while I have heard her sing, or you know,
not sing, I can't say I'm a huge fan. So I don't really know why I'm excited to hear she's
joining the cast of CW's revamped Melrose Place, but I am.
I watched the original
Melrose Place off and on, and while it was perfect mid-90s soapy goodness, I don't really feel that there's a burning need for its return. However, the new
90210 is doing pretty well for the fledgling CW, so I certainly can't blame them for taking the next logical step in bringing back its spinoff.
Continue reading Am I the only one excited about Ashlee Simpson-Wentz on Melrose Place?
Posted Mar 3rd 2009 10:05PM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reaper, Reality-Free
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(S02E01) "Shut your mouth, that's my sister! I have dibs." -- Sock, to Ben who referred to Sock's stepsister as "smokin' hot"Reaper's back, and our resident lovable losers are in full form: homeless (evicted from their apartment), jobless (though they get them back with a little blackmail), Sam's in the doghouse with Andi, and it's just another devilish day at The Work Bench.
That all may add up to a typical episode of
Reaper for you, but they've taken a couple of steps to bring this show to the next level, as well as bringing us everything we loved so much about the first season.
Continue reading Reaper: A New Hope (season premiere)
Posted Dec 3rd 2008 8:28PM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Programming, Pickups and Renewals, Reaper, Reality-Free
I have to admit, I've been slightly obsessed with checking the
mid-season replacement schedule over at The Futon Critic. You see, I've been waiting to find out when one of my favorite shows from last season,
Reaper, would be coming back.
Finally, I need wait no more: The CW has finally announced
Reaper's timeslot, and it's not half bad. Or, I guess it is half bad, depending on how you look at it.
First things first: it's not on Friday night, which is something I feared because CW's schedule is so wide open on that night. So that's good, right?
Continue reading Reaper is finally on the CW's mid-season schedule
Posted Dec 3rd 2008 7:42PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Programming, OpEd, Pickups and Renewals
Director Sam Raimi, the man who created such gut-wrenching horrors as
The Evil Dead trilogy and
Spider Man 3, takes his talent for disemboweling innocent people and chopping off limbs with a dull ax to television ... for a reality show?!?
13 - Fear is Real premieres
tonight January 7 on The CW at 8 p.m. eastern. It puts 13 innocent (not really) people in the middle of a fake horror movie, and the last one standing on their bloody stumps takes home the grand prize.
The reality show aims to do for horror movies what
Next Action Star did for action movies - rip them off and turn them into another schlock reality show that requires little to no creative ideas or thought.
Continue reading Sam Raimi gets into reality with Fear is Real
Posted Oct 14th 2008 2:27PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Casting, Reality-Free, 90210
Despite my best efforts, I'll admit it:
90210 has sucked me in. I'm not proud of it, but CW just has a way of doing that to me.
90210 isn't a great show: the acting is so-so and the plots are completely predictable . Nevertheless, every week I find myself inexplicably drawn to the goings on at West Beverly High. Apparently it's not just the audience who's getting sucked in: the actors are as well. Despite sounding like she wasn't interested in appearing beyond her initial four-episode run,
Shannen Doherty is returning to 90210.
Doherty has signed up for two episodes of the CW series with the possibility for more. Doherty has been joined on the
90210 set by her costar on the original
90210,
Jennie Garth. Both of their characters left town in a recent episode, but Garth has always planned on coming back. After all, her character, Kelly Taylor, is actually employed at West Beverly, while Doherty's Brenda Walsh seems to have come back solely to react to Kelly's storylines and babysit her son.
Continue reading Doherty returns to her favorite zip code
Posted Oct 5th 2008 9:39AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Ratings, Pushing Daisies, Chuck, Private Practice, Dirty Sexy Money, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Reality-Free
You know the one I'm talking about. After the writers strike ended last year in February, most of the networks made the interesting decision to just go ahead and shelve most of their freshmen series for the season, even if they'd picked up their "back nine" orders. Instead, they thought they'd launch the shows to big fanfare this fall, almost as if they were new again. Unfortunately, it looks like this plan backfired on them tremendously.
Across the board, those
sophomore series that went on hiatus for more than six months are way down in the ratings. Apparently, absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder when it comes to the television landscape. It makes the instant gratification generation forget you existed. And stop caring.
Continue reading The long hiatus is killing second-year shows, and some older ones
Posted Sep 11th 2008 8:38PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Programming, Celebrities, Project Runway, Pickups and Renewals
You know the old saying, "looking good is the best revenge?" Well, looking good on television is even better. To that end,
Nina Garcia, the acid-tongued Colombian judge on
Project Runway, is appearing on a new reality show.
Garcia will be starring on Style Network's new series, Running in Heels.
Heels follows the staff at women's magazine
Marie Claire, which Garcia joined a short while ago after leaving her long-time position at
Elle magazine.
Garcia's split from
Elle was allegedly not on the best terms, so it's probably extra sweet for her that
Running in Heels is a direct competitor to CW's
Stylista; a reality competition show taking place at, you guessed it --
Elle magazine.
Continue reading Nina Garcia is Running in Heels
Posted Sep 4th 2008 5:21PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd, America's Next Top Model, Ratings, 90210
I feel as though I've done nothing the entire week except watch The CW. When I close my eyes, I just see images of highlights, dangerously low BMIs and huge, blinding teeth. Apparently, I'm not alone. When
Gossip Girl's second season premiered on Monday night, it grabbed record ratings for the show that, up until then, has never been
quite popular enough to live up to its buzz. On Wednesday night, even more people tuned into the
premiere of 90210, which garnered huge ratings for The CW, with 4.9 million viewers. It seemed as though people were finally flocking to the fledgling network. However,
Wednesday's premiere of America's Next Top Model didn't exactly keep the streak alive.
Top Model, which began its 11th cycle, but not, as Tyra said, it's "second
decade," didn't have viewers glued to their TVs.
The two-hour premiere only nabbed 3.5 million viewers, with 1.7 million of those in the coveted 18-49 demographic. This is down 11% from cycle 10, which premiered in February of this year, and down 32% from last September's cycle 9.
Continue reading Good thing 90210 is saving The CW, because Top Model sure isn't
Posted Sep 1st 2008 8:56PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Programming, Prison Break, Gossip Girl, The Middleman
It's kind of nice when the networks spread out
their premieres, ensuring me a fighting chance at sampling most of the new shows. Call me crazy, and you definitely wouldn't be the first, but I have this weird obsession with trying to catch at least one episode of virtually every new major show that premieres and, if at all possible making that the pilot episode. It's allowed me to see a lot of great shows, and a lot of stinkers. But it makes this time of year a busy blast, too!
I also try to keep up with returning shows to see what they've done in their off-season. If it's one I watch, then I want to see if they've tweaked the formula in any way; and if it's one I don't, then I'm always interested to see if they've come up with something to pull me in. With tonight the unofficial start of the fall season, we see the newest networks, FOX and The CW getting an early start by returning three prominent shows. We also say goodbye, maybe forever, to one of the most enjoyable new shows of the summer while TNT takes the chance to bow a new series.
Continue reading The CW and FOX get a head start, TNT is all new
Posted Aug 19th 2008 9:04AM by Brett Love
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, Watercooler Talk, Reality-Free, 90210
That question in the title may be a bit unfair, and slanted, given that I haven't actually seen the new
90210 yet. I could have just as easily titled this, "Is the new
90210 like totally awesome?" What I couldn't do is actually give you an opinion one way or the other, because The CW isn't going to let anyone see the show before the September premiere. Get a look at the message that drifted into TV Squad HQ from The CW.
"The CW and our studio partner CBS Paramount Network Television have made the strategic marketing decision not to screen "90210" for any media in advance of its premiere. We're not hiding anything . . . simply keeping a lid on 90210 until 9.02, riding the curiosity and anticipation into premiere night, and letting all our constituents see it at the same time."Continue reading Does the new 90210 suck?
Posted Jul 19th 2008 8:35PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Other Reality Shows, Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Programming, Smallville, Supernatural, America's Next Top Model, Pickups and Renewals, Reaper, Gossip Girl
When you're a ratings-challenged fledgling network like the
CW, you're going to do anything you can to get a leg up on the competition. Releasing
sex-filled advertisements for your most high-profile show is a good start, but that alone won't get the job done. To that end, the CW has just announced that it's moving its fall premiere dates up to September 1st, well ahead of the beginning of the traditional broadcast season.
The idea behind the move is that you're already going to be hooked on
Gossip Girl and
Top Model by the time the other networks get around to premiering their fall shows, sometime around mid-to-late September. The season isn't the only thing the CW is starting early, however. Starting in November, they're also extending prime time, with original programming beginning at 6:30 on Sunday nights.
Check out CW's full premiere schedule after the jump.
Continue reading CW announces an early Fall premiere schedule
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