Marginally, yes (especially with the cancellation of Veronica Mars, 3 old series having ended, and the introduction of multiple new series - if anything, these changes will hope them financially and help their image). I'm more interested in where they stand 3-5 years from now - I'm a patient person and I appreciate long-term decisions and successes more than short-term ones ...
The problem for the CW is that they can't promote worth a hill of beans. They don't have anything that really qualifies as "must see" television, so they can't promote their other series there. They are going to drift into the margins of American television, battling Univision for #5 status, and eventually CBS and Time Warner are going to pull the plug...
I think it will need a few years to grow. I think they need more Comedy's. Even if they are not the best written, star power is everything. Which is why the Kelly Ripa pilot should of been shot and last year's Nick Lachey comedy should of been picked up. They needed to advertise their new shows and let people know what CW is.
Posts: 169 | Location: LA | Registered: 21 September 2006
Its an uphill battle and honestly, only Gossip Girls looks like it has a shot at more than one season. I have yet to hear much about Aliens in America, but if that's somewhat like That 70s Show, it could pull in the desired demographic. Perhaps the CW should lead Mondays with it.
Believe it or not, I actually think it goes downhill from here. With Gilmore Girls, 7th Heaven, and Reba all retired, a younger show in Everwood unjustly canceled, Smallville nearing retirement, and regularly scheduled repeats composing one-third of the lineup on Sunday (two-thirds once Reba retired), the net is in really bad shape. There only consistent, sizable hit is ANTM, which of course the cannot repeat. They better pray that Gossip Girl is a Top-Model sized (or greater) hit.
Originally posted by baturcotte: The problem for the CW is that they can't promote worth a hill of beans. They don't have anything that really qualifies as "must see" television, so they can't promote their other series there. They are going to drift into the margins of American television, battling Univision for #5 status, and eventually CBS and Time Warner are going to pull the plug...
I think the network will fold within 2 more years. It's horribly run. There's no one there with any vision. They're just attempting to stay afloat when they're so close to failure that now is the time to take some big risks and see if something will pay off.
The fact that they're playing chicken with Veronica Mars and don't even have the confidence to dump their lowest rated show, and are looking for excuses to keep it next season, is kind of the perfect illustration for how they've run things...in the most cowardly and haphazardly way imaginable.
I think the CW could become successful if it learns that: 1) the Monday sitcom block is dead and all of those shows, but Chris should have DNR tattooed on them! We don't need a full night of sitcoms.
2) Taking a chance on an unconventional script could prove profitable (see Buffy a tv series made as a spin-off of a Hollywood flop or Felicity a series about about a girl who changes her college plans over a crush)
3) Nickelodeon green is not the way to look more grown up.
Let's see. The WB and UPN were both networks targeting rather narrow demos. Unfortunately for them, those demos were the first to jump off the network tv bandwagon. With not enough viewers left, neither of the networks could survive.
Now we have the CW. Which follows the same basic strategy - if you can read and write, you're too old for it. But they're doing it with less money, fewer ideas and weaker shows. And with their targeted demo running away from tv even faster.
Yeah, that'll work.
I'll give it one more season, and if it doesn't make money for Warner/CBS by then, it'll be gone. By cancelling Jericho and Close to Home, CBS has just shown how trigger-happy they still are. Why should they be more patient with the CW?
In some degree of fairness to CW, we have no idea what their 12-17 rating is, or how they do if you only count 17-29.
That being said, this network has been hurt by the overall turning away from TV. One of the keys to Buffy and Dawson's success was young male viewers who may not have admitted to watching those shows but did. Now networks completely write off 12-25 males assuming they are watching sports or playing video games. I don't think we'll see a WB style success again.
