What's on CW this fall? No more superheroes, lots of Canadian TV
This isn't the CW you remember from last year.
The broadcast network has a different owner, after its joint owners, Paramount Global and Warner Brothers Discovery, sold it to Nexstar, and new management is making drastic changes to the lineup of shows. The network, formerly known for DC Comics superhero series and teen dramas, is now entirely without caped crusaders, and only one high school series remains on the fall lineup.
The network had already announced football drama "All American" and "Walker: Texas Ranger" remake "Walker" would return, but that's it for familiar scripted titles on the made-over network come autumn (unscripted series "Penn & Teller: Fool Us," "Whose Line Is It Anyway?," "Masters of Illusion" and "World's Funniest Animals" are also returning). The last three remaining "on the bubble" series for the network − "All American: Homecoming," "Gotham Knights" and "Superman & Lois" − aren't on the fall schedule, replaced by a lineup of castoffs from other networks and international series. It's likely that at most one of them will be back at all.
The new shows include "61st Street," a Chicago-set legal drama starring Courtney B. Vance, that AMC canceled after one season, and "FBoy Island," a reality dating show axed by HBO Max that will air new episodes and a spinoff, "FGirl Island." Other changes include a night of comedies on Tuesdays (CW had traditionally picked up only hourlong dramas or dramedies) and a block of documentary films on Sundays. "Walker" will return at midseason, along with "FBoy" spinoff, "FGirl Island."
Why the big shift away from younger viewers? "The young adult audience is not making an appointment for broadcast television today. That audience has largely abandoned broadcast television," CW president Dennis Miller told reporters Thursday.
"We're not going to run away from the audience that we spent 20 years cultivating, but young-adult content will be one of the five things we do," added programming chief Brad Schwartz.
Here's CW's new fall schedule. All times are EDT/PDT except sports. New shows are in bold and new time slots are in italics.
CW's fall schedule
- Monday: 8, "All American"; 9, "61st Street"
- Tuesday: 8, "Son of a Critch"; 8:30, "Run the Burbs"; 9, "Children Ruin Everything"; 9:30, "Everyone Else Burns"
- Wednesday: 8, "Sullivan's Crossing"; 9, "The Spencer Sisters"
- Thursday: 8, "FBoy Island" (repeats); 9, "FBoy Island"
- Friday: 8, "Penn & Teller: Fool Us"; 9, "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"; 9:30, "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" (repeats)
- Saturday: 8, "Masters of Illusion"; 8:30, "Masters of Illusion" (repeats), 9, "World's Funniest Animals"; 9:30, "World's Funniest Animals" (repeats)
- Sunday: 8, “I Am” films
Contributing: Gary Levin in New York
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