Upfront Answers, The CW

Last week, I did a series of pre-upfront posts called "Upfront Questions" in which I posed one question for each night of the schedule. My post-upfront coverage is called "Upfront Answers," in which I take a look at how they addressed my questions.

Other Upfront Answers: NBC | Fox | ABC | CBS

My CW Upfront Questions

MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM GOSSIP GIRL (New Time)
9:00-10:00 PM HART OF DIXIE (New Series)

Question: Does the last bastion for the Rich Kid Soaps stay intact?

No! I thought it was, but the CDub opted to use not one but both of the Rich Kid Soaps to lead into new series. I'm not sure what kind of real help they expect the new shows to get from these lead-ins, but that's what they did. In the case of this particular pairing, it's a Josh Schwartz/Stephanie Savage synergy night.

TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM 90210 (New Night)
9:00-10:00 PM RINGER (New Series)

Question: Is it finally time for One Tree Hill to end?

Not quite, but it does get a final season announcement and is bumped to midseason duty for the first time since the 2007-08 season. Meanwhile, the fall Tuesday sked presents the unlikely pairing of Rich Kid Soap 90210 and former CBS pilot Ringer, about a woman (Sarah Michelle Gellar) on the run from the mob.

WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM H8R (New Series)
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL

Question: Can a show succeed after Top Model and actually stick?

Talk about asking the wrong questions! Even though there hasn't been much of an uptick for Top Model at 9:00, apparently the CW folks like what they see enough to keep it at 9:00 and stop using it as a lead-in. The 8:00 slot will go to one of their three new reality series, the one that sounds most interesting (least uninteresting?) to me: H8R, which pairs snarky Internet types with the celebrities they like flaming. This will be the first time since 2008 that the CW will go with a new reality show in the fall, but that doesn't necessarily mean the odds are any better; remember that 2008 show, Stylista? Didn't think so.

THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
9:00-10:00 PM THE SECRET CIRCLE (New Series)

Question: Is Secret Circle in the post-TVD slot as much of an inevitability as it seems to be?

Yep. Another night where the two series of one producing team (this time led by The Vampire Diaries' Kevin Williamson) get paired together.

FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM NIKITA (New Night)
9:00-10:00 PM SUPERNATURAL

Question: Is Nikita Friday-bound to join Supernatural in "Not in Our Demo Night"? 

Indeed. I thought there was a shot the CW would bump Supernatural to 8:00 to give the sophomore a lead-in, but apparently not. Not exactly a vote of confidence in Nikita, but we'll see.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS 

When doing the Questions posts last week, I thought this was by far the easiest schedule to predict: 90210/Gossip, One Tree Hill/new drama, Top Model/new drama, Vampire Diaries/Secret Circle, Nikita/Supernatural. So of course it was the one where I was farthest off. I got the last two days right, but everyone kinda knew those were coming. They shook it up considerably elsewhere. Probably the biggest splash was them snatching a pilot from CBS, an idea so ingenious you wonder why it never happened in the Dawn Ostroff era. I'm not sold that Gossip Girl and 90210 are really worthy of being new show lead-ins at this point, but in at least one case (Ringer) you'd hope the show will self-start. The most positive thing about the network is that they at least have more inventory than in most recent seasons. The two backup reality shows may help them not go completely dark in the holiday months, while One Tree Hill will either fill in if there's a clear new show failure or perhaps operate in the sort of rotational format they used a couple years back with Life Unexpected to keep one night almost free of repeats.