2014 Upfront Answers, The CW

Last week, I asked "Upfront Questions" to preview each network's fall 2014 schedule. With the schedule now official, here are the "Upfront Answers"!

CW's upfront previews: True Power Rankings | Upfront Questions

Other Upfront Answers: NBC | Fox | ABC | CBS | CW

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MONDAY

Fall 2014 Schedule
8:00-9:00 PM The Originals (New Night)
9:00-10:00 PM JANE THE VIRGIN (New Series)

My Question: Does The Flash (or another newbie) have Originals/Arrow-style lead-off potential?

Yes, and admittedly I was uncertain about this after the CW aired a lengthy Arrow/Flash promo last night. (It felt like it was setting up the shows joining up on the same night.) But the CW (probably wisely) saw how difficult things were getting on Monday with Gotham and a few weeks of The Big Bang Theory and gave it that opportunity on an already "established" night. The Originals is arguably the network's weakest anchor, and it's undergoing a timeslot move for season two, while Jane the Virgin is almost inarguably the weaker of their two fall dramas. That means Monday could still end up being a bit shaky, but giving Flash the best possible opportunity clearly beats that out.

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TUESDAY

Fall 2014 Schedule
8:00-9:00 PM THE FLASH (New Series)
9:00-10:00 PM Supernatural

My Question: Across how many nights does the CW stretch its "Big Four"?

All four weeknights! But rather than yet another Supernatural move, it actually gets to stay put for once. Because it's been moved on an almost annual basis, it feels like the better show of the Tuesday dramas to move in theory, but counter-programming dictated otherwise. Hopefully those young CW viewers don't care about stupid things like timeslots anyway.

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WEDNESDAY

Fall 2014 Schedule
8:00-9:00 PM Arrow
9:00-10:00 PM The 100

My Question: Will The 100 stay put?

Yes! This had to be an interesting decision between a "bird in the hand" and a third new drama, but the CW wants to run this in the fall and see if there's a long run in its future. Maybe iZombie or The Messengers would've done better, but I have to feel the network would've gone with one of them if they really thought there was a heavy likelihood.

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THURSDAY

Fall 2014 Schedule
8:00-9:00 PM The Vampire Diaries
9:00-10:00 PM Reign

My Question: Will Reign stay put?

Yes! The CW has done quite a bit of schedule shuffling in recent years, so Reign staying put was far from a given. But with The Vampire Diaries' ratings struggles in recent weeks, it didn't look markedly stronger than the network's other anchors, and the network opted for stability. Based on the surprise Beauty and the Beast renewal, Reign staying in a good timeslot may have been another product of CBS Studios politics. It's the behavior of a network that had a good season... and they did have a good season.

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FRIDAY

Fall 2014 Schedule
8:00-8:30 PM Whose Line Is It Anyway?
8:30-9:00 PM WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? (Encore Episode)
9:00-10:00 PM America's Next Top Model

My Question: How much Friday filler does the CW need out of the low-priority crowd?

We already know that both Hart of Dixie and Beauty and the Beast snagged renewals, so it's somewhat surprising that neither of them made it onto the fall schedule. The CW is clearly putting all of its best feet forward to start off the season and worrying about burning through the other stuff later. Maybe we'll get a reprise of 2013-14's Monday Surrender Night (Hart at 8/7c, Beauty at 9/8c) at some point on Friday. We may find out more about the plans for Hart and Beauty when news comes out at the actual upfront.

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GENERAL IMPRESSIONS

The CW was a considerably deeper network coming into this upfront than they were last year, so reinventing the wheel was not necessary. And they definitely didn't. I'm a bit surprised that both The 100 and Reign returned to the same timeslots, but (as you can see from the questions I asked for Wednesday/Thursday) it's not a huge shocker. With the network picking up just four newbies, down from their usual five, it seemed possible that reduction could be felt on the fall schedule. Maybe The Originals and Jane the Virgin will end up being a questionable Monday duo, but that's probably a better decision than throwing The Flash into the tougher Monday fray.