2017 Upfront Questions: The CW

Part two of the upfront preview is the SCHEDULE-centric portion, examining the big-picture scheduling questions each network faces on each night in the final week before its upfront.

On each night, you can see the network's average 2016-17 ratings with its most frequent occupant in three different sub-sections of the year: "fall" (premiere week through December 31), "winter" (January 1 to the beginning of Daylight Saving Time) and "spring" (the start of DST through Thursday, May 4). You can also switch from the A18-49 ratings to the True ratings, which should make the comparisons across nights and across the season a bit more fair.

Last week's Renewology was the SHOW-centric portion, drilling more into the merits of individual shows: CW Renewology

More Upfront Questions: NBC | Fox | ABC | CBS | CW

---

---

Monday

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
fall	Supergirl		Supergirl	Jane the Virgin		Jane the Virgin	0.62
	fall	0.85		0.85	0.39			0.39	0.62
winter	Supergirl		Supergirl	Jane the Virgin		Jane the Virgin	0.54
	winter	0.73		0.73	0.35			0.35	0.54
spring	Supergirl		Supergirl	Jane the Virgin		Jane the Virgin	0.41
	spring	0.57		0.57	0.25			0.25	0.41

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
fall	Supergirl		Supergirl	Jane the Virgin		Jane the Virgin	0.57
	fall	0.80		0.80	0.34			0.34	0.57
winter	Supergirl		Supergirl	Jane the Virgin		Jane the Virgin	0.52
	winter	0.70		0.70	0.33			0.33	0.52
spring	Supergirl		Supergirl	Jane the Virgin		Jane the Virgin	0.46
	spring	0.64		0.64	0.28			0.28	0.46

Question: What gets the Supergirl lead-in?

After three years on Monday, it appears to be time for Jane the Virgin to head elsewhere. What replaces it kinda depends on what the network's second-best newbie option is; if it's heavily male-skewing, it could go to Wednesday while Legends of Tomorrow stops off here.

---

Tuesday

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
fall	The Flash		The Flash	No Tomorrow		No Tomorrow	0.73
	fall	1.16		1.16	0.30			0.30	0.73
winter	The Flash		The Flash	Legends of Tomorrow		Legends of Tomorrow	0.82
	winter	1.02		1.02	0.62			0.62	0.82
spring	The Flash		The Flash	iZombie		iZombie	0.64
	spring	0.96		0.96	0.32			0.32	0.64

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
fall	The Flash		The Flash	No Tomorrow		No Tomorrow	0.64
	fall	1.07		1.07	0.21			0.21	0.64
winter	The Flash		The Flash	Legends of Tomorrow		Legends of Tomorrow	0.75
	winter	0.95		0.95	0.54			0.54	0.75
spring	The Flash		The Flash	iZombie		iZombie	0.69
	spring	1.00		1.00	0.37			0.37	0.69

Question: What gets the Flash lead-in?

Legends of Tomorrow briefly made for a potent combination in the winter, but overall it was a disappointing year for post-Flash occupants, starting with the nonsensical No Tomorrow pairing and ending with a rehash of the almost-as-nonsensical iZombie pairing. The whole superhero empire looks more mortal than it did a year ago, so it is important that the CDub get it right here for once.

---

Wednesday

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
fall	Arrow		Arrow	Frequency		Frequency	0.52
	fall	0.74		0.74	0.30			0.30	0.52
winter	Arrow		Arrow	The 100		The 100	0.49
	winter	0.58		0.58	0.40			0.40	0.49
spring	Arrow		Arrow	The 100		The 100	0.40
	spring	0.50		0.50	0.30			0.30	0.40

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
fall	Arrow		Arrow	Frequency		Frequency	0.51
	fall	0.72		0.72	0.30			0.30	0.51
winter	Arrow		Arrow	The 100		The 100	0.50
	winter	0.58		0.58	0.42			0.42	0.50
spring	Arrow		Arrow	The 100		The 100	0.48
	spring	0.59		0.59	0.37			0.37	0.48

Question: What gets the Arrow lead-in?

The network has five potent pieces for four nights, which means there will be one lucky night that gets two of them. Unless there are two very male-skewing new choices, that night should probably be Wednesday. Arrow skews as male as The Flash but is much weaker and on a steeper decline. We're approaching the point where it could be asked whether local programming would be a better lead-in for a new show than Arrow. But again, the CDub can kick that issue down the road by plugging in Legends of Tomorrow (or, less likely, Supernatural) after Arrow.

---

Thursday

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
fall	Legends of Tomorrow		Legends of Tomorrow	Supernatural		Supernatural	0.68
	fall	0.70		0.70	0.65			0.65	0.68
winter	Supernatural		Supernatural	Riverdale		Riverdale	0.51
	winter	0.60		0.60	0.41			0.41	0.51
spring	Supernatural		Supernatural	Riverdale		Riverdale	0.42
	spring	0.52		0.52	0.32			0.32	0.42

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
fall	Legends of Tomorrow		Legends of Tomorrow	Supernatural		Supernatural	0.61
	fall	0.64		0.64	0.58			0.58	0.61
winter	Supernatural		Supernatural	Riverdale		Riverdale	0.51
	winter	0.62		0.62	0.41			0.41	0.51
spring	Supernatural		Supernatural	Riverdale		Riverdale	0.50
	spring	0.63		0.63	0.37			0.37	0.50

Question: Is there a better lead-in for Riverdale than Supernatural?

Riverdale hasn't been that impressive, but it should still come back in the fall with a good timeslot to get a clearer sense of what kind of player it'll be long term. The network definitely has a couple female-skewing options in development that could pair with it, but Supernatural has been paired with practically everything and would be fine to continue here. Especially if Riverdale actually adds genre elements?!?!

---

Friday

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
fall	The Vampire Diaries		The Vampire Diaries	Crazy Ex-Girlfriend		Crazy Ex-Girlfriend	0.29
	fall	0.37		0.37	0.20			0.20	0.29
winter	The Vampire Diaries		The Vampire Diaries	Crazy Ex-Girlfriend		Crazy Ex-Girlfriend	0.28
	winter	0.36		0.36	0.20			0.20	0.28
spring	The Originals		The Originals	Reign		Reign	0.27
	spring	0.33		0.33	0.20			0.20	0.27

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
fall	The Vampire Diaries		The Vampire Diaries	Crazy Ex-Girlfriend		Crazy Ex-Girlfriend	0.37
	fall	0.44		0.44	0.29			0.29	0.37
winter	The Vampire Diaries		The Vampire Diaries	Crazy Ex-Girlfriend		Crazy Ex-Girlfriend	0.37
	winter	0.45		0.45	0.28			0.28	0.37
spring	The Originals		The Originals	Reign		Reign	0.41
	spring	0.48		0.48	0.33			0.33	0.41

Question: Is Surrender Friday returning?

The last couple years will probably go down as a bit of a golden era in CW history, with the vampire empire still potent enough while the superheroes were ascending. But the days of the CW having enough depth to try to get good first-run ratings on all five nights are likely over again, for now. Unless the network has an incredible new class and wants to put newbies on each of the first three nights (leaving Legends of Tomorrow or Supernatural as a Friday possibility), we are likely headed for a reunion of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Jane the Virgin, which were on Monday two years ago.