When the fall season starts, the CW network will have a new night, new line-ups and new ambitions … but not, at first, many new scripted shows.
Those will come at mid-season, when things are quieter. For fall, CW will mostly re-shuffle. It will go from six nights to seven, but will mainly re-arrange current shows (even “Riverdale,” shown here, gets a new night) and offer new versions of two games – “Killer Camp” and “Legends of the Hidden Temple.”
The lone new drama, “4400,” is a reboot of an idea that had four cable seasons: In one burst, 4,400 missing people re-appear (this time, in Detroit), without having aged and with no idea what happened.
Two other dramas will debut later: In “Naomi,” a teen comic-book fan senses she has a supernatural destiny. In “All American: Homecoming,” young athletes navigate life at a historically black college.
Beyond that, CW is mostly re-arranging. It’s teen-crimesolver night, for instance, is breaking up. Now “Riverdale” will be on Tuesdays, behind “The Flash”; “Nancy Drew” will be on Fridays, behind, oddly, “Penn & Teller: Fool Us.”
The CW line-up arrives a week after bigger networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox) set theirs; it includes:
– Sundays: Two adventure games, adapting previous versions. “Legends of the Hidden Temple” (8 p.m.) was a kids’ show on Nickelodeon; now it will have grown-ups. “Killer Camp” (9) adapts a British show that CW aired last summer: As their bunkmates are “killed” one by one, campers try to avoid extinction while figuring out which person is a mole, helping the “killer.”
– Mondays: “All American” stays at 8 p.m., with the “4400” reboot debuting at 9.
– Tuesdays: “The Flash” stays at 8, with “Riverdale” moving to the night, at 9.
– Wednesdays: Comic-book heroes take over the night, with “Legends of Tomorrow” at 8 p.m. and “Batwoman” at 9.
– Thursdays: This is the only unchanged night, with “Walker” at 8 and “Legacies” at 9.
– Fridays: “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” at 8 p.m., with “Nancy Drew” at 9.
– Saturdays: The network’s new night will be modest, with shows that used to be confined to Fridays – “Whose Line Is It Anyway” at 8 and 8:30 p.m., “World’s Funniest Animals” at 9 and 9:30.
– Mid-season: In addition to the new shows (“Naomi” and “All American: Homecoming”), CW will also return “Kung Fu,” “Charmed” and “Superman & Lois.” However, “Black Lightning” has already finished its final season and “Supergirl” will conclude this summer.
Also, this summer includes a couple of full-budget shows (“Republic of Sarah” and “Stargirl”), alongside less-expensive pick-ups from other English-speaking countries.