An important aspect of The CW’s rebuilding has been the abundance of pre-sold titles, projects that have a certain amount of audience before one scene can be shot. The network has done well in finding genre titles that find their new aesthetic and production values, including Arrow and upcoming The Flash, but they’ve yet to find their own Pretty Little Liars, a soap based on a best-selling novel series that captures the imaginations, eyes, and Twitter accounts of a large swath of young women. While The Carrie Diaries might not have been the commercial success that the network had been looking for, its low-key earnestness and lack of salacious plot twists keeping it from exploding on social media, it was the closest thing The CW had to a soap franchise and that’s not something to give up when they’ve shown no interest in cultivating non-genre programming. Keeping The Carrie Diaries would have allowed The CW to have a prime example of their continued commitment to this type of project and of their forward thinking when it comes to monetizing content; Carrie might not have had the on-air success that the network wanted, but for The CW to throw away a strong digital audience that isn’t getting served by other outlets shows that while they might talk a good game about how they’re ahead of their broadcast brethren in terms of valuing online numbers, they’re still tethered to the traditional ways of supporting and evaluating content.

Not only would keeping The Carrie Diaries have shown The CW’s loyalty to an impressive, recognizable brand, it would have allowed the network to have more non-genre content to play with. Currently, the network is left with a downsized Hart of Dixie, which will have to deal with star Rachel Bilson’s pregnancy and its own dwindling ratings, and telenovela-inspired Jane the Virgin, which will be facing the tough task of airing with an incompatible lead-in on a traditionally tough night for the network, if you’re looking for shows without a supernatural presence. Reign‘s flirtation with the supernatural in the form of Clarissa likely helped it foster an audience from a weakened Vampire Diaries, while a second season that doesn’t exactly sound like a costume drama should keep it from sticking out from the rest of the network’s offerings, something that Hart of Dixie and Jane the Virgin won’t be able to say come October. Had The CW ordered another season of The Carrie Diaries, Jane could have found a more hospitable home than its potentially rough Monday time slot, while Hart might have had a stronger chance at securing itself a fifth season if there were other shows of its ilk to pair it with, thereby keeping non-genre content as a vital piece of The CW schedule and allowing the network to not just pay lip service to the idea of having a balanced schedule. Without Carrie, though, Fridays have turned into a home for cheap unscripted programming (America’s Next Top Model, Whose Line is it Anyway), repeats, and low-rated dramas that won’t do as much damage to the schedule (Hart of Dixie, potentially Beauty and the Beast), while the rest of the week is filled to the brim with science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

In a lot of ways, the schedule The CW has put out is an inverse of the oft-derided Dawn Ostroff era, where genre content was confined to the Friday night ghetto while glamorous primetime soaps littered the friendlier weeknights, and they’re facing the possibility of overcompensating for that period of their existence and hurting themselves in the end. Granted, genre programming has effectively broadened out The CW’s audience and made them a network more critics are able to freely admit they watch, as well as the fact that other broadcast networks have specific niches they cater to (e.g. ABC and primetime soaps/family comedies, CBS and crime procedurals/multi-cam comedy), but The CW is effectively teaching fans of a certain type of programming that they’re not welcome anymore. Through their programming and development choices, they’re cutting off a certain segment of their potential audience and keeping their network from having as diverse a viewership as it could; the cancellation of something as self-assured and well-regarded as The Carrie Diaries, which came into existence with a fairly broad audience already, is a signal to those who create and consume non-genre content that The CW has turned a corner, that nothing lacking superheroes or supernatural entities will be given the support and time necessary to gain a following. With faith in how The CW handles their soapier content falling as a result of their treatment of The Carrie Diaries, Hart of Dixie, and so forth, fans of that type of content will be less likely to invest their time and energy into new CW soaps, which will lead to more cancellations and the eventual secession of non-genre content on the network. Effectively, The CW has killed a whole side of its identity and turned itself into a niche cable network, a Syfy-lite whose standard for success will have to shift if there is any meaningful dip in its number of female viewers.

The Carrie Diaries was an intelligent, earnest teen drama in a television landscape where programming aimed at young people has to be bigger, louder, and more explosive in order to gain a foothold. It told stories that aren’t seen on television today and approached sexuality as thoughtfully and naturally as can be, which makes the way it was mishandled by The CW all the more disappointing. By moving the show to Fridays, airing it through the month of December, and not giving it anything resembling a lead-out or promotion, The CW destroyed their best chance at having a soap franchise and allowed one of their best reviewed series to wither away to nothing, all due to network/studio politics and the idea that dramas that don’t take place in a heightened reality aren’t the best fit for them at this time. The network might be on a high right now, and surely will find success with The Flash next season considering that their entire fall schedule is built around launching the Grant Gustin-fronted drama, but eventually, the bottom will drop out of their genre-heavy schedule and it’ll make the loss of shows like The Carrie Diaries, full of potential that the network wasn’t able to see, all the more difficult to bear.

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-Renowned statistician Nate Silver has moved from the New York Times to ESPN in a role said to be multi-faceted. Included in his list of duties is serving as editor-in-chief of FiveThirtyEight.com, which will add a team of journalists, editors, analysts, and contributors in the coming months, and television contribution to the likes of Keith Olbermann”s new show Olbermann and ABC News.

-International recording artist Labrinth will be performing “Beneath Your Beautiful,” his single with Emeli Sande, July 24th on America”s Got Talent. The song hit the top spot in the UK and Ireland, went Top 10 in twenty countries, and has almost 52 million VEVO views.

-Yet another cable net is throwing its hat into the increasingly difficult scripted arena, as WE tv ordered The Divide to series today. From Oscar nominee Richard LaGravanese (Behind the Candleabra, The Fisher King) and co-created by Tony Goldwyn (Scandal), the one-hour drama follows a woman with The Innocence Initiative who works on having an inmate released that she believes was wrongly convicted of murder. Along the way, she tangles with a morally gray district attorney and how her past has colored her present viewpoint. Once in contention for a pickup from AMC, the series will star Marin Ireland (Homeland), Damon Gupton (Prime Suspect), Clarke Peters (Treme), and Paul Schneider (Parks and Recreation).

-In addition to the pickup of The Divide, WE announced three scripted series in development: All American Woman, which follows three generations of women whose lives unfold against the backdrop of a magazine; Dirty, where a financier is forced to live and work with her maid; and Headhunters, examining women”s attempts to confront the ambiguity and conflicting choices that surround their lives today.

-According to Deadline, ABC has The Assets for 2014. Based on the book Circle of Treason: A CIA Account of Traitor Aldrich Ames and the Men He Betrayed by Sandra Grimes and Jeanne Vertefeuille, the series will “look inside the true, personal stories of the conclusion of the Cold War as told by the keepers of the nation’s secrets: the CIA.”

-Casting news: True Blood alum Michelle Forbes has joined the second season of Chicago Fire as a consultant with the State Fire Marshal”s Office; Heather Graham and Ellen Burstyn are the first actors cast in Lifetime”s upcoming Flowers in the Attic telepic (yes, that Flowers in the Attic); due to the unavailability of Tom Ellis, Once Upon a Time has named Sean Maguire their new Robin Hood; Oscar nominee Terrence Howard has become the latest member of the Wayward Pines cast, joining Carla Gugino, Toby Jones, and Melissa Leo in the adaptation of the best-selling thriller.

-IFC has officially renewed Maron for an expanded second season. Moving from 10 to 13 episodes, the series, which follows writer/comedian/podcast host Marc Maron, returns in 2014.

-TVLand has given comedy The Exes 10 additional episodes, as it”s pacing 9% above its prior season average and up 130% versus TV Land”s  primetime average among its key demo of Adults 25-54. The show currently airs Wednesdays at 10:30.

–Jericho, Swingtown, and Wolf Lake are all available to stream on CBS.com as a part of the network”s Second Look feature this summer. The first follows residents of a small Kansas town dealing with the aftermath of a nuclear disaster, while the second is a period drama that follows swingers of the 1970s and the last takes place in a Pacific Northwest town populated by werewolves.

-The CW has released the first image of Lindsey Gort as a young Samantha Jones, who she”ll be playing on the upcoming season of The Carrie Diaries. There”s no word yet as to how she”s introduced or what type of role she”ll play in her future best friend”s life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACYhk-4fPq0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Xxk8eWhRM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nElW74hHwo

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The strategy of waiting until later to premiere their shows worked fairly well for The CW and helped Arrow become the type of building block needed to sustain the network. While the wait can allow people to already set their viewing habits, it reduced the amount of reruns the serial-heavy channel had to air and allowed them to have a certain marketing space all to themselves in which to launch their series. This season in particular should be a test for The CW, since their fall schedule is vastly different than where they were last season and could either pop thanks to the reshuffling or fizzle due to the movement. The network’s midseason series, post-apocalyptic The 100 and fantasy romance Star-Crossed, have yet to be schedule, while the finale of America’s Next Top Model: Guys and Girls has yet to be announced. The Tyra Banks-hosted reality-competition debuts on Friday, August 2nd at 8:00.

You can check out The CW’s fall 2013 schedule here, as well as trailers and previews for each of its new series here, here, and here.

Which CW series will you be watching next season? Should the network continue to delay the start of its season to October? Will any of the new CW shows breakout the way Arrow did last season?

Monday, October 7th
8:00 Hart of Dixie
9:00 Beauty and the Beast

Wednesday, October 9th
8:00 Arrow
9:00 The Tomorrow People

Thursday, October 10th
8:00 The Vampire Diaries
9:00 Reign

Tuesday, October 15th
8:00 The Originals
9:00 Supernatural

Friday, October 25th
8:00 The Carrie Diaries

The post The CW Announces Fall 2013 Premiere Dates appeared first on TVHackr.

Listed below are the dates, titles, and descriptions of the final two episodes in this season of The Carrie Diaries.

Monday, April 1st – “A First Time for Everything”
When Carrie (AnnaSophia Robb) inadvertently complicates things with Sebastian (Austin Butler), she tries to fix it by taking him to Madonna’s “The Virgin Tour” launch party – but in her quest for the perfect night, only makes things worse. Despite Mouse’s (Ellen Wong) best efforts to avoid West (guest star RJ Brown), she can’t seem to deny the romantic sparks flying between them. Dorrit (Stefania Owen) turns to Donna LaDonna (Chloe Bridges) for advice about her budding love life. Meanwhile, Tom (Matt Letscher) has an awkward encounter when he spends the night somewhere new.

Monday, April 8th – “Kiss Yesterday Goodbye”
Carrie is happy going to her junior prom, but when hidden secrets are revealed plans begin to change. Dorrit is determined to take her relationship with Miller (guest star Evan Crooks) to the next level, but things hit a bump along the way. For the first time in her life, Mouse decides to defy her parents to date whom she wants. Tom begins to struggle with sneaking around, especially when he thinks someone might be on to him. Elsewhere, Larissa (Freema Agyeman) makes Carrie and Walt (Brendan Dooling) an enticing offer.

The Carrie Diaries airs Mondays at 8:00 on The CW.

What type of offer do you think Larissa will make Carrie and Walt? Should Dorrit already be concerning herself with going to the next level with a boy? Are Carrie and Sebastian bound for a breakup by the end of the season?

The post The Carrie Diaries Spoilers: Larissa Makes Carrie an Offer appeared first on TVHackr.

The other major move that The CW announced is that 90210 will be put on hiatus for March 18th until April 8th before its final run of episodes. Taking the show’s spot is Hart of Dixie, which will air repeats after the last four episodes of The Carrie Diaries; the latter wraps up its first season before Oh Sit! premieres on April 15th. This could be a major factor in deciding the fall schedule and which bubble shows are renewed for another season. Carrie hasn’t popped in the ratings paired with 90210, while Hart has yet to break out after airing with Gossip Girl and DOA Emily Owens M.D., so putting both with their closest tonal match could help them secure places on the network next season. If the night underwhelms, however, at least one could be in trouble.

You can check out the recently announced CW season finale dates here,  as well as a full recap of the scheduling moves below.

Did The CW make a wise decision in giving the Tuesdays at 9:00 timeslot to America’s Next Top Model? Will The Carrie Diaries do better with Hart of Dixie as a leadout? How do you expect the CW fall schedule to look?

Tuesdays (March 5-March 26)
8:00/7:00c – Hart of Dixie
9:00/8:00c – Beauty and the Beast (Repeats)

Tuesdays (as of April 2)
8:00/7:00c – Hart of Dixie
9:00/8:00c – America’s Next Top Model: College Edition (Repeats)

Mondays (March 4-March 11)
8:00/7:00c – The Carries Diaries
9:00/8:00c – 90210

Mondays (March 18-April 8)
8:00/7:00c – The Carries Diaries
9:00/8:00c – Hart of Dixie (Repeats)

Mondays (April 15-May 13)
8:00/7:00c – Oh Sit! (New Season)
9:00/8:00c – 90210

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Although the launch of the fall season is where the networks trot out their biggest and brightest ideas in search of the almighty (advertising) dollar and the increasingly illusive live viewer, midseason has become the preferable time of the TV season in recent years. With premieres being staggered throughout the early months of the new year and several shows each year penciled in as future network staples, it’s a much less overwhelming time for the TV fan and a way for each of the big four to focus on continuing their momentum or righting the ship after a weak fall. While the biggest recent breakout hits have all debuted during fall and instantly secured their place on the schedule, midseason has provided several key players that are just as, if not more, important to their respective homes.

In the coming months, there will be countless new shows from networks of all shapes and hues vying for attention in a crowded landscape. Rather than trying to highlight every promising offering throughout television, of which there are many, I selected five shows that I’m anticipating, either for what they could do creatively or for what they might be able to do for their network.

The Carrie Diaries (The CW)
Premiere Date: Monday, January 14th
Who’s in it: AnnaSophia Robb, Austin Butler, Matt Letscher, Ellen Wong, and Katie Findlay
Central Premise: pre-Sex Carrie Bradsaw. Also, the ’80’s!
Why I’m Excited: The CW recently said goodbye to Gossip Girl and it looks like they’re turning to Carrie Bradshaw to give them their next breakout hit soap. The Carrie Diaries, based on the book of the same title, is a prequel to Sex and the City and follows the title character as a teenager growing up in Connecticut in the ’80’s. Following the death of her mother, she gets an internship in the city at a law office, but after a chance encounter at a department store, her life will never be the same again – for the better. It should be interesting to see how well star AnnaSophia Robb channels the iconic New York fashionista’s early years and how much of the Sex Carrie is visible during The Carrie Diaries; if the show manages to find an audience, we might get the chance to explore aspects of the character that didn’t even the most ardent Sex fan didn’t know about.

Red Widow (ABC)
Premiere Date: Sunday, March 3rd
Who’s in it: Radha Mitchell, Goran Visnjic, Lee Tergesen, Clifton Collins Jr., and Jaime Ray Newman
Central Premise: Mob Revenge.
Why I’m Excited: 666 Park Avenue didn’t work out for ABC earlier this season, so there’ll be a new lead-out for their Sunday night line-up in Red Widow. An adaptation of Dutch series Penoza, Red Widow follows mob wife Marta as she infiltrates the organization that killed her husband looking for revenge. Makes sense that it follows Revenge, then, right? On the back of an expectantly huge Oscar ad campaign, the likes of which gave Scandal the ratings for renewal last season, the show looks to fuse the near-constant cultural fascination with all things mafioso (The Godfather, The Sopranos, Mob Wives) and the buzz from Revenge in order to become the next big ABC drama. However, it might turn out to be too much revenge for one night of programming.

Vikings (History)
Premiere Date: Sunday, March 3rd
Who’s in it: Travis Fimmel, Gabriel Byrne, Jessalyn Gilsig, Clive Standen, and Katheryn Winnick
Central Premise: A restless young warrior seeks life beyond what he knows.
Why I’m Excited: Television has seen period pieces ranging from ancient Rome to an advertising agency in the 1960’s, but there’s yet to be a series based on vikings or taking place in the time period they reigned supreme. That all changes with History’s first attempt at scripted programming following the raging success of Hatfields & McCoys, Vikings. From Michael Hirst (creator of The Tudors, producer of The Borgias), the show follows young warrior Ragnar as he attempts to explore places no one in his tribe has had the courage to go and fulfill his potential as a person and as a warrior. The TV landscape has expanded in recent years, with countless networks finding their niche in scripted shows, and if Vikings manages to succeed, it may cement the History Channel as a network to look out for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TrAGIcfKX8

The Americans (FX)
Premiere Date: Wednesday, January 30th
Who’s in it: Matthew Rhys, Keri Russell, Noah Emmerich, Keidrich Sellati, and Holly Taylor
Central Premise: Sleeper agents in love.
Why I’m Excited: FX attempts to capture a little Homeland magic with The Americans, an espionage period piece set in the early ’80’s and centering on an arranged marriage between two KGB sleeper agents. While they have to complete missions and keep their true identities under wraps, especially from the FBI agent living next door, the two begin to genuinely fall for one another and contemplate whether or not they want to remain in their current profession. In addition to featuring the return of Keri Russell to dramatic television, The Americans welcomes Emmy winner (and FX alum) Margo Martindale to the fold for at least eight episodes, a coup for a show that is likely to bring the paranoid tension and complicated emotion in spades.

Enlightened (HBO)
Premiere Date: Sunday, January 13th
Who’s in it: Laura Dern, Mike White, Luke Wilson, Diane Ladd, and Timm Sharp
Central Premise: A former corporate  buyer fighting back against her employer.
Why I’m Excited: One of my favorite shows of 2011, Enlightened returns from a year-long hiatus with a new direction, intriguing guest stars (Dermot Mulroney and Molly Shannon), and a time slot that could gain it the audience it lacked during season one. Amy’s cause, bringing down Abaddonn for the environmental crimes they committed in the name of profit, is gaining steam and now that she has multiple people on her team, she might be able to become the agent of change she desires to be. However, the company won’t exactly acquiesce to her demands that easily and with the possibility of love clouding her once crystal clear focus on social justice, Amy will have to be mindful of the pushback that will come before any progress gets made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIrvjTefw0g

The post 5 Midseason 2013 Shows I’m Anticipating appeared first on TVHackr.

Considering that The CW has been having problems with its Monday night line-up this season, it’s a fairly smart move not to rely on 90210 to give The Carrie Diaries a big enough lead-in to survive. They launched Arrow this season in the 8:00 this season and their biggest hit, The Vampire Diaries, debuted at 8:00 during its first season, so history is actually on their side here.

Set in 1984, The Carrie Diaries follows Sex and the City heroine Carrie Bradshaw in her journey through the horrors of high school. Her relationship with her little sister is strained and the death of their mother is only making things worse between them, while her father isn’t always as active in their lives as he could be and her mind is constantly imagining the great life waiting for her beyond the walls of suburban Connecticut. But once she gets a chance to intern in New York City, the future writer gets a chance to experience everything she always dreamed of.

And then some.

The show stars AnnaSophia Robb, Stefania Owen, Ellen Wong, Katie Findlay, Chloe Bridges, and Austin Butler, among others.

The other major CW mid-season move had already been announced, as Nikita will be moving to 8:00 on Fridays, the slot that it occupied all of last season. The spy/action drama had been airing its third season at 9:00 following the 19th cycle of America’s Next Top Model. That show will be airing its fall finale on November 16th and Nikita will assume its time slot on November 30th, paired with Arrow repeats at 9:00.

Do you think that The CW made the right decision in flipping The Carrie Diaries and 90210? Will the Nikita time slot flip work out and create more opportunity for the show to survive? Where would you schedule Cult?

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