Pasadena, Calif.--CW president Mark Pedowitz touted his network’s improved performance among male viewers and the maturation of his audience during an executive session Sunday at the TCA winter press tour.
“We’re a broadcaster, so it’s important that we have a variety of different shows,” Pedowitz said. “From our perspective, we’ve gone from 2010-11 having a 70-30 mix female to men to a 60-40. So we’ve successfully now over the last couple years brought men back to the fold, brought down our 18-34 audience. We grew a little older than we used to be.”
That aging of the network’s audience, Pedowitz said, has pleased his affiliates, echoing comments he made toB&Cin an interview in October.
The executive session followed an announcement that the network had renewed all eight of its scripted programs from its fall schedule, including new series The Flash and Jane the Virgin. Though the latter show has yielded the network’s first-ever Golden Globe nominations—for best comedy series and for best actress in a comedy—it has not yielded outsize ratings.
“As far as we’re concerned, Jane has actually performed,” Pedowitz said. “We didn’t have a very high bar, unfortunately, on Monday at 9.” Jane, he said, improved on its timeslot from last year. “It’s a quality show,” he added, “just give it time.”
Pedowitz also hinted at future programming plans. The network, already home to Arrow and Flash, is in the early stages of considering a third show based on a DC Comics superhero property. “We are having some preliminary discussions in terms of expanding the Flash-Arrow universe.”
(Producer Greg Berlanti later said in a joint panel for Arrow and The Flash that “very early talks” about a possible spinoff involving actor Brandon Routh’s character, the Atom, are happening.)
Pedowitz was also asked if the network would be interested in a new Star Trek series. “As a lifelong Star Trek fan, I would hope to have Star Trek on the CW.” He added, “At the moment it’s a feature film and I’ve heard no discussion about it going out as a TV show.”
Other highlights from the panel included:
• Pedowitz is “looking at” a half-hour comedy currently in development for digital platform CW Seed as a possible summer show for broadcast. Speaking to reporters after the session, he added that the network is close to acquiring a half-hour comedy from the U.K. for the summer.
• Pedowitz also said during the panel that he had “been pretty outspoken about wanting another Supernatural spinoff” and is hopeful that one will happen.
• Speaking during the panel about this season’s new shows such as Flash, Jane the Virgin and iZombie, “We purposefully last year wanted these shows to be brighter and funnier, because we wanted to zig when everyone was zagging.”
• Asked whether the upcoming season of Hart of Dixie, which was not one of the eight series renewed, would be its last, Pedowitz said, “Not necessarily. We believe we have to see the ratings.” The series begins a 10-episode fourth season Friday, Jan. 9.
• Post-panel, Pedowitz said of the renewed shows, “Not all of those shows will be back next fall.” Some, he said, will be held for midseason or summer to make room for new series in fall. “We had great luck this year launching two shows. So for development purposes, we will hopefully launch two new shows next fall.”
