Click here for complete coverage of the 2011 upfronts
The CW ordered four new series for the fall TV season --
three dramas and one reality show -- and scheduled returning One Tree Hill and
two more alternative series for midseason, according to the schedule network executives announced May 19.
The schedule reflects new CW President Mark Pedowitz's priority to feature more original programming season-long. All three new dramas will air at 9 to benefit from the
lead-out of an established series. Gossip Girl moves back an hour on Mondays to
launch Hart of Dixie, 90210 shifts up at night to lead into Ringer on
Tuesdays, and The Secret Circle will follow The CW's highest-rated series, The
Vampire Diaries, on Thursdays.
The common themes in a couple of the new series lent well to
the piggyback scheduling. Medical dramedy Hart of Dixie is from Stephanie
Savage and Josh Schwartz, executive producers of Gossip Girl. The series stars
Rachel Bilson (The O.C.) as a fish-out-of-water New York doctor who inherits a
small medical practice in Alabama.
Secret Circle is also a perfect companion to Vampire Diaries
-- both are based on book series by L.J. Smith and executive produced by Kevin
Williamson. Secret Circle is about a girl who moves to a new town after the
death of her mother and discovers she's part of a coven of powerful witches.
In a big get for The CW, Sarah Michelle Gellar will return
to series television in Ringer, about
a woman on the run who assumes the identity of her wealthy identical twin
sister. Gellar starred in Buffy the Vampire Slayer for seven seasons on The
CW's predecessor networks, The WB and UPN. Ringer was originally developed for CBS, which owns half of The CW.
Action thriller Nikita
will move to Fridays for its second season as the lead-in to Supernatural.
Wednesday becomes a reality block with new reality series H8R hosted by Mario Lopez, in which
celebrities will try to win over their civilian "haters," paired with the
all-star edition of America's Next Top
Model. Two new reality entries will premiere in midseason, -- Re-Modeled,
which follows modeling industry vet Paul Fischer as he seeks to give small
agencies more leverage through a new venture called The Network; and The Frame,
where 10 teams of two will live in a single room for up to eight weeks and face
challenges and eliminations.
Also in midseason, One
Tree Hill return for its ninth and final season. CW execs are looking to
get some of the original cast members that have since left the series -- like Chad
Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton -- to return for some of the remaining 13
episodes.
THE CW's 2011-2012 PRIMETIME SCHEDULE(New shows in CAPS)
MONDAY
8 pm Gossip Girl
9 pm HART OF DIXIE
TUESDAY
8 pm 90210
9 pm RINGER
WEDNESDAY
8 pm H8R
9 pm America's Next Top Model
THURSDAY
8 pm The Vampire Diaries
9 pm THE SECRET CIRCLE
FRIDAY
8 pm Nikita
9 pm Supernatural
