Following a season that launched three successful shows, The CW will premiere just one new series this fall.
Comedy Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (which was initially developed at Showtime) will be the lone newcomer on the network’s schedule, airing in front of one of this season’s breakouts Jane the Virgin. The CW released its fall schedule on Thursday morning, which includes the relocations of veteran shows Reign and The Originals.
During a conference call with reporters, CW president Mark Pedowitz described Crazy Ex-Girlfriend as “the perfect companion piece” for Jane the Virgin, making Mondays a comedy-heavy night. With the series being originally set up with Showtime, Pedowitz said “some modest language changes” were made, along with expanding it to an hour (the Showtime pilot was only a half-hour).
The CW will take a page out of ABC’s playbook and hand its Thursday lineup to Julie Plec, whose The Originals will air alongside the show it was spun off from, The Vampire Diaries. With Vampire’s star Nina Dobrev exiting the show, Pedowitz said the focus would return to the two male stars Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley, saying the show could run for many years to come, noting that the longrunning Supernatural features two male leads whose characters are brothers.
Reign will make the move to Fridays and run with America’s Next Top Model. Pedowitz explained the move from Reign, which struggled on Thursdays this season, was done to get it away from ABC’s Scandal; Pedowitz also described Reign as an older-skewing show, which made it a better fit on Fridays. “We creatively believe in the show.”
Midseason entry iZombie will return in the fall at the same time, airing behind another rookie breakout in The Flash. Wednesdays will stay the same with Arrow and Supernatural. Though Supernatural is going into its 11th season, Pedowitz has no intention of ending the show.
“As long as the ratings hold and the boys want to do it, we’re in,” he said. “We have no intention of this being the last season.” He continued that conversations for a possible spinoff are still going on.
The CW will hold its newest DC Comics-inspired series Legends of Tomorrow and new drama Containment (formerly Cordon) for midseason, along with returning drama The 100.
Pedowitz likened Legends of Tomorrow – which will star characters from both The Flash and Arrow – to The Dirty Dozen, since it features both heroes and villains banding together. Since Legends exists in the same universe as the other two DC Comics series, Pedowitz said they will look for crossover events between the three series when appropriate.
Pedowitz shot down any speculation that The CW would save NBC’s canceled Constantine (another DC Comics based series), saying it’s just a rumor. "There's also a rumor going around that I was going to go play at the NBA.”
THE CW’s 2015-2016 PRIMETIME SCHEDULE
MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND (New Series)
9:00-10:00 PM JANE THE VIRGIN
TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM THE FLASH
9:00-10:00 PM IZOMBIE
WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM ARROW
9:00-10:00 PM SUPERNATURAL
THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
9:00-10:00 PM THE ORIGINALS (New Night)
FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM REIGN (New Night)
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL
