The CW wrapped up network Upfront week this morning by presenting its schedule for Fall 2009. And it's about what was expected, especially after the first photos leaked out yesterday: the three new series in the Fall lineup are Vampire Diaries, the Melrose Place reboot, and The Beautiful Life.
In terms of scheduling, Melrose will air on Tuesdays after 90210 (remake city!), while Beautiful Life gets the post-America's Next Top Model slot on Wednesdays (model city!). On Thursdays, the CW is breaking up its duo of Smallville and Supernatural to make way for Vampire Diaries; Vampire gets Smallville's old slot, while Smallville moves to Fridays.
For midseason, the network ordered the drama now being called Parental Discretion Advised (formerly known as Light Years, among other titles), which was apparently in a fierce battle with the Minka Kelly/Jason Dohring show Body Politic as late as Wednesday. It's a no-go for the Gossip Girl spinoff (update — at least for now, though it may still be a possibility for midseason), a third season of Reaper, a second season of Privileged, and all of the CW's comedies.
I'll have videos to share later today, but for now, to see the full schedule and the network's descriptions of its new shows, just read more.
MONDAY
8 p.m. Gossip Girl
9 p.m. One Tree Hill
TUESDAY
8 p.m. 90210
9 p.m. Melrose Place
WEDNESDAY
8 p.m. America's Next Top Model
9 p.m. The Beautiful Life
THURSDAY
8 p.m. The Vampire Diaries
9 p.m. Supernatural
FRIDAY
8 p.m. Smallville
9 p.m. America's Next Top Model repeats
The New Shows
Melrose Place — In an elegant Spanish-style apartment building in the trendy Melrose neighborhood of Los Angeles, a diverse group of 20-somethings have formed a close-knit surrogate family. Sydney Andrews (Laura Leighton, the original Melrose Place) is the landlady, still beautiful at 40, and a central figure in the lives of all her tenants, especially handsome and rebellious David Breck (Shaun Sipos, Shark). Sydney started an affair with David despite her turbulent history with his estranged father, Dr. Michael Mancini (Thomas Calabro, the original Melrose Place). Both father and son learned through experience that Sydney was not above using blackmail to control people. Another tenant, high-powered publicist Ella Simms (Katie Cassidy, Supernatural), once considered Sydney her mentor, but their friendship was destroyed by betrayal, and Sydney threatened to evict Ella and ruin her career. Sydney also played a pivotal role in the career of Auggie Kirkpatrick (Colin Egglesfield, All My Children). After they met at an AA meeting, she became Auggie's sponsor and encouraged his dream to become a chef. Now a successful sous chef at the trendy restaurant Coal, Auggie has been avoiding Sydney since she began drinking again. The other tenants include Lauren Yung (Stephanie Jacobsen, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), a medical student in desperate need of money to pay her student loans, and Jonah Miller (Michael Rady, Swingtown), an aspiring filmmaker who has just proposed to his live-in girlfriend Riley Richmond (Jessica Lucas, Cloverfield), a first-grade teacher. The newest tenant, 18-year-old Violet Foster (Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, 7th Heaven), has just arrived in LA with her own secret connection to Sydney. When a bloody body is found floating in the courtyard pool, David is the leading suspect. However, as the police are soon to discover, almost everyone living at Melrose Place had a reason to want the deceased out of the way. An updated version of the popular 1990s series, Melrose Place is from CBS Television Studios with executive producers Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer (Smallville). Oscar-winner Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) is the director and executive producer of the pilot.
The Beautiful Life — The life of a high-fashion model appears glamorous and sexy, but as every new model quickly learns, behind the beautiful faade is a world of insecurity and cutthroat competition. Two teenage models who are about to discover this world for themselves are Raina Collins (Sara Paxton, Last House on the Left), a stunning beauty with a secret past, and Chris Andrews (Benjamin Hollingsworth, The Line), a strikingly handsome Iowa farm boy. When Raina makes an unforgettable impression at a show introducing the new line from designer Zac Posen (appearing in a cameo role), she steals the spotlight from her friend Sonja (Mischa Barton, The O.C.). Sonja has been out of the country for mysterious reasons and is now desperate to reclaim her standing as the reigning supermodel. While Raina and Sonja live at the top of the fashion food chain, Chris is starting at the bottom, having just been discovered by agent Simon Lockridge (newcomer Dusan Dukic) of the Covet Modeling Agency, which is owned by former supermodel Claudia Foster (Elle Macpherson). At his first photo shoot, Chris's inexperience almost derails his career until Raina comes to his rescue, showing him how to relax and work the camera. That afternoon, Raina brings Chris to the "models' residence" where she lives along with other young hopefuls, including Marissa Delfina (Ashley Madekwe, Secret Diary of a Call Girl), Egan (Jordan Woolley, As The World Turns), Issac (Corbin Bleu, High School Musical 2) and the current alpha-male-model known as Kai (Nico Tortorella, Twelve). At an exclusive industry party that night, Chris is again impressed by Raina's generosity when she steps aside to make sure Sonja lands a job that will resurrect her career. However, after an ugly scene with Simon, Chris is left to question whether he can survive in this world of dangerous excess and fleeting fame. The Beautiful Life is from Katalyst Films in association with CBS Television Studios and Warner Bros. Television with executive producers Ashton Kutcher & Jason Goldberg (True Beauty, Punk'd), Karey Burke (True Beauty), Mike Kelley (Swingtown, Jericho) and Carol Barbee (Swingtown, Jericho). Christian Duguay (Coco Chanel) directed the pilot.
Vampire Diaries — Four months after the tragic car accident that killed their parents, 17-year-old Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev, DeGrassi: The Next Generation) and her 15-year-old brother, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen, Everwood) are still trying to cope with their grief and move on with their lives. Elena has always been the star student, beautiful, popular and involved with school and friends, but now she finds herself struggling to hide her sadness from the world. As the school year begins, Elena and her friends are fascinated by a handsome and mysterious new student, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley, Army Wives). Stefan and Elena are immediately drawn to one another, and Elena has no way of knowing that Stefan is a centuries-old vampire, struggling to live peacefully among humans, while his brother Damon (Ian Somerhalder, Lost) is the embodiment of vampire violence and brutality. Now these two vampire brothers — one good, one evil — are at war for Elena's soul and for the souls of her friends, family and all the residents of the small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. Based on the series of books by L. J. Smith, The Vampire Diaries is from Alloy Entertainment and Bonanza Productions Inc in association with Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios with executive producers Kevin Williamson (Dawson's Creek, I Know What You Did Last Summer), Julie Plec (Kyle XY, Wasteland), Leslie Morgenstein (Gossip Girl, Privileged) and Bob Levy (Gossip Girl, Privileged). Marcos Siega (Dexter) directed the pilot.
Parental Discretion Advised — After spending all of her 15 years bouncing from one foster family to another in Portland, Oregon, Lux (Britt Robertson, Swingtown) has decided it's time to take control of her life and become an emancipated minor. Her journey through the legal maze leads Lux to her biological father, 30-something Nate "Baze" Bazile (Kristoffer Polaha, Mad Men), who owns a bar, lives like an aging frat-boy with two slacker roommates, and is astonished to learn that he has a teenage daughter. Lux is equally astonished when Baze reveals that her mother is Cate Cassidy (Shiri Appleby, ER), a star on the local Morning Madness radio show, along with her on-air partner and real-life boyfriend, Ryan Thomas (Kerr Smith, Eli Stone). Lux has been listening to Cate's voice on the radio as long as she can remember, so she feels an instant connection with the mom she's never met. Baze takes Lux to meet Cate, who is shocked and saddened to learn that Lux has grown up in foster care, but thrilled to finally meet her beautiful daughter. When a judge decides that Lux isn't ready for emancipation and unexpectedly grants temporary joint custody to Baze and Cate, they agree to try to get past the awkwardness and make a belated attempt to give Lux the family she deserves. Parental Discretion Advised is produced by Mojo Films in association with CBS Television Studios and Warner Bros. Television with executive producers Liz Tigelaar (Brothers and Sisters, What About Brian) and Gary Fleder (October Road). Gary Fleder directed the pilot.
Photos courtesy of The CW
Bertie
I can't believe they canceled The Game. There are no longer any television shows on TV on a major network that feature a primarily all African-American cast. This just really makes me sad and upset.
I'm also sad about the demise of Privileged. I liked that show a lot.
1sooo....body politic is not happening? i miss jason dohring!
2I wanted the GG spin off! Boo!
3Seriously!They canceled the The Game and Everybody Hates Chris! Why would they do that! They merged the WB and UPN, FOR WHAT! The UPN shows were gone in less than 2 years!Absolutely Ridiculous! Anyone remember Veronica Mars?Girlfriends? I am not African American but it also make me sad and upset that the primarily all African-American casts are gone.
4Anon you are so right! I am African-American and it pisses me off. No offense, but how many shows about over privileged white teenagers (Gossip Girl, 90210, Melrose Place) do you need to have on one network. And to cancel both The Game and Everybody Hates Chris at the same time was just insulting.
5No more Privileged????
6Glad I'm not the only reeling on the cancellation of Everybody Hates Chris AND The Game!
I am also upset over the loss Reaper.
I wish the CW would stop reviving these Aaron Spelling dramas...you had original quality programs and basically crapped on them. Oh well...another station I can officially put on BLOCK!
7How can they pass on Minka and Jason? I would have given their show a chance, regardless of the story. However, these shows have no such draw for me: pass, pass, pass, and pass.
8EH actually Body Politic had two black actors and one hispanic actor, you could see clip of the pilot in internet !!
9Dawn Ostroff and CW are almost finished : the dead is next year !!
I WANT PRIVILEGED!!!!!!!
10I am so glad to know there are other people who are upset about The Game being canceled.I watched it every Friday night.I hate that the CW canceled it.
11Boo! They should have renewed Privileged!
12When I watched the "finale" of the Game and saw the end wiht Derwin's voice over, I knew it was gone...I wasn't surprised when it was cancelled, just when things were getting good again!
13Any Reaper fans? Although the CW is not picking up Reaper, we not giving up yet. Hollywood Reporter is STILL saying ABC Studios is still trying to move the show into syndication or cable. We're advocating all Reaper fans to write their CW affiliates. All links and info here: http://community.livejournal.com/reaperdmv/44208.html And don't forget to contact ABC Studios and thank them for not giving up on Reaper.
14SexyNeverLeft, I know! When I saw the finale I figured that it was the end. Although they didn't tie anything up really, there were no real cliffhangers and esp. since Derwin and Melanie got married I was like oh this is the end. But yeah things were getting good again and there is so much that the writers could have done with another season. It just makes me so mad. I was such a Girlfriends fan and when they canceled that (allegedly b/c of the writer's strike) I was heartbroken but at least there was some "legitimate" excuse not to bring it back--it was the last season anyway, too much to produce, etc. Even with Everybody Hates Chris there was talk that Chris Rock didn't want to do it anymore. But with The Game there is no reason why it was canceled. And at the expense of what? Another Aaron Spelling remake? Shows get canceled or end for a reason, not to later be remade.The only thing I watched on the CW was The Game, Privileged and ANTM. Since 2/3 shows are gone maybe I will stop watching ANTM and just wait for the season to play on Oxygen.
Clearly I am mad about this since I keep posting on this article.
15The CW sucks, first they cancel The Game and Privileged
16and now they are moving Smallville to Fridays.
Wow, I feel as though I've fallen in a vat of vanilla ice cream. Oh wait. Never mind. It's just my television set.
17I don't think Privileged is canceled--it just will not start until mid-season (from what I understand from Buzz's post) which totally sucks but is better then NOTHING!
18And for some reason I remember Buzz saying the CW was switching to all one hour shows--so thats why it cancelled Everybody Hates Chris (I don't know if the Game was 1/2 hour or not), still stupid though.
19Vampires? What is the obsession?! Am I the only one who doesn't get it because nothing will equal Buffy
20They cancelled Everybody hates Chris?! Well, at least Parental Discretion Advised sounds entertaining...
21Oh and I totally agree with genesisrocks; what's with the obsession? Ugh.
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