Welcome to the Upfronts which are totally normal now!
If you’ve been around Foolish Watcher for a while now, you know that the Upfronts is the week or so when the networks introduce their upcoming schedules to advertisers in hopes that they will be wooed into buying commercial airtime. It’s the networks’ big dog-and-pony show, one that has been diminishing in recent years thanks to the pandemic, the strikes, and the decline of network broadcast television’s stranglehold on the audience in general. But this year, there is nothing holding the networks back from introducing a full fall schedule.
The CW is still trying to figure out who they are, following their 2022 purchase by Nexstar, and I’m not convinced by this fall schedule that they have found the answer. Once the reliable home for teen dramas and superhero series, The CW says they are aiming for older audiences. But all I’m seeing here is a mishmash of cheap programming that you would have found on a USA or TBS back in the day. If I had the ear of anyone at the network, I’d recommend finding a point of view — figure out who your target audience is — because right now this is a collection of a bunch of unrelated shows trying to appeal to too many different kinds of people. (And just for your sanity alone, cancel or renew some of those undecided shows already! This list is a mess!) Good luck, CW: you’re going to need it.
Schedule
MONDAY
7/8 p.m.: TRIVIAL PURSUIT (October 7)
8/9 p.m.: SCRABBLE (October 7)
TUESDAY
7/8 p.m.: WWE NXT (October 1)
WEDNESDAY
7/8 p.m.: Sullivan’s Crossing (October 6)
8/9 p.m.: JOAN (October 6)
8/9 p.m.: Children Ruin Everything (November 13)
THURSDAY
7/8 p.m.: Superman & Lois (October 17)
8/9 p.m.: THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER (October 24)
FRIDAY
7/8 p.m.: Whose Line Is It Anyway? (September 6)
7:30/8:30 p.m.: Whose Line Is It Anyway?
8/9 p.m.: Inside The NFL (August 30)
SATURDAY
7/8 p.m.: CW SPORTS SATURDAY
SUNDAY
7/8 p.m.: The CW Sunday Movie Night
New Fall Shows
trivial Pursuit
Official synopsis:
The beloved trivia game Trivial Pursuit is reimagined in a question-packed entertainment format. Gameplay takes place on a giant version of the iconic Trivial Pursuit game board, as contestants battle it out over a range of play-along question categories to win wedges and beat each other to the center. The victor then takes on a dramatic finale against the clock to claim the big money jackpot. Hosted by Emmy® Award-winning actor, director, producer, and podcaster LeVar Burton.
T’s Take:
LeVar Burton finally gets a game show to host! That’s something, right?
Scrabble
Official synopsis:
Scrabble is a captivating, fast-paced take on the global board-game phenomenon. In each episode, wordsmiths battle it out over a series of addictive word games of skill and strategy to win points and master a giant Scrabble board in the center of the set. Hosted by fan-favorite actor, singer, producer and director Raven-Symoné.
T’s Take:
Trivial Pursuit makes sense to transition into a game show. Scrabble … yeah, hmm … not as sure.
wwe nxt
Official synopsis:
Launched by WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE NXT has aired weekly since 2012 and features the brightest young talent in sports entertainment. Nearly 90% of the participants in last year’s WrestleMania were developed under the NXT banner. Led by WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, NXT is popular with younger audiences, ranking No. 1 in cable primetime on Tuesday nights among Adults 18-49 and 18-34. WWE Superstars such as Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch have come up through NXT.
T’s Take:
It’s wrestling, whatever. What I find funny is how defensive this logline is: “WE KNOW YOU’VE NEVER HEARD ABOUT THIS ‘WWE NXT’ BUT TRUST US, REAL WRESTLERS GOT THEIR START FROM HERE! WE SWEAR!”
Joan
Official synopsis:
Sophie Turner (“Game of Thrones,” “X-Men: Dark Phoenix,” “The Staircase”) stars as notorious jewel thief Joan Hannington in this exhilarating yet emotional story set against the vibrant backdrop of the 1980s — an era known for its bold fashion trends, iconic music and cultural shifts. The series opens with Joan, a fiery and uncompromising woman in her twenties who is deeply scarred and vulnerable. She is a devoted mother to her six-year-old daughter, Kelly, but is trapped in a disastrous marriage with a violent criminal named Gary. When Gary goes on the run, Joan seizes the opportunity to create a new life for herself and her daughter. Joan becomes a masterful jewel thief. She embarks on a thrilling, high-stakes journey that challenges her every limit, driven by her desire to care for her daughter and create a secure home for them both. Through her sharp intelligence, charm and talent for impersonation and performance, we follow the twists and turns in Joan’s life, the ups and downs, the heartache and the joy that makes this story so compelling to follow.
T’s Take:
Sophie Turner as a 1980s jewel thief? Sure! I’m a loyal servant of The Queen in the North and will give it a chance. That said, there are only 6 episodes in this limited series, so it’s not going to fill up an entire fall schedule. It just feels a little … uncommitted.
The Librarians: the Next Chapter
Official synopsis:
The Librarians: The Next Chapter is a spinoff of the original TV series “The Librarians,” which followed the adventures of the custodians of a magical repository of the world’s most powerful and dangerous supernatural artifacts. The new series centers on Vikram (Callum McGowan), a “Librarian” from the past, who time traveled to the present and now finds himself stuck here. When he returns to his castle, which is now a museum, he inadvertently releases magic across the continent. He is given a new team to help him clean up the mess he made, forming a new team of Librarians.
T’s Take:
I wasn’t expecting to see a sequel to a TNT series that ran for four seasons with an average of 1.4 million viewers, but here we are.
Midseason
good Cop/Bad Cop
Official synopsis:
Good Cop/Bad Cop is a one-hour procedural dramedy centered around Lou (Leighton Meester, “Gossip Girl”) and Henry (Luke Cook, “Katy Keene,” “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”), an odd couple sister and brother detective team in a small Pacific Northwest police force. They must contend with colorful residents, a serious lack of resources, and their very complicated dynamic with each other and with their police chief, Big Hank (Clancy Brown, “Dexter: New Blood,” “Billions”)—who happens to be their father.
T’s Take:
The thing is, I love Leighton Meester and Clancy Brown and a wacky crime dramedy set in the Pacific Northwest. This is certainly not going to be Twin Peaks, but it might scratch a part of that itch.
Sherlock & Daughter
Official synopsis:
The mystery thriller series Sherlock & Daughter puts Sherlock Holmes (David Thewlis, “Fargo,” The Artful Dodger”) out of his comfort zone, mysteriously unable to investigate a sinister case without risking the lives of his closest friends. Enter: young American Amelia (Blu Hunt, “The Originals,” “The New Mutants”). After her mother’s mysterious murder, she learns her missing father may be the legendary detective. Despite wildly different backgrounds and attitudes, the pair must work together to solve a global conspiracy, crack her mother’s murder, and find out for sure if she really is Sherlock’s daughter.
T’s Take:
I didn’t realize David Thewlis did TV, he doesn’t seem like a TV actor — and certainly not a TV actor on a wacky little genre show — but I guess you gotta pay the bills somehow.
That said, these two midseason shows have the most connection to each other and at least seem to know who their audience is: the quirky 20-30-something woman who maybe has a cat or five. More of this, CW; more focus.
Cancellations
- All American: Homecoming
- Lovers and Liars
- The Spencer Sisters
- The Swarm
- Walker
Renewals
- All American
- The Chosen
- Penn & Teller: Fool Us
- Sullivan’s Crossing
- Superman & Lois (final season)
- Whose Line Is It Anyway?
- Wild Cards
Shows Still Up in the Air
- 100 Days to Indy
- 24/7 Police
- The Big Bakeover
- Children Ruin Everything
- Crime Nation
- Criss Angel’s Magic With the Stars
- Fight to Survive
- Great American Joke Off
- Great Chocolate Showdown
- Hostage Rescue
- Masters of Illusion
- Patti Stanger: The Matchmaker
- Recipe for Disaster
- The Rising
- Run the Burbs
- Sight Unseen
- Son of a Critch
- Totally Funny Animals
- Totally Funny Kids
- World’s Funniest Animals