Sitcoms on The CW or the lack thereof sitcoms - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 04-17-2022, 08:05 PM

How come The CW doesn’t have any half hour long comedies on the network like how its predecessor networks The WB and UPN had? They did have dramedies like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Jane the Virgin. The only real time that they had traditional sitcoms was when they launched in 2006, and they were using holdovers from WB and UPN. Is it simply because The CW just gets better ratings with hour long dramas when compared to half hour sitcoms?

TMC · 05-22-2022, 11:29 PM

The CW CEO Mark Pedowitz Hopes Net Will Get Back In Sitcom Business, Looks Forward To New Suppliers Post-Sale

Quote:

Back when the CW launched in 2006 with the combined assets of the WB and UPN, it had five half-hour comedies on the air, the multi-camera Reba, Girlfriends, The Game and All of Us and single-camera Everybody Hates Chris. That genre quickly disappeared as the CW focused on the coming-of-age dramas and subsequently added superhero series for the slate that it is known for today.

The CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz hopes to bring sitcoms back on the network, which is close to being acquired by Nexstar, owner of its largest station group. While he refrained from a straight prediction what the CW’s schedule will look like in 2-3 years because of the fast pace the world is moving at, he did share his vision during the network’s pre-upfront press call Thursday morning.

“I think you will always see a decent amount of scripted programming on the network, I think you’ll see — and we already began the transition to — more alternative, and we will be bringing more acquired programming,” he said. “I do hope that we will enter the world of half-hour sitcoms being produced for the network, and I do hope should there be a sale and if there is a sale, that it will open the avenues of other producers and studios to come to us besides Warners and CBS, which means more opportunities.”

In the current setup, the CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. and Paramount, with their TV studios, Warner Bros. TV and CBS Studios, as the network’s sole suppliers.

factsoflife · 05-26-2022, 02:49 PM

At the time that the CW was launched, some executives at the network believed that the target demographic (of the network) was not interested in sitcoms and they chose instead to focus on one-hour dramas, dramedy and reality shows. So they focused their development on those genres instead.

04-17-2022, 08:05 PM	#1
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 125,763	Sitcoms on The CW or the lack thereof sitcoms How come The CW doesn’t have any half hour long comedies on the network like how its predecessor networks The WB and UPN had? They did have dramedies like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Jane the Virgin. The only real time that they had traditional sitcoms was when they launched in 2006, and they were using holdovers from WB and UPN. Is it simply because The CW just gets better ratings with hour long dramas when compared to half hour sitcoms?

05-26-2022, 02:49 PM	#3
factsoflife Member Forum Fanatic Join Date: Sep 11, 2000 Posts: 8,744	At the time that the CW was launched, some executives at the network believed that the target demographic (of the network) was not interested in sitcoms and they chose instead to focus on one-hour dramas, dramedy and reality shows. So they focused their development on those genres instead.
	__________________ "and to the fans. I was only supposed to be on every other Tuesday. But, thanks to you, I'm here, and I promise! I will try my best never to let you down. I am going back into that studio on Monday, and I'm going to play Erica Kane for all she's worth!"-- Susan Lucci, May 1999 Daytime Emmy Speech.