The CW Upfront/General News and Discussion: 2024-25

[TJ]

THE CW NETWORK ANNOUNCES ITS SEVEN-NIGHT PRIMETIME SCHEDULE FOR 2024-2025

Monday is Family Game Night with the Premieres of Original Game Shows “Trivial Pursuit” Hosted by LeVar Burton and “Scrabble” Hosted by Raven-Symoné

Get Ready to Rumble with the Broadcast Television Debut of WWE NXT on Tuesdays

Returning Hit Drama Series “Sullivan’s Crossing” and the Riveting New Limited Series “Joan” Starring Sophie Turner Air on Wednesdays

Thursdays Take Flight with the Thrilling Final Season of “Superman & Lois” Followed by the New Drama Series “The Librarians: The Next Chapter”

Hit Sketch Comedy Series “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” Returns on Fridays Followed by an All-New Season of “Inside the NFL” Hosted by Ryan Clark

CW Sports Rule Saturdays with the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff Races and Hard-Hitting Seasons of ACC and Pac-12 College Football

Sundays are Movie Nights Featuring Top Theatrical Films and Original Movies

New Scripted Series “Good Cop/Bad Cop” Starring Leighton Meester and “Sherlock & Daughter” Starring David Thewlis Will Air Midseason

BURBANK, CA (MAY 16, 2024) – The CW Network today announced it will launch its seven-night 2024-25 primetime schedule in the Fall of 2024 with an exciting array of new and returning original scripted series, family-friendly game shows, fan-favorite unscripted series and the continued expansion of CW Sports with the network debuts of WWE NXT, Pac-12 college football and the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

“The Fall 2024 season is another leap forward in the bold transformation of The CW Network, as we continue building a media brand with broadcast at its core,” said Brad Schwartz, President of Entertainment, The CW Network. “The CW is currently enjoying three consecutive quarters of growth and we are looking forward to a fall schedule that is stronger than ever, starting with a brand-new game night featuring TRIVIAL PURSUIT and SCRABBLE—two games families have enjoyed for decades and hosted by fan-favorites LeVar Burton and Raven-Symoné. We have new seasons of returning hit scripted series SULLIVAN’S CROSSING and SUPERMAN & LOIS, whose final season is weekly can’t-miss event television. Our scripted lineup continues to grow with JOAN, starring the brilliant Sophie Turner, and THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER.

“We’ll also have more live sports than ever before with the addition of WWE NXT, the NASCAR XFINITY SERIES and Pac-12 football alongside second seasons of LIV Golf, INSIDE THE NFL, ACC football and ACC basketball. Anchored by 500 hours of sports in 2025, we continue to get bigger and broader while reaching and growing our audience across broadcast, streaming and local.”

Mondays feature the premiere of the original game show TRIVIAL PURSUIT (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT) hosted by Emmy® Award-winning actor, director, producer and podcaster LeVar Burton (“Roots,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “Reading Rainbow”), paired with the all-new game show SCRABBLE (9:00-10:00pm ET/PT), hosted by the multi-talented actor, singer, producer and director Raven-Symoné (“Raven’s Home,” “That’s So Raven”).

The next generation of WWE Superstars take to the ring when WWE NXT airs live every Tuesday (8:00-10:00pm ET).

Return to the idyllic town of SULLIVAN’S CROSSING for its second season on Wednesdays (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT), followed by the premiere of the new limited series JOAN (9:00-10:00pm ET/PT) starring Sophie Turner (“Game of Thrones”) as notorious jewel thief Joan Hannington.

Thursdays are out-of-this-world with the final season of the super hit SUPERMAN & LOIS (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT) followed by the premiere of the all-new installment of “The Librarians” franchise THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER (9:00-10:00pm ET/PT) from executive producer Dean Devlin (“Independence Day”).

Start the weekend on Fridays with the 13th season premiere of the hit sketch comedy series WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? (8:00-8:30pm & 8:30-9:00pm ET/PT) followed by the return of INSIDE THE NFL (9:00-10:00pm ET/PT) with host Ryan Clark previewing Sunday’s upcoming NFL game action.

CW Sports Saturdays kick off with an action-packed season of ACC and Pac-12 college football, as well as the network debut of the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff races.

Sundays continue to showcase top theatrical films and original movies including new entries in the I AM documentary series in The CW Sunday Movie Night (7:00-10:00pm ET/PT).

This midseason, The CW will also debut the new procedural comedic drama GOOD COP/BAD COP starring Leighton Meester (“Gossip Girl”), Luke Cook (“Katy Keene”) and Clancy Brown (“Dexter: New Blood”), and the mystery thriller SHERLOCK & DAUGHTER starring David Thewlis (“Harry Potter”), Blu Hunt (“The Originals”) and Dougray Scott (“Batwoman”).

The following is The CW’s Fall Primetime Schedule for the 2024-2025 season and accompanying details on each new series.

THE CW’S 2024 FALL PRIMETIME SCHEDULE

MONDAY
8:00-9:00PM TRIVIAL PURSUIT (New Series)
9:00-10:00PM SCRABBLE (New Series)

TUESDAY
8:00-10:00PM WWE NXT (Network Debut)

WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00PM SULLIVAN’S CROSSING (Season 2)
9:00-10:00PM JOAN (New Series)

THURSDAY
8:00-9:00PM SUPERMAN & LOIS (Season 4)
9:00-10:00PM THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER (New Series)

FRIDAY
8:00-8:30PM WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? (Season 13)
8:30-9:00PM WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? (Original Episode)
9:00-10:00PM INSIDE THE NFL (Season 2)

SATURDAY
CW SPORTS SATURDAY

SUNDAY
7:00-10:00PM THE CW SUNDAY MOVIE NIGHT

THE NEW FALL 2024 SERIES:

JOAN

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. Turner stars alongside Frank Dillane (“Fear the Walking Dead”) as Boisie, a London antiques dealer. Kirsty J. Curtis (“Match Not Found”) plays Nancy, Joan’s older sister and salon worker while Gershwyn Eustache Jr. (“I May Destroy You”) portrays Albie, an old acquaintance of Boisie who’s made a new life in Spain with his wife Val, played by Laura Aikman (“The Split”).

JOAN is written by acclaimed screenwriter Anna Symon (“The Essex Serpent”) and directed by BAFTA award-winner Richard Laxton (“Rain Dogs”). The series is from Snowed-In Productions and executive produced by Ruth Kenley-Letts (“Stonehouse”), Jenny Van Der Lande (“Too Close”), Neil Blair (“The Midwich Cuckoos”) and Richard Laxton. JOAN has been commissioned for ITVX by Head of Drama Polly Hill. The series is produced in association with All3Media International and The CW Network.

THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER

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. The series stars Callum McGowan as Vikram Chamberlain; Jessica Green as Charlie Cornwall, the Guardian; Olivia Morris as Lysa Pascal, The Scientist and Bluey Robinson as Connor Green, the Historian. Dean Devlin serves as Showrunner and executive producer alongside Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan-Wilson of Electric Entertainment. Noah Wyle also serves as executive producer. Mark Franco of Electric Entertainment and Jonathan English of Balkanic Media also produce.

SCRABBLE

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, SCRABBLE is produced by Hasbro Entertainment, The CW, Mattel Television Studios and Lionsgate Alternative Television. David Garfinkle, Gabriel Marano and Michelle Mendelovitz serve as executive producers.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT

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, TRIVIAL PURSUIT is produced by Hasbro Entertainment, The CW, Lionsgate Alternative Television and Talpa Studios. David Garfinkle, Gabriel Marano, John De Mol, Matt Walton and Matt Pritchard serve as executive producers.

WWE NXT

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.

THE NEW MIDSEASON 2025 SERIES:

GOOD COP/BAD COP

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. From Future Shack Entertainment and Jungle Entertainment for commissioning broadcasters The CW Network and The Roku Channel in the United States and Stan in Australia, GOOD COP/BAD COP is written and executive produced by John Quaintance with Jeff Wachtel, Trent O’Donnell (“Ghosts”) and Chloe Rickard serving as executive producers. Trent O’Donnell also serves as director with Phil Lloyd set as co-executive producer. GOOD COP/BAD COP is produced in association with and distributed by ITV Studios. The production is supported by the Queensland Government through Screen Queensland’s Production Attraction Strategy.

SHERLOCK & DAUGHTER

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. International Emmy® Award-winning Dougray Scott (“Batwoman,” “Crime”) also stars as Holmes’ nemesis, Moriarty. From Starlings Television Distribution, Albion Television and StoryFirst, SHERLOCK & DAUGHTER is led by showrunner and executive producer James Duff (“The Closer,” “Major Crimes”) and is created, written and executive produced by Brendan Foley (“Cold Courage,” “The Man Who Died”). Micah War Dog Wright (“They’re Watching,” “First Nations Comedy Experience”) and Shelly Goldstein (“Cold Courage,” “Laverne & Shirley”) join Duff and Foley as writers on the series. Karine Martin, Chris Philip, Peter Gerwe, Dominic Barlow and Ivan Dunleavy also serve as executive producers.

[TMC]

Why All American and Walker aren't on The CW's fall schedule

Both hit CW series were noticeably absent on The CW’s fall schedule released this morning. The CW bosses Dennis Miller and Brad Schwartz tell Deadline that both hit shows, along with spinoff series All American: Homecoming, haven't been renewed because talks with their studios are still ongoing. “We didn’t feel any need to rush to meet some upfront deadline," says CW Entertainment president Schwartz. "All American is on the air right now, so we’re seeing how that does. Walker is about (seven) episodes in. We don’t need to make a decision on those anytime soon, unless except for some artificial upfront deadline. I feel like we have really gotten to a 12 month a year development and greenlight cycle. You’ll hear some pickups in the next few weeks.” Schwartz adds that an announcement on All American should happen "soon." But with a different financial model, Walker’s renewal is more of a challenge. “It appears that you really need to have a multi-platform architecture in order to do scripted programming,” says Miller, The CW's president. “It became a question of strategically what kind of SVOD or AVOD deal should we have so we could justify the economics of scripted.” In a separate interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Schwartz reiterated that the new CW has a different development schedule. "We said a year ago that we’re gonna develop 12 months a year, we’re going to greenlight things 12 months a year, we’re not going to be held to this upfront week, in this upfront schedule," he says. "So we have our fourth quarter locked; we’ve had it locked for a long time. But, we will have decisions on All American, on Walker, on Sight Unseen. All American: Homecoming hasn’t even aired yet. We have the second season of Sullivan’s Crossing coming; we’ll have a decision to make on season three. We have Wild Cards to pick up, Penn and Teller to pick up; we have Son of a Critch and Children Ruin Everything. There’s a lot of shows out there that we’re all very excited about and did very well. Wild Cards was the biggest new show of the year. We just didn’t make those decisions this week."

ALSO:

• The CW's fall schedule includes Superman & Lois' final season airing on a new night: Thursdays: Superman & Lois will air with The Librarians: The Next Chapter. The CW's only other scripted night, Wednesdays, will feature Season 2 of acquired drama Sullivan’s Crossing and Sophie Turner’s jewel thief drama Joan.
  
• Walker's Season 4 finale will be "extraordinarily satisfying," whether it's the series finale or not
  
• The CW’s Canadian procedural Wild Cards is expected to be renewed for Season 2: The procedural starring Giacomo Gianniotti, Vanessa Morgan and Jason Priestley has been a strong performer for The CW. Since Wild Cards is a co-production between The CW and Canada's CBC, it may be formally picked up next week when the CBC holds its upfronts.

[franciis]

how does one copy and paste article/s to this site ? age 90.... dont know how to paste........a few days ago there were two articles about streaming.1st article about cw.....article (nexstar ceo downplays streaming business after cw launches fast platform). about cw....came from the desk website....2nd article came from website (......broadcasting and cable....next tv....etc).article.........title.... (streaming,no thanks, says nexstar ceo..perry sook)........does this mean no plans for rewind tv channel and antenan tv channel to stream ? everything in todays world about tv..changes sooo FAST !



interesting info about sook on wdky tv wiki pg..and two interesting articles at bottom of that wiki pg......#12 and #13 articles...

[icecream]

Season 4 of The Chosen will again air on CW Sundays at 8:00, premiering Labor Day weekend.

https://tvline.com/news/the-chosen-s...cw-1235251690/

[icecream]

Today's blog goofed. It mentioned the CW renewing shows, but nothing scripted. The drama All American was one of those renewals, last scripted show left from the old CW regime. And drama The Chosen was a scripted acquisition returning for another season.

[TMC]

The CW’s Brad Schwartz Dismisses Concerns That Canadian Series on U.S. TV Are Seen as a ‘Discount Bin

By Michael Schneider

As The CW has changed its financial model under new owners Nexstar, entertainment president Brad Schwartz has relied more on international co-productions from countries like Canada. Speaking on Tuesday at the Banff World Media Festival, Schwartz — who hails from Canada — acknowledged that in the past, Canadian acquisitions on U.S. networks have often been seen in a lesser light. He’s hoping that perception is changing, however.

“I would hate for anybody to ever think that Canada is the discount area, because that’s kind of our Canadian personalities in the first place,” Schwartz said. “Canada has the advantage of having some great broadcasters that are required to invest a lot of money in Canadian content. And then there are tax credits and our American dollars go farther here. I think historically maybe people didn’t respect Canadian content as much. And maybe there’s still a little bit of that in the background. I personally, as a personal ambition, have tried to change that.”

Schwartz pointed to shows like “Schitt’s Creek” (which he developed and ran on Pop TV), “Letterkenny” and “Orphan Black” as some of the recent Emmy-winning and award-worthy shows originating from Canada.

“If I have been lucky enough or ambitious enough to have the relationships and be the one really diving in and championing that content to the world, then that makes me proud,” Schwartz said. “But the CW, we don’t have the budget that CBS and NBC or Netflix has. There’s only so much we can spend. We’ve been able to do a lot of great deals with Canada, and maybe we’re just sneaking in before everybody else.”

Canadian co-productions on The CW include “Wild Cards,” “Sight Unseen,” “Sullivan’s Crossing,” “Son of a Critch,” “Children Ruin Everything” and “Run the Burbs.”

“We like to laugh on the scripted team that sometimes it seems as though we have more Canadian relationships now than we do American because we’ve gotten so entrenched in the visibility,” said Saleena Lockett, exec director of scripted programming at The CW. But it’s been great to learn another market to have even more access to more creatives. The way that you guys do things here, even on a creative level, actually gives us access to many more projects than we can sometimes in America because of how stringent the system is and what we can get our hands on.”

The tricky part, Schwartz said, is to set the shows in a bit of a neutral setting — so perhaps Canadian audiences recognize locations like Vancouver, but U.S. audiences don’t feel like they’re missing the local references. (He compares the vague specificity of “Schitt’s Creek” in Canada to the “everytown” feel of Springfield on “The Simpsons.”) “We want to make sure that there’s that broad entry point for every moment, where everyone can feel as though this is a place where they can be they can understand and experience,” he said.

Schwartz added: “I do think that Canadian content can sit beside everything in the world these days. They’re incredible shows which we just feel lucky and fortunate that we’re the ones that got them but I would certainly not call them a discount. We just say we’re a little ahead of the crowd.”

Pointing to the difficulty of competing for shows given The CW’s limited budget, Schwartz pointed to a BBC series that was recently on the market, “The Good Girls’ Guide to Murder.” Said Schwartz: “We bid on that one. We stayed very diligent to the number that we thought we could afford. And Netflix blew us away. Wasn’t even close.”

Schwartz said The CW still hopes to air between 10 and 12 scripted series on the air — but to that end, all of those shows will require production partners. And beyond Canada, that also includes deals right now in Australia and the U.K.

“We still have great ambition to do a lot of scripted,” he said. “But it’s hard for us to do shows on our own. So the co-production route is really the only way for us to do scripted programming.”

He highlighted the new show “Good Cop Bad Cop” as another example; the Leighton Meester drama (from Future Shack Entertainment and Jungle Entertainment) includes as partners Roku (which has the second window), Australian’s Stan and the U.K.’s ITV, which distribution rights outside of the U.S. and Australia.

“And then we decided as we said to shoot in Australia, so now we’re getting government funding. We’re getting tax credits, you’re getting the advantage of foreign exchange,” he said. “You’ve got to love it first, you’re not just going to do it because of the deal. And then we have to go that extra step of really thinking creatively about how we’re going to put finances together. All of our scripted shows will be that. Canada will always be the first place that we always come for all the reasons we’ve discussed.”

Meanwhile, a genre that the CW is spending more money on is sports, which started with the network’s deal for LIV golf, which he called “a very opportunistic opportunity… our local stations are really thirsty for sports. We never thought we could afford it. And then a regional sports network went out of business and all of a sudden we got a really great deal on ACC football and basketball. That’s once we started seeing the results of all that. Then we wrote a very big check and got into the NASCAR business.”

Since then The CW has also done deals with the WWE and picked up the NFL Films series “Inside the NFL,” which he hinted is about to add a new host alongside Ryan Clark.

“Sports has been the greatest driver of new viewers for us,” he said. “I think you’ll see more sports on the CW, not less.”

Schwartz said upcoming plans include a pre- and post-show for NASCAR. The CW also has the remaining teams from the Pac 12. “There are gonna be days where we have three football games in a row,” he said. “So we are thinking we may be building a little studio so that we can go from game to game and have like a home base. All of that is in early discussion.”

Meanwhile, asked about The CW’s acquisition of Max’s “F-Boy Island,” which didn’t work out for the network, Schwartz admitted that he was “devastated” by it. “It did not do well on linear, killed on our AVOD and with the distribution revenue coming in from international, it’s going to be fine,” he said. “But it was not the breakthrough hit that I was hoping for.”

[James28]

The first week of June (on the 3rd) brought some news of All American being renewed for a season seven. Two days after this, it was also announced that the spinoff All American: Homecoming will be gone from new episodes permanently after its upcoming third season (to premiere July 8). This will leave All American itself as The CW's only remaining scripted series from the pre-Nexstar CW.

[TMC]

The CW has changed a LOT in the past few years, say goodbye to the Arrowverse and say hello to sports. In this video, I go over how shows like Superman & Lois are on the way out and Wild Cards is in. What does that mean? I go over it all here.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TMC

What exactly happened to the CW channel?

[James28]

The Librarians: The Next Chapter, which was supposed to premiere on October 24, is nowk being pulled from The CW's Fall schedule entirely in favor of a new eight-part docuseries called The Wranglers.

Source: TV Line.

[icecream]

No wonder it was pulled from the schedule. CW has sold The Librarians: The Next Chapter to TNT, the original network of its parent show.

[icecream]

The CW just can't make up their mind about the fall schedule. The board game night of Scrabble and Trivia Pursuit will not air on Mondays and will now air on Thursdays. This is because the final season of Superman and Lois will now air on Mondays instead of Thursdays, as well as The Wranglers. Changes work out better for me, I will be able to watch Trivial Pursuit live now where I couldn't have on Mondays. Scrabble has stiff competition though with Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage, Ghosts, Law and Order, and 9-1-1.

http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2024/.../20240829cw02/

[James28]

Originally Posted by icecream

No wonder it was pulled from the schedule. CW has sold The Librarians: The Next Chapter to its original network TNT, which will now air the repeats instead.

What do you mean "air the repeats" of a show that hasn't premiered yet?

Actually, TNT will instead air the already-filmed first season of The Librarians: The Next Chapter and has also picked up a second season of the network's plan to replenish its depleted drama slate. Unfortunately, that sequel series's premiere will now wait until a to-be-determined date in 2025.

https://tvline.com/news/tnt-drama-se...er-1235322458/

[icecream]

Joan must have done terrible even by CW standards in its brief time on Wednesdays. Joan is trading nights with Inside the NFL, which had been on Fridays after wrestling displaced its original night from last season. I hope Trivial Pursuit continues to do well on Thursdays (premiere built on Scrabble's premiere which is rare for a CW 9PM show). While 8:00 is loaded with shows from five different networks, Trivial Pursuit will be my live option by default at 9:00, starting with episode two when Hudson and Rex goes down to one episode a week.

[TMC]

CW President Steps Down 2 Years After Nexstar Takeover; Entertainment Chief Brad Schwartz to Claim Top Spot

Dennis Miller will step down as the president of The CW starting on Oct. 31, TheWrap has learned. He will continue to serve in an advisory role toward the end of the year. Brad Schwartz, who was previously president of entertainment for the network, will take over the position.