2018 Fall Schedule: The CW

Monday

8:00 - DC's Legends of Tomorrow
9:00 - Arrow (New Timeslot)

The CW's schedule was going to be the most changed, if only because they are adding a whole new night of programming to Sundays. The changes start right away on Monday, with DC's Legends of Tomorrow occupying the space it shared with Supergirl this season and leading into Arrow, which moves from Thursdays.

Tuesday

8:00 - The Flash
9:00 - Black Lightning

The Flash stays put to anchor Tuesdays with Black Lightning maintaining its midseason timeslot. It wasn't a huge breakout hit this spring, but it was definitely strong. I think the biggest question will be if the creators will wrap Black Lightning up into the larger Arrowverse this season, or if it will remain a standalone series.

Wednesday

8:00 - Riverdale
9:00 - All American (NEW)

The first new show on this schedule is All American, a Greg Berlanti-produced high school football drama. Paired with Riverdale, it'll be a high school soap theme for the night. Riverdale didn't do Dynasty many favors as a lead-in this season, so it'll be interesting to see how it does with another newbie.

Thursday

8:00 - Supernatural
9:00 - Legacies (NEW)

For a paranormal evening, stalwart Supernatural stays at 8:00 while the new The Originals spin-off Legacies slides into the 9:00 slot, a time and place its parent series previously failed in. I'm surprised to see Legacies on the fall schedule, considering it never shot a pilot and the first script was reportedly delivered mere weeks ago. That script must have been great.

Friday

8:00 - Dynasty
9:00 - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (New Timeslot)

For its fourth and final season, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend shifts back an hour so that Dynasty, which was transplanted from Wednesday to Friday this season, doesn't have to move times. Dynasty has been a very weak performer in linear ratings, yet here it is on the fall schedule for season two. I suppose adding another night of original scripted programming allowed quite a few shows that otherwise would've gotten the chop (The 100, Crazy Ex, Dynasty) to stay on air.

Sunday

8:00 - Supergirl (New Timeslot)
9:00 - Charmed (NEW)

For the first time since 2009, The CW will be airing original scripted shows on Sunday nights, and they're going with a girl-power theme with two recognizable titles. I assumed The Flash would be the one to move to Sundays, since it's their highest rated series and they'll want/need to make a splash on an entirely new, untested night. But counter-programming the NFL with two female-driven series makes sense too. Supergirl's ratings have fallen as of late, though it's still one of the better performers, so I'll be curious to see if it can withstand the move to a new night, especially one that will require a hell of a lot of promotion for viewers to understand that it even exists. Charmed should pair well, and it'll be a kind of homecoming for the show, the original version of which aired its final four seasons on Sunday night.

Midseason

Saved for midseason are the returns of The 100, iZombie, and Jane the Virgin, which will likely succeed Crazy Ex Girlfriend on Fridays when it completes its season. Both iZombie and Jane will be returning for their final seasons. They'll be joined by new dramas In the Dark and Roswell, New Mexico.

This is simultaneously an ambitious and conservative schedule. The CW has a stable of reliable shows, most within the DC universe, and that's a great advantage for the network going into a whole new night of programming. With Riverdale also becoming a moderate ratings success (and a bigger cultural one), there's not much that needs to be done to produce a smart schedule. The lineup of new shows The CW ordered is in line with this thinking: three of their five new shows are reboots or spin-offs. Will fans of Charmed flock to the new version? With much of the original cast voicing disapproval, it's not guaranteed; making the witch sisters of Hispanic descent might corral a new crowd, though. Will turning the alien-teen soap opera Roswell into a political discussion about immigration draw in new viewers to Roswell, New Mexico next spring? With some version of the The Vampire Diaries universe having been on air for nearly a decade, is there still an appetite for more? We can't know, but at the very least it's safer to go with what you know than to test brand new properties when there is so much else changing at the network.

That's why I'm most intrigued by All American, the only series on the fall schedule without a connection to something extant. Similarly, I'm excited to see where In the Dark ends up on the spring schedule and how it does, since it's the network's first real attempt at a procedural. And with so many long-running shows ending this year, I wonder if Mark Pedowitz will pull along low-rated shows (a la Dynasty) or if there will be an explosion of new development for next year... or maybe all the freshmen take off this season, and he won't have to worry about it.

Click after the jump for descriptions of the new shows.

All American -  Spencer James is a rising high school football player and A student at South Crenshaw High. Compton is the place he calls home. But when Beverly High School’s football coach Billy Baker recruits him to join his team in Beverly Hills, Spencer’s mother, Grace, and his best friend, Coop, convince Spencer it’s an opportunity he has to seize. Now Spencer must navigate two worlds, the south side neighborhood that he knows and the affluent Beverly Hills world that has offered him an opportunity for something bigger. When Spencer is forced to move in with Billy and his family to protect his transfer permit to Beverly, Billy’s son, Jordan (the team’s starting quarterback), is less than thrilled to be sharing his father’s attention — or the team spotlight — with Spencer. While Spencer struggles to find his footing, he makes an unlikely friend in Jordan’s sister, Olivia, who is dealing with her own demons. He also quickly develops a crush on his classmate, Layla, something her boyfriend, Asher, quickly realizes — and so, he sets out to drive Spencer off the football team and out of Beverly Hills for good. Inspired by the life of NFL player Spencer Paysinger. All American stars Daniel Ezra, Taye Diggs, Samantha Logan, Bre-Z, Greta Onieogou, Monet Mazur, Michael Evans Behling, Cody Christian and Karimah Westbrook. All American is from Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios in association with Berlanti Productions, with executive producers April Blair (Reign), Greg Berlanti (The Flash, Riverdale), Sarah Schechter (Riverdale) and Rob Hardy (Power).

Charmed - “Stronger together.” That’s what Marisol tells her daughters, firebrand social justice warrior Melanie “Mel” Vera, and her sister, fun-loving Maggie, about their family. Mel is a graduate student in the women’s studies department her mother heads at Hilltowne University; Maggie is a freshman considering rushing a sorority (to Mel’s amused dismay) and going “on” again with her on-again off-again boyfriend Brian. But then, a shocking tragedy shatters their world and threatens their sibling bond: Marisol dies in a horrifying accident. Or was it? Three months later, we find Mel unable to accept the official explanation of their mother’s death, while Maggie accuses her of being morbidly obsessed. And then, another huge shock shows up at their front door: they have an older sister, brilliant geneticist Macy, whom their mother kept a secret all these years! Macy is new in town and doesn’t know a soul (except for Galvin, the cute fellow scientist who’s been showing her around). Macy is eager to connect with Mel and Maggie, but Mel can’t handle another shock, and shuts her out. With the emotions of all three sisters running high, each of the girls suddenly exhibit impossible new abilities: Mel can freeze time, Maggie starts hearing others’ thoughts, and Macy has telekinetic powers. But don’t worry, there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation…or so says Harry Greenwood (who as far as they know is the officious new chair of the women’s studies department), when he gathers the three sisters together to reveal they’re actually powerful witches, as was their mother. And he’s not really a professor, he’s their “Whitelighter,” a witch’s advisor and guide! Not only that, but Mel was right: their mother’s death was no accident – she was murdered by unknown dark forces. It’s a lot to take in, but ultimately the sisters accept their new destiny as The Charmed Ones…and their new duty to protect humankind from the demons that walk among us…one of whom killed their mother. With the Power of Three, they are stronger together… even if they have no idea what they’re really up against. Starring Melonie Diaz, Sarah Jeffery, Madeleine Mantock, Rupert Evans, Ser’Darius Blaine, Charlie Gillespie, and Ellen Tamaki . Based on the original series, Charmed is from CBS Television Studios in association with Propagate Content, with executive producers Jessica O’Toole, Amy Rardin, Jennie Snyder Urman, Brad Silberling (Jane the Virgin); Ben Silverman (The Office) and Carter Covington (Faking It).

In the Dark - Murphy is a hard-living, hard-drinking, disaffected twentysomething with a penchant for cigarettes and casual sex. She’s also blind. Murphy lives with her understanding roommate, Jess, and more reluctantly also lives with her guide dog, Pretzel, whose presence she resents. Her parents, Hank and Joy, own a guide dog school, a venture they opened hoping it would give Murphy a job with some purpose, but so far it’s just another place where she sleeps off her hangovers, much to the particular chagrin of Joy and Felix, the school administrator tasked with attempting to keep the unprofitable school going. Murphy’s closest friend is a sweet teenager named Tyson. Tyson and Murphy became friends after he saved her from a violent mugging, and his kindness and intelligence are currently going to waste as he deals drugs on the street for his older cousin, Darnell. Then Murphy’s life comes crashing down when, while out for a walk with Pretzel, she stumbles upon what she’s sure is the lifeless body of Tyson in the alley outside her apartment. But when the police arrive, including a charming detective named Dean, there is no body to be found – and with Murphy not exactly sober, the police aren’t especially inclined to investigate. Murphy is devastated, and is only held back from spiraling downward even further by her resolve to learn what happened to Tyson. With the help of Jess – and Pretzel – Murphy is determined to find the truth, no matter the risk… even if it means she has to sober up a little. In the Dark stars Perry Mattfeld, Brooke Markham, Keston John, Kathleen York, Derek Webster and Morgan Krantz. In the Dark is from CBS Television Studios and Warner Bros. Television, in association with Red Hour Films, with executive producers Corinne Kingsbury, Jon Collier (Bones), Ben Stiller (Zoolander), Jackie Cohn, Nicky Weinstock and Michael Showalter (The Big Sick).

Legacies - For the last decade, the iconic heroes and villains of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals have captivated audiences worldwide. They left an enduring legacy of love and family in their wake, which continues in Legacies, a thrilling new drama that tells the story of the next generation of supernatural beings at The Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted. It’s here that Klaus Mikaelson’s daughter, 17-year-old Hope Mikaelson; Alaric Saltzman’s twins, Lizzie and Josie Saltzman; and other young adults — including political scion MG and the mysterious Landon Kirby — come of age in the most unconventional way possible, nurtured to be their best selves…in spite of their worst impulses. Will these young witches, vampires and werewolves become the heroes they want to be — or the villains they were born to be? As they fight to protect their secret, their town of Mystic Falls and eventually the world, they will have to rely on ancient folklore and tales to learn how to battle their far-reaching enemies. Legacies stars Danielle Rose Russell, Jenny Boyd, Kaylee Bryant, Quincy Fouse and Aria Shaghasemi, with Matt Davis. Legacies is from Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios in association with My So-Called Company, with executive producers Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries), Brett Matthews, Leslie Morgenstein (Pretty Little Liars) and Gina Girolamo (The Originals).

Roswell, New Mexico - More than maybe anywhere else on Earth, Roswell, New Mexico is ground zero for those who seek proof that aliens exist. Roswell native Liz Ortecho left it all behind 10 years ago, after the death of her beloved older sister, Rosa. But with her father ailing, she reluctantly returns to her tourist-trap hometown to move back in with him. When Liz arrives, she reconnects with Max Evans, her teenage crush who is now a Roswell police officer. Their chemistry is instantly electric. But Liz soon discovers a shocking truth: Max is an alien who has kept his unearthly abilities hidden his entire life, along with those of his otherworldly siblings, Isobel and Michael. As the two grow closer after a decade apart, Liz finds it difficult to keep the truth from her best friend, Maria De Luca, and her trusting high school ex, Dr. Kyle Valenti. Also hiding their extraterrestrial origins are Isobel and Michael, with Isobel not even revealing the truth to her husband, Noah, and Michael keeping his identity hidden beneath a bad-boy exterior of hard living and casual hookups. Meanwhile, a long-standing government conspiracy spearheaded by Master Sgt. Jesse Manes, along with the politics of fear and hatred that run rampant in Roswell, threatens to expose Max and his family, and could endanger his deepening romance with Liz…as well as their lives. Roswell, New Mexico stars Jeanine Mason, Nathan Parsons, Michael Trevino, Lily Cowles, Michael Vlamis, Tyler Blackburn, Heather Hemmens, Trevor St. John and Karan Oberoi. Roswell, New Mexico is from Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios, in association with Amblin Television and Bender Brown Productions, with executive producers Carina Adly MacKenzie (The Originals), Chris Hollier (Once Upon A Time), Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries), Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey (The Americans), Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction) and Kevin Kelly Brown (Roswell).

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