Upfronts: The CW and Fox
By Casey Gillis on May. 22, 2009
The CW’s got vampires and beautiful people (well, more of them than usual).
Fox has a group of misfit glee clubbers and another animated dysfunctional family.
For the most part, both networks are playing it safe, only adding a handful of new shows and making few changes to their already existing schedules.
Here’s what to expect come fall:
The CW
Monday: “Gossip Girl” and “One Tree Hill,” minus stars Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton, retain their time slots.
Tuesday: Guilty pleasure “90210” is back, joined with another ‘90s reboot: Melrose Place.
Wednesday: “America’s Next Top Model” will be joined by a new drama about the modeling world. The Beautiful Life stars Mischa Barton (she’s Marissa from “The O.C.” everybody!), Elle Macpherson and, shunning his “High School Musical” persona, Corbin Bleu.
Thursday: Couch Potato favorite “Supernatural” is back for its fifth season (yay!), joined by The Vampire Diaries, The CW’s attempt to cash in on “Twilight”-mania.
Set in Mystic Falls, Va (see, even the town sounds spooky), it’s about a teenage girl who is reeling from her parents’ recent death and finds herself drawn to a mysterious new student. He, of course, turns out to be one of those peaceful, tortured vampire types. But, don’t worry, he’s got a bad boy brother who is “the embodiment of vampire violence and brutality.”
Kevin Williamson, the man who created “Dawson’s Creek” and wrote all three “Scream” movies, is executive producing, so it might not be as cheesy as it sounds.
Oh, who am I kidding? I’d totally be watching either way.
Friday: In a surprising turn of events, the CW has moved “Smallville” from its prime Thursday night slot to Fridays at 8 p.m. It’ll be followed by a repeat of that week’s “America’s Next Top Model.”
Midseason: Parental Discretion Advised is about a 15-year-old girl who, after being bounced from one foster home to another, decides to become an emancipated minor. This newfound legal journey leads her to her biological father, a thirtysomething who owns a bar and lives like a frat boy. He is played by the hunky Kristoffer Polaha, a great actor (you’ve seen him on “Miss Guided,” “Mad Men” and countless other shows) who deserves a great show.
Fox
Sunday: “The Simpsons,“ “Family Guy” and “American Dad” return, alongside The Cleveland Show, an animated comedy about a man who reunites with his high school sweetheart, now a mom to two unruly kids.
Monday: Sophomore drama “Lie to Me” will be paired with “House.”
Tuesday: “So You Think You Can Dance” airs for two hours.
Wednesday: Fox’s great, amazing, insert glowing adjective here, Glee airs at 9 p.m., after the “Dance” results show.
Thursday: “Bones,” which the network renewed for not one but two seasons, is at 8 p.m. followed by “Fringe” — as if I didn’t already have enough shows to watch Thursdays at 9.
Friday: I’m so, so proud of Fox for taking a chance on the great “Dollhouse,” which returns for its second season at 9 p.m.
Preceding it are two comedies: Brothers, which stars former New York Giant Michael Strahan as a — you guessed it — former NFL player who returns to his Houston home, and the returning “‘Til Death.”
Saturday: After canceling the long-running “Mad TV,” Fox takes another stab at Saturday nights with The Wanda Sykes Show.
Midseason: The eighth season of “24” will kick off, joined by new shows Sons of Tucson, a comedy about three brothers who hire a con artist (“Reaper’s” very funny Tyler Labine) to pretend to be their father when their real one goes to prison; Human Target, which is based on a graphic novel about a private security contractor (Mark Valley, starring alongside a great cast that includes Chi McBride and Jackie Earle Haley) who does anything to protect his clients; and Past Life, a drama about a pair of past-life detectives who investigate whether what’s happening to people today is the result of who they were before (confused yet?).
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