THE CW's 2006-07 PRIMETIME SCHEDULE

[jlaking]

THE CW UNVEILS ITS FIRST PRIMETIME SCHEDULE
Released by The CW

THE CW UNVEILS ITS FIRST PRIMETIME SCHEDULE
NETWORK LAUNCHES DIVERSE SCHEDULE WITH A NEW DRAMA, A NEW COMEDY AND A BLEND OF PROVEN HIT SERIES, BELOVED CHARACTERS AND NEW AND RETURNING STARS

Urban Comedy Block Will Premiere on Sunday Night With Three Returning Series and New Spin-off The Game From Girlfriends Producers Mara Brock-Akil and Kelsey Grammer

Two Critically Acclaimed Series, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars, Become Next-Door Neighbors on Tuesday Night

7th Heaven, Televisions Longest-Running Family Drama, Returns to 8:00 P.M. Monday Timeslot for an Unprecedented Eleventh Season, Leading into Exciting New Drama Runaway From Producers Darren Star and Ed Zuckerman, Starring Donnie Wahlberg and Leslie Hope

Midseason Heats Up with New Drama Hidden Palms From Producer Kevin Williamson

May 18, 2006 (New York, New York) - The CW Network unveiled the schedule for its premiere 2006-2007 season today at Madison Square Garden before more than 3,000 advertisers, affiliates and national media. The announcement was made by Dawn Ostroff, President of Entertainment, The CW.

With the launch of The CW, we have an unprecedented programming advantage, said Ms. Ostroff. By bringing together established hit series with innovative new shows, we were able to create a stellar schedule for our premiere season. Putting this lineup together was a programmers dream with so many choices and so many passionate fans making their voices heard about the shows they love. We will launch in the fall with hit shows on all six nights, giving our affiliates a strong foundation to succeed from day one. The CW will be the destination network for viewers 18-34, and we will deliver quality, diverse programming that advertisers and viewers will embrace in a major way.

With a strong commitment to diversity, The CW will schedule two original hours of urban comedies on Sunday night. The returning series begin at 7:00 p.m. with EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS, the most acclaimed new show last season, from executive producers Chris Rock and Ali LeRoi. At 7:30 p.m., ALL OF US, from Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, is coming off an impressive season, and will be followed at 8:00 p.m. by GIRLFRIENDS, which has been the most-watched show by African Americans since it debuted in 2000. The new comedy, THE GAME, from GIRLFRIENDS producers Mara Brock-Akil and Kelsey Grammer takes a comedic behind-the-scenes look at the lives of the wives and girlfriends of the star athletes on an NFL team. The series stars Aldis Hodge, Coby Bell, Tia Mowry, Hosea Chanchez and Wendy Raquel Robinson. The 9:00-10:00 p.m. hour will top off the evening with an encore presentation of AMERICAS NEXT TOP MODEL.

Additionally, the four comedies will repeat on Sunday from 5:00-7:00 p.m., giving the network four hours of programming starring African-Americans on the most-watched night of the week.

Televisions longest-running family drama, 7TH HEAVEN, will return for an unprecedented eleventh season in its familiar Monday night timeslot. Due to the overwhelming outcry from fans and the fact that the series ratings were up in key demos last season, 7TH HEAVEN is the perfect platform to launch the new drama RUNAWAY, from executive producer Darren Star. Starring Donnie Wahlberg and Leslie Hope, along with newcomers Dustin Milligan, Sarah Ramos and Nathan Gamble, RUNAWAY focuses on a family on the run from the law until the father can prove he was framed for the murder of a co-worker. Living under assumed identities, the family has to stick together under extreme conditions in order to survive.

Tuesday nights are all about girl power with the return of the award-winning series GILMORE GIRLS, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, at 8:00 p.m., followed by another critical favorite, VERONICA MARS, starring Kristen Bell, at 9:00 p.m. These highly compatible series will each bring new viewers to the Tuesday lineup.

On Wednesday night, AMERICAS NEXT TOP MODEL will return in its highly successful 8:00 p.m. timeslot. This super-hit from supermodel Tyra Banks will air two cycles each season, alternating with one cycle of another hit reality show, BEAUTY AND THE GEEK, from producers Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg. Returning drama ONE TREE HILL will continue to build on its already loyal young fan base on Wednesday night.

Thursday night turns on the testosterone with the pairing of two action-packed dramas, SMALLVILLE, starring Tom Welling as the young Clark Kent, and SUPERNATURAL, starring Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. Both series showed extreme compatibility after being paired together the second half of last season, with SUPERNATURAL retaining more than 90% of the SMALLVILLE lead-in in key demographics.

The wildly popular FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN! rules the night with two hours of original wrestling extravaganzas 52 weeks a year.

Following is The CWs 2006-2007 primetime schedule, a night-by-night breakdown and accompanying details on all the programs.

THE CWs 2006-2007 PRIMETIME SCHEDULE

SUNDAY

7:00-7:30 PM EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS
7:30-8:00 PM ALL OF US
8:00-8:30 PM GIRLFRIENDS
8:30-9:00 PM THE GAME (New Series)
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICAS NEXT TOP MODEL (Encore Presentation)

MONDAY

8:00-9:00 PM 7TH HEAVEN
9:00-10:00 PM RUNAWAY (New Series)

TUESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM GILMORE GIRLS
9:00-10:00 PM VERONICA MARS

WEDNESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAS NEXT TOP MODEL
9:00-10:00 PM ONE TREE HILL

THURSDAY

8:00-9:00 PM SMALLVILLE
9:00-10:00 PM SUPERNATURAL

FRIDAY 8:00-10:00 PM FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN!

SUNDAY

7:00-7:30 P.M. EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS

Returning for its second season, this hit comedy was inspired by the childhood experiences of comedian Chris Rock. Rock also serves as the narrator of this hilarious, touching story of a teenager growing up as the eldest of three children in Brooklyn, New York, during the early 1980s. Uprooted to a new neighborhood and bused into a predominantly white school two hours away by his strict, hard-working parents, Chris struggles to find his place while keeping his siblings in line at home and surmounting the challenges of middle school. This responsible, resilient adolescent brings a distinct, funny spin to his everyday trials and traumas, in the Golden Globe- and People's Choice-nominated comedy EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS. The single-camera comedy series stars Tichina Arnold (One on One) as Rochelle, Terry Crews (The Longest Yard) as Julius, Tyler James Williams (Law & Order: SVU) as Chris, Tequan Richmond (Ray) as Drew, Imani Hakim as Tonya, and Vincent Martella (Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo) as Greg. EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS is from Chris Rock Enterprises, Inc. and 3 Arts Entertainment, in association with CBS Paramount Network

[TheMecca]

Hey another channel I won't watch.

Everybody Hates Chris in the 7:00 slot on Sunday? Any reasoning for that?

[sag_2002]

I've heard good things about "Chris", so I might catch an episode or two. Other than that, nothing interests me here.

[Scorpio_G]

Why the heck do they have Chris on 7 O'clock. That's probably the most worthy show on the damn block. They should have it on 8 PM. And what happened to Saturday? It's probably 'Magic Bullet' Time.

Fools.

[Brandon Pierce]

So, what dows cw plan on airing during the day?

Come on, MST3K reruns!

[Sketch]

Wow did Chris get the shaft or what?

7th Heaven lives! I guess my mom will be happy.

Smallville, One Tree, Veronica and Gilmore still where they belong but my gosh where is Everwood. I NEED MY EVERWOOD.

[Marvin Tikvah]

Oh come on? Why is 7th Heavon still coming back?

I'm glad to see Chris, VMars, and SmackDown will all be back, as they're the only shows I care about on the channel. I too am trying to understand why Chris is on Sundays....

[bigddan11]

When would you have Chris on otherwise? They broght both WB! shows from Thursday, and with 7th Heaven having been picked up for an additional season (even though it will only be a half season) there wasn't any other place for Chris to air. My surprise with this schedule is that Mercy Reef isn't on it.

[Jin Kazama]

Smallville, One Tree, Veronica and Gilmore still where they belong but my gosh where is Everwood. I NEED MY EVERWOOD.

My thoughts exactly.

I can see why they would renew 7th Heaven, since it's a critically acclaimed, long-running family drama. But that's exactly what Everwood is. Plus, honestly, I'd bet the cast for it would be a hell of a lot cheaper than 7th Heaven's at this point, which is why they cancelled it to begin with.

Hell, I'd even take it as a mid-season replacement. WB moved it around so randomly anyway, it's not like it'd be any different for EW fans anyway.

[Samurai]

Well at least they kept their Thursday lineup the same with Smallville and Supernatural. That's the only thing I care about.

[The Clown Prince]

The WB's Canceled Shows

The Bedford Diaries
Blue Collar TV
Charmed
Everwood
Just Legal
Living with Fran
Modern Men
Pepper Dennis
Related
Survivial of the Richest
Twins
What I Like About You

UPN's Canceled Shows

Cuts
Eve
Get This Party Started
Half & Half
Love, Inc.
One on One
Sex, Love & Secrets
South Beach

The Clown Prince

[Peter Paltridge]

I get the sense Pepper Dennis was cancelled before it ever aired. It got stuck in a crack--debuting right in the middle of a change of networks. Not that it was that good anyway; it was written for girls and it didn't have to be. Reporters are funny! I wanted to laugh, not sit through talks about boys, blast you all!

Two Critically Acclaimed Series, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars, Become Next-Door Neighbors on Tuesday Night

Wow, this is awesome. Remember what I said about the futile search for a companion series to GG? The search is over. I love both these shows, though the quality of GG's upcoming season is anybody's guess.

The CW haaaaaates Chris, apparently. EHC was the best "black" show UPN ever aired. All UPN's other comedies are so over-the-top urban that a caucasian like me can't watch without feeling like he's on another planet. Chris deserved a better slot than that. Like, say.....8:30. 'Cause that's my only free half-hour on the animation-stuffed Sunday nights.

[Sketch]

Well I guess it's good for my TV watching to be cut back in prime time hours. I'll be catching Gilmore, One Tree, Smallville and maybe Chris on this network.

[ShadowGUN]

Zap2it has info on the shows

Hidden Palms
Midseason Drama

Premise: Think "The O.C." in Palm Springs, as a teen coping with his father's death begins to slowly notice the secrets held by the people in his outwardly flawless neighborhood.

First Impressions: It's premature to say so definitively, but the first look at "Hidden Palms" hints that maybe, just maybe, writer Kevin Williamson is back on his game. The setting is a fresh one, which is never bad, and the "Dawson's Creek" creator has blended two things -- teen soap and mystery -- he's done well before to create this show. Keeping both parts of the equation in line could be tricky, though.

Stars: Michael Cassidy ("The O.C."), Taylor Handley ("The O.C."), Amber Heard ("The O.C."), Sharon Lawrence ("NYPD Blue"), Gail O'Grady ("American Dreams"), Ellary Porterfield ("The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio"), D.W. Moffet ("Thirteen") Studio: Lionsgate Television

Producers: Kevin Williamson ("Dawson's Creek"), Scott Winant ("Huff")

Is just me or is CW trying to clone The O.C. . Heck it even got some of it former cast in there.

[jlaking]

My thoughts exactly.

I can see why they would renew 7th Heaven, since it's a critically acclaimed, long-running family drama. But that's exactly what Everwood is. Plus, honestly, I'd bet the cast for it would be a hell of a lot cheaper than 7th Heaven's at this point, which is why they cancelled it to begin with.

According to this, the cw was able to get 7th Heaven back for $16 million less. I am guessing the producers can recoup that with syndication their deals.

[Jeff Harris]

Wow did Chris get the shaft or what?

I dunno. I think that the show will get a larger audience share considering that, at least for me, there's nothing on at 7 PM on Sundays. I missed this show a lot because of Smallville on The WB. And it's competition is, what, America's Funniest Home Videos on ABC, 60 Minutes on CBS, and football on both NBC and the occasional overruns on FOX? If The CW really hated Chris, they would have put it on at 8 PM head-to-head with The Simpsons on Fox and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on ABC, or worse, 9 PM against Desperate Housewives on ABC and Family Guy on FOX. Instead, The CW wisely put reruns of America's Next Top Model on at 9 PM on Sundays, their weakest time period.

Plus, I could catch the reruns on EasyView. Hell, maybe they'll be smart to bring reruns of the first season on the weekday lineup this winter.

[Jeff Harris]

Chris deserved a better slot than that. Like, say.....8:30. 'Cause that's my only free half-hour on the animation-stuffed Sunday nights.

Not a fan of American Dad? That's where the show's headed this fall.

[Peter Paltridge]

Not a fan of American Dad? That's where the show's headed this fall.

Oops. I had THIS season on the brain.

7:00 or 9:30....well, both those slots stink, oh well.

[The Clown Prince]

From Zap2It.com regarding 7th Heaven's return...

Collins Celebrates New Life For '7th Heaven'

After a last minute reprieve, Collins is glad to be back in 'Heaven'


By Kate O'Hare
May 19 2006

In one of the strangest twists of the annual "upfront" season -- in which the networks present their fall schedules to the advertisers -- The WB's critically acclaimed family drama "Everwood" did not make the cut for inclusion on the inaugural schedule of The CW, a new network born of the merger of The WB and UPN.

Instead, CW programming chief Dawn Ostroff did an abrupt left turn and ordered an 11th season of the seemingly canceled WB family drama "7th Heaven," which is not as critically acclaimed but drew about 7 million viewers for its "finale" episode on May 8 (the show normally draws a little over 5 million viewers).

Stephen Collins, who plays the Christian-minister patriarch of the show's large Camden clan, knows his gain is "Everwood's" loss.

"Don't blame me," he says. "I don't know what went on behind the scenes from our fans, but I know that some people did speak and write letters and make calls, but mostly fans speak through the ratings, and The CW heard. I'm so thrilled."

Also, on ABC, while the freshman sci-fi drama "Invasion" didn't make the cut, the lower-rated midseason drama "What About Brian," starring former "7th" cast member Barry Watson, did.

"Oh, God," Collins says. "I have a feeling they're going to find Barry's and my bodies tied up and thrown in a river somewhere."

Although "7th" seemed quite dead when its finale aired, by the end of the week reports surfaced that The CW had picked it up. With less than a week remaining before the schedule was to be announced on Thursday, May 18, new deals had to be quickly struck with the cast and creator Brenda Hampton ("Fat Actress").

A new financial structure also had to be worked out, but, as the show is produced by CBS Paramount Network Television, a corporate half-sibling of The CW, that was made a bit easier.

"My deal closed at two o'clock on Tuesday afternoon," Collins says. "At four, I got the call saying, 'Would you please go to New York tomorrow morning?' My wife had been visiting her parents. She got home at 10 o'clock, and I'm packing to get up in the morning at 5:30 to make the morning flight. We were ships in the night.

"So I was out of here early on Wednesday, make it there in time for the affiliates dinner and the upfront."

During the presentation, selected CW stars were brought out to address the crowd, with some of the high-heeled women -- including Kristen Bell ("Veronica Mars") and Tyra Banks ("America's Next Top Model") -- nearly taking a fall on a slippery floor inset bearing The CW logo.

But the "7th Heaven" stars weren't brought out to speak.

"We could have slipped like everybody else," Collins says. "They brought us out at the end. It may be that we were such a late fill-in that they had the program written without us."

Afterward, Collins posed for pictures and pressed the flesh with affiliates and advertising executives.

"I did a good hour of that," he says. "What I saw also was that the affiliates and the advertisers were really happy about us coming back. They were wonderfully straightforward about that."

Family dramas like "7th Heaven" are always rare on network television, and Collins has a theory about that.

"There are so few writers," he says, "who really, A, want, and B, have the chops, to write a family drama. It's very hard to make good people interesting. It takes a certain kind of talent, that Brenda has, I've always said this, that Frank Capra had, and that it's much easier said than done.

"People stop me all the time and say, 'Why aren't there more shows like "7th Heaven" on?' Writers tend to get more interested, particularly younger writers, in what's dysfunctional rather than functional.

"What Brenda's strength is, is that she writes functional people who have dysfunctional elements in our lives. People who don't watch '7th Heaven' don't know that. They think it's squeaky clean and everything's perfect all the time.

"But I love that Brenda makes us testy and neurotic, and problems don't always get solved."

The Clown Prince

[The Clown Prince]

Another from Zap2It.com on HOW 7th Heaven was "saved".....

How '7th Heaven' Was Resurrected

Ratings, money played a role


By Rick Porter
May 19 2006

NEW YORK -- It's not entirely clear when executives at The CW decided that "7th Heaven" deserved another year on the air.

The best that anyone could pin down Thursday at the new network's upfront was that sometime between the flurry of promotion for the long-running show's alleged "series finale" and Thursday's show, the network decided it would be a good idea.

"We talked about it initially, and it sort of fell apart, then we talked again," says Dawn Ostroff, The CW's head of programming. And, after considering the show's ratings, it's cost and the rest of The CW's schedule, the show was reborn.

The series about a minister (Stephen Collins) and his large family was the most-watched show on either The WB or UPN this season, even before the loudly hyped last episode brought in 7 million viewers. Prior to that it was drawing about 5.2 million viewers per week.

The economics of making "7th Heaven" -- a prime reason WB executives gave for its pending cancellation in January, before The CW was announced -- will also change some under the new network. CBS Paramount Network TV produces the show, and CBS is a half-owner of the network, which Ostroff says helped ease the way to a deal. (She also says most of the cast will be back next season, as will series creator Brenda Hampton.)

"I can't go into all the finances, but because it was our own company, we were able to figure out how we can make deals that make sense for everybody," Ostroff says.

Finally, Ostroff wants to give "Runaway," The CW's lone new drama for fall, a strong lead-in. The show follows a family who become fugitives when the father (Donnie Wahlberg) is wrongly accused of a crime.

"We looked at 'Runaway,' which is at its core a family drama, and thought ['7th Heaven'] would be a great fit," Ostroff says. "So everything jus kind of came together."

The Clown Prince