The CW Announces Schedule Changes, Moves "Supernatural"
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CP Cochran
By CP Cochran
Published on 01/6/2008
The CW is moving Supernatural's time slot at the end of February...
Supernatural will lose its time slot and its lead in
The CW has announced some schedule changes as a result of the writer's strike. Among them, according to The Futon Critic, on February 28, when the cult hit Supernatural runs out of new episodes, the network's freshman series Reaper will move into Supernatural's time slot Thursday nights at 9, right after Smallville. TV Guide says Supernatural will begin airing the remainder of its already filmed episodes January 31.
Hollywood Reporter spoke to Kelly Kahl, the executive who oversees programming at both CBS and The CW. "With the strike, we have an interesting opportunity to experiment," Kahl says. "With the nice stability from our reality shows, we can get a look at how some of these (scripted) shows do in other time periods." Since reality tv doesn't fall under WGA jurisdiction, many networks are banking on those series to carry them through the writer's strike.
According to Variety, The CW also seems greatly concerned with promoting its new hit Gossip Girl, although the series will be in repeats for a while. Supernatural is currently in its third season, and its steady ratings and strong fan base make it an anchor show for The CW, which may be why the netlet felt it was safe to shuffle. However, Supernatural, which is a better show than it often gets credit for being, fits the classic profile of a show "on the bubble" -- ratings decent enough to keep it on the air, but always in danger of falling below the line. Moving a show around interferes with its ability to keep up ratings momentum.
The media and the network has long acknowledged that Smallville was the perfect lead-in for it, and Supernatural enjoys a high audience retention rate. A schedule change may not be an entirely bad thing in the long run, however; its current Thursday night slot puts it up against mega-hits like Grey's Anatomy and CSI.
Part of the problem seems to be that not enough viewers know that Supernatural, a clever mix of horror, comedy, and family drama, is even there. This move will feed worries that The CW isn't fully invested in supporting what could be its best show since the network cancelled Veronica Mars.
Fans as well as those involved with the show have noticed the low amount of advertising. Jensen Ackles, who plays Dean Winchester, told TV Guide back in October 2007 that he feels the show is "somewhat" supported by the network. "They have a lot of other shows they're trying to launch, and they probably figure that once we're up and running, we can survive on our own. We've hardly had any promotion this year." On the counter-programming against the ratings giants, Ackles said, "the network's excuse for it is, 'That's not your audience, it's an older audience.' I disagree. The same age range watching those shows are tuning in to our show and buying the DVDs." In an interview with TV Addict in September 2007, show creator and executive producer Eric Kripke said, "We always joke that we’re the best kept secret since the Manhattan Project. We don’t get a lot of promotion or advertising, so we have to figure out ways to spread the gospel ourselves, to let genre fans know there’s a bad ass horror show on the CW."
Sources:
The Futon Critic
Variety
TV Guide (interview)
Hollywood Reporter
The TV Addict
Hollywood Reporter spoke to Kelly Kahl, the executive who oversees programming at both CBS and The CW. "With the strike, we have an interesting opportunity to experiment," Kahl says. "With the nice stability from our reality shows, we can get a look at how some of these (scripted) shows do in other time periods." Since reality tv doesn't fall under WGA jurisdiction, many networks are banking on those series to carry them through the writer's strike.
According to Variety, The CW also seems greatly concerned with promoting its new hit Gossip Girl, although the series will be in repeats for a while. Supernatural is currently in its third season, and its steady ratings and strong fan base make it an anchor show for The CW, which may be why the netlet felt it was safe to shuffle. However, Supernatural, which is a better show than it often gets credit for being, fits the classic profile of a show "on the bubble" -- ratings decent enough to keep it on the air, but always in danger of falling below the line. Moving a show around interferes with its ability to keep up ratings momentum.
The media and the network has long acknowledged that Smallville was the perfect lead-in for it, and Supernatural enjoys a high audience retention rate. A schedule change may not be an entirely bad thing in the long run, however; its current Thursday night slot puts it up against mega-hits like Grey's Anatomy and CSI.
Part of the problem seems to be that not enough viewers know that Supernatural, a clever mix of horror, comedy, and family drama, is even there. This move will feed worries that The CW isn't fully invested in supporting what could be its best show since the network cancelled Veronica Mars.
Fans as well as those involved with the show have noticed the low amount of advertising. Jensen Ackles, who plays Dean Winchester, told TV Guide back in October 2007 that he feels the show is "somewhat" supported by the network. "They have a lot of other shows they're trying to launch, and they probably figure that once we're up and running, we can survive on our own. We've hardly had any promotion this year." On the counter-programming against the ratings giants, Ackles said, "the network's excuse for it is, 'That's not your audience, it's an older audience.' I disagree. The same age range watching those shows are tuning in to our show and buying the DVDs." In an interview with TV Addict in September 2007, show creator and executive producer Eric Kripke said, "We always joke that we’re the best kept secret since the Manhattan Project. We don’t get a lot of promotion or advertising, so we have to figure out ways to spread the gospel ourselves, to let genre fans know there’s a bad ass horror show on the CW."
Sources:
The Futon Critic
Variety
TV Guide (interview)
Hollywood Reporter
The TV Addict