The CW has handed out early renewals to its three strongest performers, “Arrow”, “The Vampire Diaries”, and “Supernatural.” The three programs will come back in fall 2013, “Supernatural” back for a ninth season, and “The Vampire Diaries” for its fifth. This should come to no surprise as these shows outperform their CW counterparts considerably.
“Arrow”, the freshman hit, gave the network the best series premiere since 2009 and is currently the network’s most watched show. “The Vampire Diaries” continues to impress with its social and online popularity, its performance in key demographics (adults 18-49 and women 18-34) is the network’s most successful and remains strong. The CW veteran, “Supernatural” has experienced a resurgence after being paired up with “Arrow” on Wednesday nights and has seen a significant hike in its ratings from the last season. There is no denying that the show’s status as a long-running fan favorite plays a part in the renewal and the network’s support of the show.
Still on the bubble at the CW are “90120”, “Nikita”, “Hart of Dixie”, “Beauty and the Beast”, and “The Carrie Diaries”, which have all been struggling in the ratings. Seeing as all the renewals are more niche, genre shows, there might be a shift coming the network’s way. For a while now the CW has been home to many a teen drama and soaps from “Gossip Girl” to “One Tree Hill” to “Veronica Mars”, but this new success with genre shows might encourage executives to employ an overhaul of the network’s programing and a transition into more science fiction, genre-fueled shows. It’ll be interesting to see what shows the CW ends up picking up and what kind of pilots the network orders for the new fall season.
