THE TV COLUMN: The CW knows its niche: Conniving, beautiful people

By Michael Storey

LITTLE ROCK — There's nothing funny about The CW anymore.

Seriously, the mini-network (two hours a night and only Monday through Friday) has canned both its comedies for the fall. The Game and Everybody Hates Chris are history. Also canned are Reaper and Privileged.

In their place, The CW plans to air only dramas and reality programs designed to appeal to its target audience of young women. Officially, that's 18- to 34-year-old women, but lots of other teen girls come along for the ride.

The CW is a niche network that has finally decided to stick with what's working for it - soapy dramas that star impossibly pretty young people.

There will be three new dramas arriving in the fall, including the highly anticipated remake of Melrose Place, and one at midseason. Here's a brief look:

Melrose Place. Fans will recall that the Fox original was a spinoff from Beverly Hills, 90210, and ran from 1992-99.

The series was also a showcase for the many talents of Heather Locklear and brought us Marcia Cross. Cross, who stars on Desperate Housewives, had one season on Knots Landing before landing on Melrose Place.

Also in the original were Thomas Calabro as Dr. Michael Mancini and Laura Leighton as Sydney Andrews. (Tidbit: Leighton is married to Desperate Housewives star and former Melrose co-star Doug Savant.)

Both of those actors are back reprising their roles. I know, you thought Sydney was dead. Run down on her wedding day. Did you seen a body? It doesn't matter anyway. This is television, where miracles happen every day.

Sydney will be the new landlord of the trendy apartment building full of a new generation of twenty something hotties and schemers. At 40, she's a cougar. The kids had better watch out.

Katie Cassidy (Harper's Island) plays a publicist who has issues with Sydney. Shaun Sipos is another tenant who has had an affair with Sydney. Colin Egglesfield portrays a tenant who met Sydney at an AA meeting and has avoided her since she started boozing again.

There are other tenants, including one played by Ashlee Simpson-Wentz (note her new post-nuptial hyphenation), but we'll get into those in the fall.

What's that? Sure, Ashlee may be Jessica's little sister, but she can act. She was on 7th Heaven for two years, after all. And she was "High School Girl" in a seminal episode of Malcolm in the Middle in 2001. Ashlee's 24 now and a redhead.And married. And a mother.

True, she and Pete burdened their son with the name Bronx Mowgli Wentz, but who among us hasn't named our kids after a borough in New York and a character from The Jungle Book?

Suffice it to say that the very first episode will find a bloody body in the courtyard pool. Everybody is a suspect.

The Beautiful Life. Don't forget that The CW is the home of America's Next Top Model. It's a big hit for the network.

Likewise, The Beautiful Life is set in the glitzy world of high-fashion modeling and, again, we'll have lots and lots of beautiful young people to look at.

The drama follows two teens (Sara Paxton, Benjamin Hollingsworth) from middle America trying to make it in the Big City. The show is produced by the beautiful Ashton Kutcher and features the return of the beautiful Mischa Barton (The O.C.) as a supermodel.

The Vampire Diaries.

Vampires are hot these days and The CW is joining the parade. This drama follows the adventures of handsome vampire Stefan (Paul Wesley), who is trying to live peacefully among humans.

His handsome but evil vamp brother Damon (Ian Somerhalder) is your worst nightmare.

Both brothers have the hots for beautiful 17-year-old Elena (Nina Dobrev). Which will she pick? Let the teen drama begin.

Parental Discretion Advised. This midseason drama is set in Portland, Ore., and deals with a 16-year-old foster-home girl (Britt Robertson) who finds her biological parents, portrayed by Shiri Appleby and Kerr Smith. Most of these folks are also gorgeous.

THE CW SCHEDULE

Here's the announced fall lineup:

Monday: Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill.

Tuesday: 90210, Melrose Place.

Wednesday: America's Next Top Model, The Beautiful Life.

Thursday: The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural.

Friday: Smallville, Top Model encore.

Program note

: The new season of Burn Notice returns to USA at 8 p.m. today, followed by the new series Royal Pains at 9. The latter stars Mark Feuerstein as a blackballed doctor who winds as a concierge doctor tending the rich and famous in the Hamptons.

The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. E-mail:

mstorey@arkansasonline.com

Weekend, Pages 35 on 06/04/2009

Comments

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ReaperDMV says...

Industry insiders confirm Hollywood Reporter's article that ABC Studios is actively trying to sell Reaper. Syndication is a very real possiblity right now, but EVERYONE is recommending writing your affiliates! Help out! All details here: http://community.livejournal.com/reap... or visit http://reaperdmv.com for the most up-to-date information.

June 4, 2009 at 2:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

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