The TV Column

CW announces one new show for fall season

I have a co-worker who asked me last week what I was working on and I said, "The new fall schedule for The CW."

"The CW?" he asked with a blank look. "What's that?"

Understandable. My co-worker is middle-aged, doesn't watch much TV, and until recently was about 30 years and a Y chromosome beyond the The CW's target demographic.

But The CW, the smallest of the five broadcast networks, is now pursuing an audience other than teenage girls. These days, The CW is the home of fantasy (Beauty & the Beast, Reign), horror (Vampire Diaries, The Originals), science fiction (The 100) and comic-book fare (The Flash, Arrow, iZombie).

The CW president Mark Pedowitz recently boasted, "We had our most watched season, and our highest-rated season among men, in seven years -- a strategy we set in motion a few years ago to broaden out and grow our audience."

If you liked The CW last season, you'll also like this season. There is only one new show in the fall lineup, with two more in the wings for midseason.

But first, a fond farewell to the two CW shows not invited back for 2015-2016.

Cancellations: The Messengers; Hart of Dixie. In limbo: Cedric's Barber Battle has been pulled from the schedule.

FALL SHOW

As usual, The CW's fall will delay until October so as not to be trampled by the Big Boy networks. The solitary newcomer on the fall schedule is, according to Pedowitz, "original and hilarious, and will work as a perfect companion for Jane the Virgin on Monday nights."

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: The delightful actress-comedian Rachel Bloom (Robot Chicken) stars as Rebecca Bunch, a successful, driven, young woman who impulsively gives up everything, including her partnership at a prestigious law firm and her upscale apartment in Manhattan, to stalk her ex-boyfriend and try to find love in that exotic hotbed of romance and adventure, West Covina, Calif.

The musical comedy was originally developed for Showtime, The CW's premium channel cousin, and was a good deal racier. Because it's now broadcast, Pedowitz says the show "has been toned down a bit." Translation: no bare breasts, R-rated sex scenes or coarse language.

Good omen: The series comes from Aline Brosh McKenna, the writer of The Devil Wears Prada, and director Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man).

MIDSEASON SHOWS

DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill, Doctor Who) is a time-traveling rogue who has seen the future and desperately needs to prevent it from happening.

Hunter is tasked with assembling an eclectic group to challenge Vandal Savage, an immortal who not only threatens the planet, but time itself.

Legends: Victor Garber (Alias) is Firestorm; Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) is The Atom; Caity Lotz (Arrow) plays White Canary; Ciara Renee (Pippin) is Hawkgirl; Dominic Purcell (Prison Break) plays Heat Wave; and Wentworth Miller (Prison Break) is Captain Cold.

Containment: A deadly epidemic breaks out in Atlanta and a vast urban quarantine area is set up. Those trapped inside are forced to fight infection, isolation, fear and the disintegration of society. Officials on the outside desperately search for a cure.

Unlike Legends, there are no well-known actors in the large ensemble. We'll cover them more as midseason approaches.

Note: The 100 returns at midseason for Season 3 when "their new-found sense of normalcy will be short-lived."

The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:

mstorey@arkansasonline.com

Weekend on 05/28/2015

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