The CW Upfront: 3 New Shows, Changes on 4 Nights

Sticking with its theme of targeting young females, The CW will introduce three new series next fall -- all dramas -- with changes impacting four out of its five nights of programming. (Sunday has been handed back to the affiliates.)Monday will remain intact care of returning dramas Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill. Sophomore 90210 on Tuesday will move back into the 8 p.m. hour, leading into Melrose Place, a revival of the classic Fox drama. Still potent America’s Next Top Model will continue as the Wednesday anchor, leading into compatible-sounding drama The Beautiful Life, which focuses on the trials and tribulations of young models, male and female, in New York City. In a surprise move, veteran Smallville will relocate to Friday at 8 p.m. (and into the traditional America’s Next Top Model encore), opening the Thursday 8 p.m. time period to highly touted The Vampire Diaries, which could be described as a combination of Charmed meets Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (see New Program Descriptions below). The Vampire Diaries leads into returning Supernatural, which heads into season five.The CW will, in addition, launch another new drama in midseason, Parental Discretion Advised, the story of a 15-year-old female teen who meets her biological parents for the first time. Missing from The CW’s fall lineup is sophomore drama Reaper, which may remain alive in first-run syndication, freshman drama Privileged, sitcoms Everybody Hates Chris and The Game, and the nonscripted 13: Fear is Real. Lily, the proposed spinoff from Gossip Girl, did not make the cut as well. Here is The CW’s fall 2009 schedule, with the new shows capped and bolded, followed by the new show descriptions: Monday 8:00 p.m. Gossip Girl 9:00 p.m. One Tree Hill Tuesday 8:00 p.m. 90210 (new time) 9:00 p.m. MELROSE PLACE Wednesday 8:00 p.m. America’s Next Top Model 9:00 p.m. THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE Thursday 8:00 p.m. THE VAMPIRE DIARIES 9:00 p.m. Supernatural Friday 8:00 p.m. Smallville (new day) 9:00 p.m. America’s Next Top Model (repeat) New Program Descriptions Drama The Beautiful Life A group of young aspiring male and female models in New York is the focus of this new drama. The ensemble cast includes Mischa Barton (The O.C.), Corbin Bleu, Ben Hollingsworth, Ashley Madekew, Sara Paxton, Nico Tortorella and Elle Macpherson. Melrose Place The over-the-top serial returns with Thomas Colabro and Laura Leighton reprising their roles as scheming Michael and Sydney as a new group of twentysomethings inhabit a small apartment courtyard complex in West Hollywood. Katie Cassidy, Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen and Ashlee Simpson also star. Vampire Diaries Based on the Alloy book series, a young woman is the object of desire of two vampire brothers…one good and one evil. The cast includes Candice Accola, Sara Canning, Steven R. McQueen and former Lost star Ian Somerhalder. Parental Discretion Advised (midseason)After spending her entire life in foster care, a 15-year-old female teen (Britt Robertson) decides to take control of her life, ultimately meeting her biological parents (Kristoffer Polaha and Shiri Appleby) and being put in their temporary care.

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The CW Upfront: 3 New Shows, Changes on 4 Nights

Marc Berman

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