As always, it’s The CW that finishes up each year’s Upfronts, following on from NBC, USA, CBS, Fox and ABC. Also as always, the network doesn’t have many new shows to flaunt. That’s because it’s got a great big roster of returning superhero shows, among others – gone are the days when women aged 16-30 were the network’s sole target; the median age of its viewers is now 43.
It’s also because it’s now got Supergirl, which is moving over from sister company CBS for its second season. The network is already promising mega crossovers between all the superhero shows, although whether we’ll get a single The Flash/Arrow/Supergirl/DC’s Legends of Tomorrow crossover, multiple crossovers or crossovers between different subsets of the shows remains to be seen. Also remaining to be seen, given the show’s impending relocation to Vancouver for filming and reduced budget, is whether Calista Flockheart will be along for the ride, given that the LA filming of Supergirl was one of the reasons she signed up for the show in the first place.
Anyway, no new footage for Supergirl, but The CW has put together a couple of little trailers to promote its new arrival and expanding portfolio.
There are four new shows in total, but only two new new shows to look at after the jump:
Frequency: Adaptation of the movie with 2016 cop Peyton List is able to use her ham radio to talk to her dead father in 1996 and change history, not always for the better.
No Tomorrow: Adaptation of a Brazillian show, with staid office worker meeting carefree hunk. One problem: he thinks the world will end in just a few months. But he’s hot so they decide to work through their bucket lists together.
The remaining new new show, Riverdale, is an adaptation of the Archie comic, but it’s a mid-season replacement and there’s no trailer, so there’s nothing to be done.
CBS ain’t what it used to be. The home of procedurals and television aimed at old, white, conservative guys, it used to only need to come up with four new shows a year to replace its duds, its reliable stable of franchises otherwise ticking over nicely.
But now it’s number two, its franchises are dying, and there are fewer and fewer old, white, conservative guys still alive to watch its shows. So following on from USA, NBC, Fox and ABC, here’s this year’s surprisingly large crop of new shows unveiled by CBS at its Upfronts, all designed to bring in a new viewership:
Bull: white guy helps fix trials while his white team looks on adoringly
Doubt: sexy lawyer Katherine Heigl is falling for her sexy white guy client
The Great Indoors: old-school white guys mock diverse millennials they don’t understand
Kevin Can Wait: old white guy Kevin James retires
MacGyver: young white guy tech genius follows in his old white guy father’s footsteps to defeat not-white guy criminals
Man With A Plan: old white guy Matt LeBlanc tries to become a house husband but isn’t as good as his wife was
Pure Genius: young white guy tech genius cures all known diseases
Training Day: old white guy cop mentors naive young black guy cop
Spotting a problem yet? Oh yes. And there’s Star Trek. But that’s online.
Health warning: all the following trailers are virtually unwatchable and could lower your IQ