Thursday, May 21, 2009

The CW schedule: 'Thursdays go Goth,' pairing Supernatural, Vampire

The CW's hot new Twilight-tinged series The Vampire Diaries is kicking longtime resident Smallville off of Thursdays while pairing up with Supernatural, the network announced in the upfront presentation of its 2009-'10 schedule on Thursday. Meanwhile, the network canceled Reaper, as expected, though it's unclear whether the show will live on in first-run syndication.

"Thursdays go Goth" is one of The CW's new taglines. The Smallville/Supernatural pairing on Thursdays has been a staple on The CW for years, with the DC Comics-inspired Smallville doing fairly well and Supernatural building its ratings despite the worst competition on TV (it airs opposite Grey's Anatomy and CSI). Both shows had already gotten pickups from the network.

The strategic move to pair The Vampire Diaries with Supernatural aims at a younger-skewing audience by drawing in the teenage Twilight fangirls who are hungry for more vampire angst. Meanwhile, Smallville certainly can't hurt The CW on Fridays, and it will have a chance to play out its ninth and final season.

The Vampire Dairies centers on a teenage girl named Elena who falls for a new, handsome and mysterious student, Stefan, who turns out to be a vampire. Unfortunately, Stefan, a good vampire, has a brother named Damon, who's not so good, and he's very interested in Elena. The series is based on the L.J. Smith book series (which predates Stephenie Meyers' Twilight books) and is from Kevin Williamson (Dawson's Creek) and Julie Plec (Kyle XY). The Vampire Dairies stars Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder (Lost).

As for Reaper's cancellation, there has been some buzz about the series moving to syndication. But Reaper star Tyler Labine is moving on to the Fox comedy Sons of Tucson, while the show's creators Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas just signed a production deal with rival studio 20th Century Fox TV and won't be back.

sci-fi wire....

1 comment:

  1. No, don't give up on Reaper yet! Check us out at reaperdmv.com for our save this show campaign. We even got contacted by creator Tara Butters who said that even tho she and Michele signed a contract with Fox, they had an agreement to continue with Reaper if it continues. Doesnt' that sound promising? And Tyler, well the affiliates are emailing some of us back and asking fans if they'd still watch without Sock. Correct answer: YES.

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