CW President Mark Pedowitz had two problems on his hands: a weak Monday-night lineup and a lingering perception of being “the ‘Gossip Girl’ network,” as he put it.
Pedowitz believes both issues have officially been solved now.
The chief of the youngest-skewing broadcast network has been quite pleased with his Tuesday-Friday primetime lineup, as he stated several times to a group of potential advertisers at Thursday’s New York City upfront presentation — but Monday was a whole other story.
See photos: 31 New Show First Looks From the 2014-15 TV Season
Since the CW doesn’t have national primetime programming on Sundays, that left Pedowitz with the issue of having a soft night to start each week, so he elected to shift “The Originals” to Monday at 8 p.m. as the lead-in for new series “Jane the Virgin.”
Based on both the timeslot and comments made before and during the upfronts presentation, Pedowitz and his team have very high hopes for the accidental artificial insemination comedy.
With other new big series “The Flash” kicking off the Tuesday night, the CW hopes to build strong momentum into and throughout the week.
Also read: 2014-2015 TV Season: TheWrap’s Complete Network Guide
The other CW problem that Pedowitz saw was a clear lack of men watching his network, “Gossip Girl” or no “Gossip Girl.” Again, enter “The Flash,” which is based on the DC Comics series and could draw a more balanced viewership.
While “Flash” clearly has crossover appeal with “Arrow,” the network chose to space the two superhero shows out, with the latter starting Wednesday’s primetime.
This year was CW’s top season in three years, but the network believes 2014-2015 has the potential to leave it in the dust, much like its new star Barry Allen’s alter-ego.