The CW has fought and clawed its way into being a solid B-side slate of shows. There are not many ‘must-see’ programs on the station but there are more than enough filler shows that most anyone can enjoy versus the eternal battle of “what do we watch on Netflix now” …
It has announced that most all of its evening lineup will be back for their next season.
Deadline reported that seven shows including The Flash, Riverdale, and Nancy Drew would be renewed. As would All-American, Walker, Kung Fu, as well as Superman & Lois.
The first three shows were much less of a surprise — alongside Superman & Lois — than were the three of the later four, but all got new orders.
The Flash is set to take the title of “The CW’s longest-running Arrowverse series” as it will move into Season 9. The title will move from Arrow, which ended after eight seasons. There was some concern that Grant Gustin would not come back. However in January it was reported that he was close to finalizing a contract for Season 9, which apparently happened thus paving the way for the renewal.
Riverdale will be going onto its seventh season at The CW — a surprising run, to be honest. The show is kinda-sorta part of the “Archie” comic franchise and stars KJ Apa, Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes, and Cole Sprouse. The names of the characters reflect those in the longrunning comic strip series though unlike many of the comic-based shows, this one has very little connection to the comics.
It was also, basically, a lock that Superman & Lois was coming back. The show just launched its first season and they did not pay all the money for Supes’ rights to only use it for one season.
Some of the other renewals were a little more surprising.
Nancy Drew has not gained the following that some thought. The show is amounting to a meh-version of Veronica Mars, but it will be back for Season 4.
Walker is headed into Season 3 after a down Season 2. Jared Padalecki will get another shot to connect with more viewers, but this show does not appear long for network broadcast.
All-American has to be losing steam. It is now in Season 5 … so, how much more high school football can we really cover here? It will definitely drop off once they realize they have to tell more of this story and there isn’t a lot of traction for it to move forward. This is probably nearing an unmerciful end.
Kung Fu is only in a few episodes into Season 2 — which started on March 9 — but it has already been re-upped for a Season 3.
