The CW unveils Veronica-free fall schedule

Posted May 17th 2007 5:15PM by Beth Gaston Moon
Filed under: Television, Time Warner (TWX), CBS Corp 'B' (CBS)

I may have to call in sick for the remainder of the day. My second-favorite show in recent memory, Veronica Mars (number one is the U.S. version of The Office), has apparently met a premature end, as I feared. The precedent has certainly established that critical acclaim and a rabidly loyal cult following aren't enough to save a show (I should know, as a fan of Arrested Development, My So-Called Life, Twin Peaks, Freaks and Geeks ... now I'm getting depressed). But the fat lady has merely warmed up and is waiting in the wings; while the snarky show about the teen P.I. isn't on the CW's fall schedule, it may be considered as a mid-season replacement. Frankly, I wish they'd just put all of us out of our misery. (Edit: Apparently life support has been pulled; the latest update indicates Veronica is officially canceled. Help me.)

Returning: America's Next Top Model, Beauty and the Geek, Everybody Hates Chris, Friday Night Smackdown, The Game, Girlfriends, One Tree Hill, Pussycat Dolls Present (midseason), Smallville, Supernatural.

Canceled: 7th Heaven, All of Us, Gilmore Girls, Reba, Runaway, Veronica Mars (?).

The year-old netlet, a joint venture between Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) and CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), has also greenlit seven new series. Three reality shows are in the works, including a dating show entitled Farmer Wants a Wife (I weep for the future of our country) and a mother-daughter beauty pageant named Crowned (oh, the humanity).

Four scripted series are also in the works. I'm most excited about Gossip Girl, a teen drama centered on a motley group of Manhattan youth at an elite private high school. The series, from O.C.-creator Josh Schwartz, is based on the Cecily Von Ziegesar series of books by the same name. The books are the guiltiest of pleasures -- Sweet Valley High for a new generation.

Also hitting the CW's fall schedule is The Reaper, which features a bounty hunt for the devil himself, and Aliens in America, a sitcom about a Muslim foreign exchange student living with an American family. Hilarity ensues.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Tags: CBS, Fall TV schedule, FallTvSchedule, television ratings, TelevisionRatings, The CW network, TheCwNetwork, TWX, upfronts, Veronica Mars, VeronicaMars