CW fights crime with ‘Batwoman,’ ‘Nancy Drew’
NEW YORK – CW is plotting three new series next season, and they have one thing in common: All are familiar franchises.
The smallest of the five major broadcast networks – and the last to present its 2019-20 schedule to advertisers – is still big on DC Comics superheroes, adding “Batwoman” to a stable of five more. Two more new series are based on an Archie Comics character and a fabled teenage detective.
Highlights of its plans, unveiled Thursday with a performance by the Jonas Brothers:
What’s new: ‘Batwoman’ and ‘Nancy Drew’
The network, which expanded to Sundays for a sixth night of programming last fall, has only two newcomers due this fall: “Batwoman” stars Ruby Rose as Kate Kane, who returns home to protect her endangered father (Dougray Scott) and becomes a dark knight vigilante, continuing the legacy of her cousin, Bruce Wayne.
“Nancy Drew” stars Kennedy McMann as the brilliant teenage detective, whose mother’s death derails her college plans. Nancy swears off crime-solving until a socialite’s murder leaves her a prime suspect.
Streaming questions
CW’s streaming deal with Netflix – which has brought new fans to many of its shows – expired last month, although Netflix retains rights to existing series for several years. But “Batwoman” and “Drew” have no immediate online homes, aside from in-season repeats on the network’s free app and site. CW’s owners, WarnerMedia and CBS, have yet to decide where to sell future series. (”Batwoman” is expected to eventually wind up on War
ner Media’s planned streaming service.) But the network’s shows generate a large proportion of their viewing online.
Schedule shifts
Three returning series will find new homes this fall: “All American” moves to Mondays, the remake of witchy “Charmed” is shunted to Fridays and the final season of CW’s first DC series, “Arrow,” will air on Tuesdays.
What else is coming … and going
“Riverdale” spinoff “Katy Keene,” based on the Archie Comics character, will arrive at midseason. It stars Lucy Hale (”Pretty Little Liars”) as a wouldbe fashion legend who hangs with her twentysomething pals, singer/songwriter Josie McCoy (Ashleigh Murray), of Josie and the Pussycats, performer Jorge Lopez/Ginger (Jonny Beauchamp), and “It Girl” Pepper Smith (Julia Chan).
All five freshmen dramas from this season were renewed. Other series returning later are “Legends of Tomorrow,” “In the Dark,” “The 100” and “Roswell, New Mexico.”
Gone are “Jane the Virgin,” “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and “iZombie.”