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THE 100: FIFTH SEASON TRAILER

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THE ORIGINALS: FIFTH AND FINAL SEASON TRAILER

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The CW Summer Premiere Dates: ‘The Outpost’, ‘Burden Of Truth’ & 4 Returning Series

The CW has set its summer 2018 premiere dates for new drama series The Outpost and Burden of Truth and returning series My Last Days, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Penn & Teller: Fool Us and Masters Of Illusion. In addition, the season finales for Life Sentence and Supergirl are set for Friday, June 14 and Monday, June 18, respectively.

The CW’s two new summer dramas will debut on consecutive nights in July with the new 10-episode fantasy adventure series The Outpost, from executive producer Dean Devlin (Stargate, Independence Day), premiering Tuesday, July 10 (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT), and the investigative legal drama Burden of Truth, starring Kristin Kreuk (Smallville, Beauty And The Beast), premiering Wednesday, July 11 (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT).

The summer trio of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Penn & Teller: Fool Us and Masters of Illusion all return with new episodes in June. Whose Line Is It Anyway? premieres on Monday, June 4 (9-9:30pm ET/PT and 9:30-10:00pm ET/PT), Cycle 5 of the comedy magic series Penn & Teller: Fool Us premieres Monday, June 25 (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT). And Masters Of Illusion makes its season debut with back-to-back new episodes Friday, June 29 (8-8:30pm ET/PT and 8:30-9:00pm ET/PT).

Docuseries My Last Days, hosted and executive produced by Jane the Virgin star Justin Baldoni, returns for its second installment this summer. The three-part special will air Friday, May 25 (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT), Friday, June 1 (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT), and Friday, June 8 (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT).

Additionally, original episodes of The Originals and The 100 will also continue to air throughout the summer.

Following is The CW’s schedule of summer premieres and finales. All times ET/PT:

FRIDAY MAY 25 8-9 PM MY LAST DAYS (Season Premiere) 9-10 PM LIFE SENTENCE (New Episode)

MONDAY JUNE 4 8-9 PM SUPERGIRL (New Episode) 9-9:30PM WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? (Cycle Premiere) 9:30-10 PM WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? (New Episode)

FRIDAY JUNE 15 8-9 PM TBD 9-10 PM LIFE SENTENCE (Season Finale)

MONDAY JUNE 18 8-9 PM SUPERGIRL (Season Finale) 9-9:30PM WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? (New Episode) 9:30-10 PM WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? (Encore Episode)

MONDAY JUNE 25 8-9 PM PENN & TELLER: FOOL US (Cycle 5 Premiere) 9-9:30PM WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? (New Episode) 9:30-10 PM WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? (Encore Episode)

FRIDAY JUNE 29 8-8:30PM MASTERS OF ILLUSION (Cycle 5 Premiere) 8:30-9 PM MASTERS OF ILLUSION (New Episode) 9-10 PM PENN & TELLER: FOOL US (Encore Episode)

TUESDAY JULY 10 8-9 PM THE OUTPOST (Series Premiere) 9-10 PM THE 100 (New Episode)

WEDNESDAY JULY 11 8-9 PM BURDEN OF TRUTH (Series Premiere) 9-10 PM THE ORIGINALS (New Episode)

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The CW Renews 10 Series: ‘Riverdale’, All 5 DC Shows, ‘Supernatural’, ‘Dynasty’, ‘Jane the Virgin’ & ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’

The CW again has given an early renewal to the bulk of its lineup, picking up all returning series on its fall schedule for the 2018-19 season as well as freshmen Dynasty and Black Lightning. The list includes all five DC superhero series, The Flash (Season 5), Arrow (Season 7), Supergirl (Season 4) and Legends of Tomorrow (Season 4), joined by newcomer Black Lighting (Season 2) as well as the venerable Supernatural, picked up for a 14th (!) season, sophomore success Riverdale (Season 3) and  comedies Jane the Virgin (Season 5) and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (Season 4) for what could be the praised duo’s final seasons.

Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez last month referred to then-potential Season 5  as  “our final season,” while Crazy Ex-Girlfriend star/co-creator Rachel Bloom tweeted today, “Just found out that #CrazyExGirlfriend has been renewed for a final season.” While the two Golden Globe-winning series are expected to wrap their runs, the CW did not announce end dates for them today.

“As The CW expands to a six-night, Sunday-through-Friday scheduled next season, we are proud to have such a deep bench of great returning series for 2018-19. By picking these ten series up for next season, we have a terrific selection of programming to choose from when we set our fall schedule in May, with more still to come,” said the CW president Mark Pedowitz.  “And I’m especially happy that we’ll continue to work with the incredibly talented casts, producers, and writers who create the series our fans are so passionate about.”

The CW has a more real estate to play with next season as it is reclaiming Sunday night for original programming but it also ordered the most pilots ever.

The network is expected to play with the sizes of the orders more than ever next season. It already does limited runs for a number of series including DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The 100, iZombie, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend as well as Jane the Virgin this season. The list may grow bigger next season and include more DC shows I hear.

Both new fall CW dramas, Valor and Dynasty, underperformed at similar rating levels. The former did not get a back order and is expected to get officially canceled. Dynasty‘s ratings continue to be soft as it was moved to the lower-trafficked Friday night. But the reboot of the classic 1980s soap has a lucrative distribution deal with Netflix for CBS TV Studios, whose parent CBS co-owns the CW. Additionally, the CW brass hope that the arrival of Nicollette Sheridan as Alexis Carrington would provide the spark that Joan Collins delivered when she joined the original series as Alexis in Season 2. Sheridan’s first episode recently posted a small viewership uptick.

Of the other CW midseason series, iZombie and newbie Life Sentence are on the bubble. iZombie, now in its fourth season, is in the middle of the pack ratings-wise and has established a fan base. Meanwhile, Life Sentence is on shaky ground, logging the smallest Live+same day viewership and 18-49 rating among all CW scripted series this season and recently banished to Fridays after hitting an L+SD demo low mark of 0.1 rating. There is a glimmer of hope for the dramedy starring Pretty Little Liars‘ Lucy Hale, which has been a solid performer in delayed and digital viewing. That helped Riverdale to snag a Season 2 renewal last year, though renewal for Life Sentence is considered a long shot given its very low linear numbers. Pickup decisions on iZombie, Life Sentence and fellow midseason series The 100, whose new season is yet to premiere, are expected to go down to the wire in May.

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Taye Diggs Joins April Blair-Spencer Paysinger Pilot at CW

Taye Diggs has been cast in a major role of The CW’s upcoming drama pilot inspired by the life of football player Spencer Paysinger, Variety has confirmed.

In the pilot, a rising high school football player from South Central L.A. is recruited to play for Beverly Hills High. Diggs will play Beverly Hills High coach Billy Baker who, having attended Crenshaw High himself, has an intense desire to see Spencer succeed even if his efforts impact his relationship with his own son.

Diggs’ recent television credits include “Empire,” “Rosewood,” “The Good Wife,” and “Private Practice.” He is also an accomplished Broadway actor, having appeared in “Rent” and “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” He would go on to star in the film version of “Rent” released in 2005.

He is repped by ICM Partners and Authentic Talent and Literary Management.

April Blair will write and executive produce the Paysinger project, with Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter also executive producing. Robbie Rogers will produce with Dane Morck consulting. Berlanti Productions will produce in association with Warner Bros Television, where Berlanti is set up under an overall deal. As Variety exclusively reported, Rob Hardy will direct the pilot exclusively reported,.

The Hollywood Reporter first broke the news of Diggs’ casting.

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CW Plans Sunday Primetime Block for 2018-19 Season

The CW will launch a two-hour Sunday primetime block for the 2018-19 broadcast season, expanding its linear lineup of original programming from five nights a week to six.

The move represents a vote of confidence in the CW and its business model from parent companies CBS Corp. and Warner Bros., both of whom signed off on it, as well as from affiliates, who will hand a night of programming back to the network.

“We’re very, very happy and very optimistic,” CW president Mark Pedowitz told Variety.“We believe that this is the best thing for the CW and its business model.”

When the CW launched in 2006, it did so with a Sunday programming lineup. But the night proved to be a tough field to compete in for the then-fledgling network, born from the combination of the WB and UPN. In 2008, the network struck a deal with Media Rights Capital, essentially leasing over a five-hour Sunday-night block to the independent producer. That scheme failed, and in 2009 the CW gave Sunday evening back to its affiliates.

Since that time, the television landscape has changed dramatically. Under Pedowitz, who joined in 2011, the CW has shifted its programming strategy, moving from an audience makeup that skewed hard female to a near-even gender balance and increasing its median age to aid affiliates leading into their evening news broadcasts. It has also pursued a digital strategy that emphasizes its own platforms, CWTV.com, an ad-supported platform where it stacks recent episodes of its original programs, and CW Seed, a digital venue for short-form content.

The CW has become a money maker for its parent companies through their deals with Netflix to stream past seasons of shows produced for the network. The current Netflix deals are set to expire in a year and a half. The Sunday expansion gives the CW more shelf space for original series, an indicator that the parent companies have found that producing shows to air on the network than live on via streaming distribution in subsequent years has been profitable.

Pedowitz said that discussions with the parent companies about expanding began in earnest in July, and approval came in December.

“I think everyone is pleased,” Pedowitz said. “This move is a win-win-win for the CW, for our affiliates, and for our owners.”

For affiliates, the prospects of seeing the CW program primetime on Sundays — giving it 12 hours of original programming per week, up from 10 — is now far more attractive than it was a decade ago. In recent seasons, the network, which draws smaller audiences than the Big Four and skews significantly younger, has countered broadcast trends, showing rating stability and even flashes of growth. In Nielsen live-plus-seven numbers, the network is currently averaging 1.8 million primetime viewers (up 3% from last season) a 0.5 rating in the 18-34 demo and a 0.6 rating in the 18-49 demo (both even). It has found critical and commercial success with female-skewing dramedies such as “Jane the Virgin” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”; superhero action dramas such as “Flash” and “Arrow”; and new series “Riverdale” and “Black Lightning.”

“I heard a lot of feedback saying that it gave [affiliates] something to talk to the MVPDs about to try to up their retrans fees,” Chris Brooks, executive vice president of network distribution, said of the expansion, which he worked with affiliates to secure clearance for. “It gave them something to sell on Sunday nights outside of syndication. It was really well received.”

The move back into Sundays, which will go into effect in the fall, has prompted an uptick in development. The network has ordered eight pilots for 2018-19 — in addition to a planted pilot for a likely “Supernatural” spinoff — after ordering six last season and greenlighting four to series.

The CW plans to air 15 original scripted shows this season. Pedowitz said that the network plans to air as many as 20 next season.

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The End Of The World As We Know It Casting News

In what might be one of the biggest discoveries this pilot casting season, digital content creator and star Quinta Brunson (Broke) has landed the co-lead opposite Gage Golightly in the CW’s comedic drama pilot The End of the World as We Know It, from Rob Thomas and Warner Bros TV.

Written by Powerless executive producers/showrunners Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker, The End of the World as We Know It (formerly known as It’s The End of the World as We Know It) is based on the 2012 Alloy book by Iva-Marie Palmer. In the show, when a prison spaceship carrying the universe’s most deadly aliens crashes in Southern California, two millennial women — Kate (Golightly) and Ruby (Brunson), with bigger dreams than working at a kids’ pizza place in the Valley — are recruited by a space cop to hunt down the escaped criminals who have camouflaged themselves as eccentric Angelenos.

Brunson’s Ruby, a hyper-intelligent, upbeat graduate from MIT, hasn’t been able to hold down an engineering job due to her interests shifting a mile a minute. Therefore, she currently works at her parents’ business, a birthday party place/pizza restaurant for kids. But with the arrival of a crashed spaceship, Ruby finally might have found her mission.

Halpern and Schumacker executive produce via their Ehsugadee Productions with Veronica Mars creator Thomas and his frequent collaborators Danielle Stokdyk and Dan Etheridge via Spondoolie Productions as well as Alloy Entertainment’s Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo.

This marks the first traditional-medium role for writer, director and actor Brunson, formerly of BuzzFeed Motion Pictures, who got her start with viral Instagram series The Girl Who’s Never Been on a Nice Date. She went on to create and star in the scripted comedy series Broke on YouTube Red. Branson, who also has a stand-up background, wrote and executive produced workplace comedy Up for Adoption for Verizon’s go90 and most recently Quinta vs. Everything on Facebook Watch. Brunson is repped by ICM Partners, Generate, Foundry Media and AltView Law Group.

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Charmed Casting News

Melonie Diaz (The Breaks) has been cast as one of three sisters at the center of the CW’s dramedy pilot Charmed, from Jane the Virgin creator-showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman and CBS TV Studios.

Penned by Jessica O’Toole and Amy Rardin and created with Urman, the Charmed reboot pis set in the present. Per the CW, “this fierce, funny, feminist reboot of the original series centers on three sisters in a college town who discover they are witches. Between vanquishing supernatural demons, tearing down the patriarchy, and maintaining familial bonds, a witch’s work is never done.”

Diaz will play Mel, a passionate, outspoken activist who loses her way in the wake of family tragedy. She joins Ser’Darius Blain, who has been cast as the boyfriend of Mel’s sister Macy.

Urman, O’Toole and Rardin executive produce with Ben Silverman and Brad Silberling, who is set to direct.

The three sisters in the original series, which aired for eight seasons, were played by Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano, with Rose McGowan replacing Doherty after Season 3, playing a new character.

Diaz has been seen in MGM’s thriller The Belko Experiment, directed by Greg McLean, and will be onscreen this spring in the Nash Edgerton-directed Amazon feature Gringo, opposite David Oyelowo, Charlize Theron and Joel Edgerton. Her TV credits include VH1 series The Breaks and the Duplass brothers’ HBO series Room 104.

She’s repped by Gersh, Thruline Entertainment and Morris Yorn.

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Roswell Casting News

Jeanine Mason (Grey’s Anatomy) has been tapped as the lead of the CW pilot Roswell, a reboot with an immigration twist of the cult sci-fi series.

Written by The Originals scribe Carina Adly MacKenzie and directed by Julie Plec, the reimagined Roswell, like the original, is based on the Roswell High book series by Melinda Metz. It hails from Amblin TV, Bender Brown Prods and Warner Bros. TV.

Reluctantly returning to her tourist-trap hometown of Roswell, New Mexico, Liz Ortecho (Mason), a jaded biomedical researcher and the daughter of undocumented immigrants, is haunted by a tragic incident.  She discovers a shocking truth about her teenage crush who is now a police officer: He’s an alien who has kept his unearthly abilities hidden his entire life. She protects his secret as the two reconnect and begin to investigate his origins, but when a violent attack and long-standing government cover-up point to a greater alien presence on Earth, the politics of fear and hatred threaten to expose him and destroy their deepening romance.

MacKenzie and Plec executive produce alongside Kevin Kelly Brown and Lawrence Bender via their Bender Brown Prods, as well as Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank of Amblin TV.

Mason, whose parents are of Cuban descent, currently recurs as Dr. Sam Bello on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and was previously a series regular on the network’s Of Kings and Prophets. The actress, who started her career as a dancer, winning Season 5 of Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance, also has done guest spots on Criminal Minds, You’re the Worst and Major Crimes. In features, she is probably best known for her role in The Archer. Mason is repped by WME, 3 Arts Entertainment and Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown.

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The CW Pilot Season 2018-19

UNTITLED ROSWELL

The WB and UPN successor the CW is resurrecting Roswell fifteen years after the cult sci-fi title ended its run on the two nets.

Like the original, the reimagined version is based on the Roswell High book series by Melinda Metz.

Written and executive produced by The Originals scribe Carina Adly MacKenzie, the new Roswell reflects the realities of its location in a state bordering Mexico. After reluctantly returning to her tourist-trap hometown of Roswell, NM, the daughter of undocumented immigrants discovers a shocking truth about her teenage crush who is now a police officer: He’s an alien who has kept his unearthly abilities hidden his entire life. She protects his secret as the two reconnect and begin to investigate his origins, but when a violent attack and long-standing government cover-up point to a greater alien presence on Earth, the politics of fear and hatred threaten to expose him and destroy their deepening romance.

Kevin Kelly Brown, who was an executive producer on the original series, is the link that connects the two Roswell incarnations. Besides him, it’s a whole new producing team. Brown and Lawrence Bender executive produce via their Bender Brown Prods, alongside Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank of Amblin TV.

The original Roswell series was developed and executive produced by Jason Katims and introduced a young ensemble that included Katherine Heigl, Shiri Appleby, Colin Hanks Jason Behr, Brendan Fehr, Emilie de Ravin, Majandra Delfino, Nick Wechsler and Adam Rodriguez  — all of whom went on to star on other series.

IN THE DARK

Written by Corinne Kingsbury, the project centers on a flawed and irreverent young woman who just happens to be blind and is the only “witness” to the murder of her drug-dealing friend. When the police dismiss her story, she sets out with her dog, Pretzel, to find the killer while also managing her colorful dating life and the job she hates at Breaking Blind- the guide dog school owned by her overprotective parents.

Kingsbury executive produces with Red Hour Films’ Stiller, Jackie Cohn and Nicky Weinstock.

THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

The CW took in comedic drama It’s The End Of The World As We Know It in a preemptive buy. Written by  Powerless executive producers/showrunners Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker, It’s The End Of The World As We Know It is based on the 2012 Alloy book of the same name by Iva-Marie Palmer. In the show, when a prison spaceship carrying the universe’s most deadly aliens crashes in Southern California, two millennial women with bigger dreams than working at a kids’ pizza place in The Valley are recruited by a space cop to hunt down the escaped criminals, who have camouflaged themselves as eccentric Angelenos.

Halpern and Schumacker executive produce via their Ehsugadee Productions withVeronica Mars creator Rob Thomass and his frequent collaborators Danielle Stokdyk and Dan Etheridge via Spondoolie Productions as well as Alloy Entertainment’s Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo.

PLAYING DEAD

Written by Rina Mimoun and Josh Reims, the project is a dysfunctional family dramedy about a mortician and his son whose lives are turned upside down when the woman who abandoned them 15 years ago returns and asks them to fake her death.

Mimoun and Reims executive produce with Intrigue’s Tariq Jalil and Lucas Carter.

SPENCER

Written by April Blair (Reign), Spencer is inspired by the life of pro football player Spencer Paysinger and produced by LA Galaxy soccer player Robbie Rogers, It centers on a rising high school football player from South Central L.A. When he is recruited to play for Beverly Hills High, the wins, losses, and struggles of two families from vastly different worlds — Compton and Beverly Hills — begin to collide. Dane Morck serves as a consultant.

Blair executive produces with Berlanti Prods.’ Berlanti, who is married to Rogers, and Sarah Schechter.

SKINNY DIP

Written by Russel Friend and Garrett Lerner based on the novel by Carl Hiaasen, in Skinny Dip, after her husband tries to kill her on what she thought was a romantic cruise to celebrate their second wedding anniversary, a woman teams with a jaded ex-cop to exact her own twisted brand of revenge on her cheating spouse, and winds up uncovering a wider conspiracy in the process.

Friend and Lerner executive produce with Peter Traugott and Rachel Kaplan of Keshet Studios, Avi Nir and Alon Shtruzman.

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For a second consecutive year, the CW has handed out its first two pilot orders to a high-profile reboot of a long-running series from CBS TV Studios and a project from one of Warner Bros. TV’s top producers. Last season, the nods went to Dynasty and the Greg Berlanti-produced Searchers. This time the network has greenlighted a new Charmed, from Jane the Virgin creator/showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman and the CW dramedy’s executive producer Ben Silverman, writers/co-executive producers Jessica O’Toole and Amy Rardin, and the pilot’s director Brad Silberling; as well as Dead Inside, an hourlong drama from writer Katie Lovejoy and producer Bill Lawrence.

The CW originally tried to bring back Charmed, one of the signature dramas of predecessor the WB, last season, when it ordered a reimagining of the original Aaron Spelling series from the same creative auspices. It was to be set in 1976 and feature a new trio of witches. The project was rolled over to this development season largely because Urman was too busy with Jane the Virgin and had no time to work on Charmed.

The new Charmed script, penned by O’Toole and Rardin based on a story by Urman, is set in present time. Per the CW, whose brass greenlighted the pilot shortly after getting the script, “this fierce, funny, feminist reboot of the original series centers on three sisters in a college town who discover they are witches. Between vanquishing supernatural demons, tearing down the patriarchy, and maintaining familial bonds, a witch’s work is never done.”

Urman, O’Toole and Rardin executive produce with  Silverman and Silberling who is set to direct.

In Dead Inside, penned by Lovejoy, after surviving an explosion that killed her hotshot detective big brother, an underachieving beat cop starts seeing his ghost, flipping their sibling dynamic on its head and allowing her to truly live her life for the first time, as they work together to help crime victims both living and dead, and figure out the unfinished business keeping his spirit on Earth.

The premise is somewhat reminiscent of last season’s CW/WBTV drama series Frequency, in which a young female detective was able to communicate with her dead cop father to solve a case together.

Lovejoy executive produces Dead Inside with Doozer’s Lawrence and Jeff Ingold. Doozer also is behind the upcoming CW comedic hourlong series Life Sentence.

On the feature side, Lovejoy was tapped by Warner Bros. to write The Selection, based on the YA books; and the Pride & Prejudice retelling The Season. In TV, she wrote the 2016 NBC drama pilot Miranda’s Rights.

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Gage Golightly (Red Oaks) has been cast as a lead of the CW’s comedic drama pilot The End of the World as We Know It, from Rob Thomas and Warner Bros TV.

Written by Powerless executive producers/showrunners Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker, The End of the World as We Know It (formerly known as It’s The End of the World as We Know It) is based on the 2012 Alloy book by Iva-Marie Palmer. In the show, when a prison spaceship carrying the universe’s most deadly aliens crashes in Southern California, two millennial women — Kate (Golightly) and Laura, with bigger dreams than working at a kids’ pizza place in the Valley — are recruited by a space cop to hunt down the escaped criminals who have camouflaged themselves as eccentric Angelenos.

Golightly’s Kate is a struggling actress who’s unable to catch a break. She is looking for a role with a “hero line,” and finally might have found it when she and her best friend stumble upon the crashed spaceship.

Halpern and Schumacker executive produce via their Ehsugadee Productions with Veronica Mars creator Thomas and his frequent collaborators Danielle Stokdyk and Dan Etheridge via Spondoolie Productions as well as Alloy Entertainment’s Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo.

Golightly’s series credits include Amazon’s Red Oaks and ABC’s Ten Days in the Valley. Repped by ICM Partners and Industry Entertainment, she also is in the movie Step Sisters, which is streaming on Netflix.

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Fall in love with #LifeSentence, March 7 on The CW!

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In this town, no one is safe. Riverdale returns in ONE MONTH on Wednesday, October 11 at 8/7c on The CW.

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Surviving was just the beginning. Valor premieres October 9 at 9/8c on The CW.

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All's fair in love, war, and the family business. Dynasty premieres Wednesday, October 11 on The CW.

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Dynasty First Look Trailer