No network executive goes through as many press conference questions/answers as CW President Mark Pedowitz.
On Wednesday (January 15), Pedowitz makes his latest TCA press tour appearance after a fall that saw the network renew all of its new shows, even if “Reign” and “Tomorrow People” are both struggling to retain their lead-ins.
Expect questions about the “Arrow” spinoff of “The Flash” as well as some other DC Comics stuff, probably.
Click through to follow along.
1:30 p.m. The CW has pretty people on its shows. And models posing as pages, to boot.
1:34 p.m. Mark Pedowitz says that if this were college, we’d do this outside by the pool.
1:35 p.m. Pedowitz says that he and Rob Thomas spoke yesterday about the “Veronica Mars” spinoff on the digital seed platform. It may not arrive before the movie. No more details.
1:35 p.m. Pedowitz says that “Beauty and the Beast” will return at the end of May. No decision has been made on a third season.
1:35 p.m. He thinks the “Nikita” team did a great job wrapping things up.
1:35 p.m. The Lauren Graham script at the network is excellent, but they’ll have to decide if it fits.
1:36 p.m. Why does The CW dress its pages like they’re walking the runway? “I don’t know how to answer that question. I’ll look into it,” he says.
1:37 p.m. ‘I’m very bullish on ‘Reign,'” Pedowitz says, calling Adelaide Kane “regal and queenlike.” He points out that its ratings have gone up a tiny bit.
1:38 p.m. “We are a high concept slash fantasy meets serialized drama,” Pedowitz says of The CW’s brand. He thinks that “Gossip Girl” would still count. He says, however, that “Emily Owens” is the kind of show that doesn’t play on The CW.
1:39 p.m. What plans does The CW have with the Canadian comedy “Seed.” They haven’t made plans to change its name to avoid confusion with CW Seed, the digital platform. He views it as a companion piece with “Who’s Line?” for the summer.
1:40 p.m. Our first “Flash” question. Should we think there’s a very good chance it’ll get picked up? “I’m very bullish on the show,” he says of “The Flash.” They decided to do a bigger pilot rather than doing a backdoor pilot. Is “Hour Man” still in development? They’re still waiting on a script.
1:41 p.m. Is “The Vampire Diaries” going to kill off Katherine? “I am not allowed to discuss plot points for Julie Plec. She would stake me.”
1:41 p.m. Pedowitz says that FOX’s “Gotham” wouldn’t impact the universe of his hypothetical “Amazon” pilot. He says that the universes of all of these superhero shows are separate. “We’ll see what happens” is all he’ll say about “Amazon.” [UPDATE: After the panel, Pedowitz told people that “Amazon” is dead. Not sure why the answer changed.]
1:42 p.m. “Pilot season is tried and true. It’s inefficient in some ways and very efficient in some ways,” says Pedowitz. The CW actually doesn’t order that many pilots without picking them up. He applauds Kevin Reilly’s plans, though, and says that he wishes FOX well.
1: 43 p.m. “As long as I’m here and those numbers still hold, it can go as long as it wants,” Pedowitz says of “Supernatural.”
1:44 p.m. Rob Thomas is thrilled to be doing the “Veronica Mars” thing for CW Seed. It really sounds like Pedowitz knows very little about the thing. Thomas has floated the names of some involved characters, but none are concrete.
1:45 p.m. The CW has “Seed,” two magic shows, “Whose Line,” “Top Model” and possibly a couple other things for summer. They’re all about programming in the summer and keeping circulation up.
1:46 p.m. Mark Pedowitz has been to The Magic Castle many times. Is he worried that close-magic may not have charm on TV? He reminds us that UPN and FOX both did it in semi-recent years. “We’re taking a shot at something,” he says.
1:47 p.m. The CW is still waiting on a script for “Dorothy Must Die.”
1:47 p.m. Is “Breaking Pointe” done? Sorry, dance fans. It’s not returning. “We’re proud of it. It did very well for us digitally. It did not do well enough on air,” he says.
1:48 p.m. “It was our strategy to broaden out our 18-34,” Pedowitz says, adding that thanks to “Arrow” and “Originals” and a couple other shows, they’re getting some viewers who are 35+. They are, however, still selling 18-34.
1:49 p.m. “We’ll make a decision come May whether or not it returns,” he says of “The Carrie Diaries.”
1:49 p.m. And how about “Hart of Dixie”? They’re moving it to Friday this spring. “Again. We’ll look at what happens come May,” he says pointlessly.
1:50 p.m. Ad sales people are happy that The CW is broadening out. Digital is particularly broad.
Like I said… Nothing of substance. At all.