Shortly after The CW announced its 2015-16 schedule absurdly early on Thursday (May 14) morning, CW President Mark Pedowitz took 20 minutes of questions from reporters about what is and isn't on the network's roster.
The CW's fall features three hours of DC Comics-related programming — if you include “iZombie” — but several early queries related to things that aren't on the schedule, at least not yet.
The “Flash”/”Arrow” spinoff “DC's Legends of Tomorrow” is being held for midseason and Pedowitz noted that it isn't necessarily being viewed as a “Agent Carter”-esque bridge between seasons of an established show, saying that all three of those shows could and possibly will air at the same time.
“It is a possibility because of the fact that… 'DC's Legends of Tomorrow' is part of the 'Flash'/'Arrow' universe. The character will criss-cross as needed and we'll have big crossovers as we can acquire them at the right time,” Pedowitz said.
He also confirmed the labeling on the “Legends of Tomorrow” key art saying that Caity Lotz will be playing White Canary, but stopped short of saying what that would mean for Lotz's departed Sara Lance.
Pedowitz was less forthcoming about rumors — I wouldn't call them anything as substantive as “rumors,” but whatever — that the network had had meeting with folks associated with “Constantine.”
“There's a rumor going around that I was gonna go play in the NBA,” Pedowitz said. If you've never seen Mark Pedowitz, I probably need to tell you that he's joking. “At the moment it's just a rumor.”
Also being held for midseason is the fan-favorite “The 100,” which Pedowitz emphasized was being pushed to spring in large part because of scheduling space and compatibility.
“I think 'The 100' into 'Jane' might have been a little bit twisty, but to have a show like this for midseason, a real critically acclaimed show and then the episodes will all be up on Netflix and having the fans the opportunity to catch up, it's a big Netflix favorite, and having the opportunity to catch on years one and two as we being year three, maybe the show can get the real due it deserves and then you have that 'Breaking Bad' moment,” Pedowitz said.
He also added, “Whether we run 13-straight or not, we'll have all 13 or 16 episodes we need to run as we require it, but yes we'll be pretty much going non-stop.”
Pedowitz also addressed a few other network topics, including:
*** Pedowitz was unconcerned about how “The Vampire Diaries” will function without Nina Dobrev, joking that they've had a show about two brothers — “Supernatural” — run for 11 years. “It's going to be much more focused on the brothers Damon and Stefan, a lot of space for Kat Graham and Candice's characters to come out,” he said. “We believe that with Julie Plec at the helm and Caroline Dries running the show that we will have a show. Most of this year has been getting to the point of where we would have a reset knowing that Nina is leaving, so they've done a great job”
*** Speaking of that show about two brothers, he stuck to the general party line as “Supernatural” heads into that 11th season. “I've said this many time. I'm a big believe in the show. I'm a big fan of the show. I've seen every episode of the show. As long as the ratings hold and the boys want to do it, we're in,” Pedowitz said, adding, “We have no intentions of this being its last season.” He also repeated that he would, once again, be having conversations with the producers about a possible spinoff.
*** Instead of “The 100” leading into “Jane the Virgin,” The CW is going with the Showtime transplant “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” Pedowitz says that content-wise there were only “some modest language changes” that had to be made. Apparently they were pitched on “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” in April for the 2016-17 season, but realized they'd be able to make it work sooner than that, even though it's being expanded from a half-hour to an hour format. He said, “It's funny, it's really really hilarious. It is different. It's a blue sky with a very dark twist. We are very proud to have it.”
*** On pushing “Reign” to a slot leading off Friday, Pedowitz explained the rationale, saying “'Reign' has a slightly older skewing audience. Friday's slightly an older skewing evening. We feel that with the introduction now, along with Queen Catherine and Queen Mary, of Queen Elizabeth, that will allow for an interesting confrontation, historically, and will probably garner more interest. We creatively believe in the show. We believe in the quality of the show. We was getting pretty much handled pretty heavily by 'Scandal' and we figured this was way to get it out of the way of that in order to try to live its own life.”
*** Pedowitz also said that at least theoretically “Beauty and the Beast” could start its fourth season earlier than Summer 2016, but that would depend on how the yet-to-premiere third season does this summer stating, “If the show pops, obviously, in a better way than we thought, then we'll bring it back earlier. If the show does what we believe it will do, it'll make for very fine summer programming.”