Television
For the CW, to be young, hip and sexy
By Toni Fitzgerald
May 14, 2008 - 1:15:59 AM

Now entering its third season, the CW hopes to become the network for young, hip women with sexy shows that get people talking, and ideally watching as well.

The new schedule the CW rolled out for advertisers yesterday includes two new programs that hew closely to the “Girl” formula.

One is a spinoff of Fox’s 1990s teen hit “Beverly Hills, 90210.” The other is “Surviving the Filthy Rich,” an adaptation of a series of teen novels about an Ivy League graduate who becomes a wealthy family’s tutor.

“90210” may already be the upfront’s most-talked-about show, especially after the CW landed original cast member Jennie Garth to appear. With “Girl,” “90210” and “Rich” all focused on attractive uppercrust teens, the CW should finally see more audience flow from night to night.

That’s a goal that has eluded the network in its first two seasons, when each night seemed to target a different demographic: urban women on Monday, teen girls on Wednesday, young men on Friday and families on Sunday.

"Our new lineup has the best Monday-Friday schedule flow we have ever had at the CW," says entertainment president Dawn Ostroff. "We are zeroed in on our target demo of young women 18-34 with both new and returning series, and each programming block provides a strong promotional platform for the following night."

The CW will chop several shows and move some others in order to focus more narrowly on its target women 18-34 demographic, along with the teens who watched the CW’s predecessor, the WB.

Gone are drama “Life is Wild” and the critically acclaimed sitcom “Aliens in America,” both of which had a family focus, as well as Friday’s two-hour “WWE” block, “Girlfriends” and “Beauty and the Geek.”

The CW will also add new reality show “Stylista” from Tyra Banks, in which contestants compete for a job at Elle, that’s in keeping with “Girl’s” glamorous vibe.

As it announced last week, the network will turn Sunday nights over to Media Rights Capital, an independent studio that will produce two comedies and two dramas for the night, but will exist somewhat separate from the network’s weeknight identity.

Urban comedies “Everybody Hates Chris” and “The Game,” which have small but loyal audiences that have followed the shows through several schedule changes, will be bumped to Friday, where they'll be followed by "America's Next Top Model" repeats.

“Girl” and “One Tree Hill” will remain on Monday, where they scored the night’s best 18-34 numbers in the CW’s two-year history after being paired there to start the May sweeps.

Tuesday will be all new, with “90210” and “Rich,” followed by the fading but still strong “Model” Wednesdays at 8 p.m., leading into “Stylista.”

“Smallville” and “Supernatural” will remain on Thursdays, though “Reaper” will swap in for “Smallville” at midseason.