The upcoming CW has been positioned as the best of the WB and UPN ever since the two networks merged earlier this year. Yet that melding of the two networks is looking a bit wobbly going into its first fall season, which opens with a two-hour “America’s Next Top Model” on Sept. 20, two days after the official broadcast season begins.

Media buyers are saying that while CW has inherited the best of the WB---programs such as “Seventh Heaven”-–it has also brought over what they long saw as the worst of UPN, a lineup that flip flops all over the demographic map.

Since the networks merged, CW executives have worked to knit together a schedule, along with a rationale to go with it, led by Dawn Ostroff, president of entertainment at the CW and former UPN president. Ostroff tells Media Life the CW’s mix-and-match lineup reflects the network’s goal of appealing to everyone in the 18-34 demographic.

“We need to be broad in that 18-34-year-old demo,” she says. “What we really are is an umbrella. Under that umbrella we have a lot of different nights that will appeal to different 18-34-year-olds. We can’t have the same exact programming every night. No network can.”

From Monday through Thursday, the CW will essentially be a newer version of the young female-skewing WB, with four nights of dramas, including one new series, Monday’s “Runaway,” about a family hiding from the law, and the reality show “Model” leading into “One Tree Hill” on Wednesdays.

But as UPN’s schedule used to, the CW lineup takes an about face on Fridays with wrestling, “WWE Smackdown,” and then flips again on Sunday to an African-American focus with returning UPN comedies, the new “The Game,” a sitcom about women dating football players, and a “Model” repeat.

Media buyers think the CW may suffer from its scheduling strategy as UPN did by confusing viewers and muddying its brand identity.

“The WB had a distinct identity but now the CW has inherited the issues that came with UPN, having multiple identities,” says Chris Neel, vice president and associate director of national broadcast at Initiative. “UPN was always three different networks for three different [groups of] people.”

The CW will also suffer a bit from tough competition, notably on Sundays where former UPN sitcoms "Everybody Hates Chris," "All of Us" and "Girlfriends" are slotted. This lineup will compete with established Fox comedies like the “Simpsons,” NBC’s NFL football and, early in the night, ABC’s young-skewing “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”

The network will also struggle most weeknights at 9 p.m., where shows like the former UPN drama “Veronica Mars” will go head to head with hits such as Fox’s “House."

But while the CW will have a tough time establishing itself, it is ultimately expected to generate respectable ratings for the season, running through next May.

Steve Sternberg, executive vice president of audience analysis at Magna Global, is projecting that the CW will average a 2.1 rating among women 18-34 through first quarter next year. That is about 0.25 points ahead of what the WB and UPN averaged last season. And Sternberg is projecting a 1.2 rating among young men, about what the WB and UPN each pulled.

Most media buyers think the CW will do relatively well on the strength of former WB hit dramas such as “Seventh” and “Gilmore Girls” and what had been UPN’s highest-rated show, “Model.”

The CW’s Ostroff thinks so too. She's predicting the network will end the season slightly ahead of its predecessors. But she also notes that it will take the CW a few months to find its footing.

“We don’t have high expectations in the beginning,” she says. “We are aware of what we need to do to bring people to the network, which is a big challenge. We think we will see growth over the season and end the season probably higher than either UPN or the WB. But we’re not making big predictions.”