The CW Announces 2007-08 Schedule

Ok, catch up time having devoted yesterday to "The Office". Starting off, the CW's 2007-2008 schedule!

May 17, 2007 (New York, New York) ? The CW Network unveiled the schedule for its 2007-2008 season today at Madison Square Garden before more than 3,000 advertisers, affiliates and national media. The announcement was made by Dawn Ostroff, President of Entertainment, The CW.

“Our new shows have attitude and a sense of fun, and they’re going to define this network,” said Ostroff. “With that in mind, The CW is adding six new series to our schedule this fall. With established shows anchoring four nights and providing a launch pad for new programs, we will also have stability on our successful Thursday and Friday lineups. Shows that can be enjoyed by the whole family will air on Mondays and Sundays in the 8:00-9:00 hour, with the 7:00-8:00 hour on Sunday providing an innovative showcase for both viewers and advertisers.”

On Wednesday nights, the network’s top-rated series, AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL, showed double-digit growth last season and was the number one show in the timeslot with women 18-34. AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL will return in its successful 8:00-9:00 p.m. slot, followed by the premiere of the new drama GOSSIP GIRL from 9:00-10:00 p.m. From “The O.C.” producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, GOSSIP GIRL is based on the best-selling young-adult book series of the same name. The show features an ensemble cast of new and veteran actors, including Blake Lively (“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”) and Leighton Meester (“Surface”), and focuses on the struggle for social supremacy among teens from both sides of the tracks in a posh Manhattan prep school. The fun, sexy and dramatic hour is a perfect companion piece for TOP MODEL’S strong female audience, making Wednesday “Girls Night In” on The CW.

Stability is the key on Thursday and Friday nights. On Thursday ? television’s most competitive night ? SMALLVILLE and SUPERNATURAL deliver a good mix of male and female viewers. On Friday, the wildly popular FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN! rules the night with two hours of original wrestling extravaganzas 52 weeks a year. SMACKDOWN! was last season’s number-one show in male viewers, giving the network a lock on young men on the night leading into the weekend.

Sundays will kick off the 7:00-8:00 p.m. hour with two new reality shows. At 7:00 p.m., CW NOW will premiere as the ultimate source for everything hip, hot and happening in youth culture. From the producers of the entertainment magazine show “Extra,” CW NOW utilizes eye-catching graphics and visuals in a fast-paced mix of celebrity gossip and current fashion and lifestyle trends. Advertisers can participate by incorporating their brand into the fabric of the show, expanding on the network’s success last season with content wraps. At 7:30 p.m., The CW is turning couch potatoes into mouse potatoes with ONLINE NATION, a series that takes the best of the web’s user- generated video and makes it available to television audiences. At 8:00 p.m., the new family drama LIFE IS WILD brings the beauty and drama of Africa to television. The show will be filmed entirely in South Africa, with a diverse cast of American, British and South African actors, and will feature film-quality production values. LIFE IS WILD is the story of a dysfunctional blended family from New York who moves to a rural South African town and finds they must rely on each other more than they ever did back home. The 9:00 p.m. hour will continue last season’s successful strategy of an encore presentation of AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL.

The popular Monday night comedy line-up returns with three favorites and one new series. From 8:00-8:30 p.m., the critically acclaimed EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS returns with a first-time ever guest appearance by the show’s co-creator and executive producer, Chris Rock. EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS provides the perfect lead-in for the ground-breaking new fish-out-of-water comedy ALIENS IN AMERICA, about a 16-year-old Wisconsin boy, Justin Tolchuk (Dan Byrd, “The Hills Have Eyes”), whose mother decides to improve his social status at school by importing an exchange student to be his friend. When the student turns out to be a Pakistani Muslim teenager named Raja (Adhir Kalyan, “Fair City”), issues of diversity, tolerance and coming of age in America take center stage in this sweet and insightful comedy.

The Monday comedy block continues with GIRLFRIENDS and THE GAME, the two highest-rated scripted shows on television among Africa-American adults and women 18-34, helping to make The CW the number one-rated programming option for African-American viewers on Monday nights.

On Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m., the hit reality series BEAUTY AND THE GEEK, from executive producers Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg, will return with a new crop of beauties and geeks in this funny and poignant social experiment competition. The devilish new drama REAPER will follow at 9:00 p.m. With executive producers Michelle Fazekas, Tara Butters, Mark Gordon, Deb Spera, Tom Spezialy and executive producer/director Kevin Smith, this humor-filled adventure is the story of a slacker named Sam (Bret Harrison, “The Loop,” “Grounded for Life”) who learns that his parents accidentally sold his soul to the devil before he was born, forcing him into a new life as the devil’s bounty hunter. Ray Wise (“24,” “The Closer”) plays Satan, and Tyler Labine (“Boston Legal,” “Invasion”) plays Sam’s best friend Bert “Sock” Wysocki.

MIDSEASON

In a strategy designed to give producers time to make a significant creative change, the hit drama ONE TREE HILL will be held until midseason. When it returns, the story will have advanced four years and the characters will have already graduated from college. Online digital diaries will premiere in the fall, allowing fans to learn what happened during the college years, and will lead into the midseason series return.

Midseason reality series include a second season of the popular PUSSYCAT DOLLS PRESENT, which averaged eight-million viewers a week in its premiere season, along with two new reality concepts. On FARMER WANTS A WIFE, a real-life farmer will search for a wife from the big city, and on CROWNED: THE MOTHER OF ALL PAGEANTS, mother/daughter teams must work together to win a beauty pageant. The three reality shows will enable the network to schedule original reality series in key time periods over the entire season.

Following is The CW’s 2007-2008 primetime schedule, a night-by-night breakdown and accompanying details on all the programs.

THE CW’s 2007-2008 PRIMETIME SCHEDULE

MONDAY
8:00-8:30 PM EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS
8:30-9:00 PM ALIENS IN AMERICA (New Series)
9:00-9:30 PM GIRLFRIENDS
9:30-10:00 PM THE GAME

TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM BEAUTY AND THE GEEK
9:00-10:00 PM REAPER (New Series)

WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL
9:00-10:00 PM GOSSIP GIRL (New Series)

THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM SMALLVILLE
9:00-10:00 PM SUPERNATURAL

FRIDAY
8:00-10:00 PM FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN!

SUNDAY
7:00-7:30 PM CW NOW (New Series)
7:30-8:00 PM ONLINE NATION (New Series)
8:00-9:00 PM LIFE IS WILD (New Series)
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL (Encore Presentation)