Preview US broadcasting season 2018-2019: The CW
It’s September, which means that in the US the new TV broadcasting season is about to kick off. The nights are getting darker and broadcasters will make sure they have something to entertain you. Here’s a list of all returning and new series coming your way (eventually, if you aren’t in the US) from The CW. New this season is that The CW has added an extra night of programming on Sundays. For the sake of streamlining this already long list we will not include reality programming, only scripted drama.
RENEWED
Returning this season to The CW are these series…
– Supernatural: The CW’s only surviving series from the time it was still called The WB has been renewed again for a 14th season! Supernatural, following the monster hunters Sam and Dean Winchester, will be back with us on Sunday 11 October. This season will only be 20 episodes instead of the normal 23 episodes. It has also been confirmed that this season will pick up the story set up last season for potential spin-off Wayward Sisters, as it was not picked up to series.
– Arrow: The series based on the Green Arrow and let’s be honest Batman comics from DC Comics and spawned the shared DC TV universe on The CW, returns for Season 7. Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) has met quite a fate at the end of last season and it will sure be interesting what Season 7 does with it. The series will be part of the annual DC TV crossover event at the end of the year, which will introduce us to Gotham City and Kate Kane/Batwoman.
– The 100: The post-apocalyptic science fiction drama following teens who return to a devastated Earth, returns for Season 6. The series, loosely based on the novel series of the same name by Kass Morgan, has just finished Season 5 past Summer. It therefore would not be unexpected Season 6 will premiere next Summer.
– iZombie: The zombie drama loosely based on the DC Comics imprint Vertigo comic will return for one last season. Season 5 of the adventures of zombie Olivia “Liv” Moore will start mid-season, early 2019, presumably for another batch of 13 episodes.
– Jane the Virgin: This romantic comedy loosely based on the Venezuelan telenovela Juana la Virgen also returns for one final season. Jane Gloriana Villanueva adventures caused by her “virgin baby” in the final Season 5 also start mid-season.
– The Flash: The first DC Comics series to have joined Arrow returns for Season 5. This season Team Flash has to deal with a visitor from the future and of course a host of new and returning villains. The Flash will also be part of the big annual crossover at the end of the year. Season 5 starts Tuesday 9 October.
– Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: The romantic musical comedy-drama following titular crazy ex Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) is another series to enter a final season. This final Season 4 will start Friday 12 October.
– DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: This third member of the shared DC TV universe on The CW will not be part of the big annual crossover this time. But Season 4 of the time travel series has enough other things going on with John Constantine (Matt Ryan) joining the series fulltime. The Wave Rider will disembark Monday 22 October.
– Supergirl: DC Comics series number four also returns to our screens with its fourth season. Still set on another “Earth” than the previously mentioned DC series, but still very much part of it all, as Supergirl will have quite the impact on the annual crossover. It has been announced that both Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane will guest star! Next to all that, it looks like Supergirl will give us an adaption of iconic Elseworlds comic (which means it’s not part of the main DC comics continuity) Superman: Red Son!
– Riverdale: The Archie comics adaption following the teens from the titular town return for a third season. High school students Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead and others are back for more. While you might have expected it because it’s also based on an Archie comic, had been in development for The CW, and has a number of the same people behind it, the Netflix series the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is currently not set to crossover. Season 3 of Riverdale starts Wednesday 10 October.
– Black Lightning: The fifth DC Comics series on The CW, and the only one to as of yet not have any crossover with the others, returns for a second season. It will picks up the adventures of high school principal Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning and family where it left off on Tuesday 9 October.
– Dynasty: The reboot of prime-time soap opera Dynasty returns for a second season. And it is not thanks to its ratings on The CW, which were low even for their standards. No, it has more to do with a very lucrative deal with Netflix. Anyway, Season 2 of the Atlanta, Georgia set soap reboot starts Friday 12 October.
PICKED UP
The CW has chosen the following series to be added to their programming line-up…
– All American: Inspired by the life of NFL player Spencer Paysinger comes a high school football drama following a family of which the son is recruited to play for Beverly Hills High. It premieres Wednesday 10 October.
– Charmed: Reboot from the people behind Jane the Virgin. Nothing is really changed to the premise. The “Charmed Ones” sisters discover that they are witches after the death of their mother. Demons, guardians and all kinds of other magical things follow. It might be an uphill battle for the reboot, as its existence has been met with mixed responses, including from the original cast. It starts Sunday 14 October.
– In the Dark: Follows the young blind woman Murphy (Perry Mattfeld) who witnesses the murder of her drug-dealing friend, but isn’t believed by the police. Together with her dog Pretzel she is going to find the killer herself. No date is set for this series yet, but mid-season is to be expected.
– Legacies: Sequel show to both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. It picks up two years after the finale of The Originals and will follow students of the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted. This school is a safe haven for the supernatural inclined like vampires, witches, and werewolves, but weirdly not mutants. It starts on Thursday 25 October.
– Roswell, New Mexico: Based on the Roswell High novels by Melinda Metz, just like the first Roswell show. A reboot thusly. The series follows a teenagers who are secretly alien in nature. The reboot starts mid-season, early 2019.
