The Good: ARROW, the highly touted reboot of the iconic DC hero starring Toronto’s own Stephen Amell made its mark. Both creatively and ratings wise it not only delivered on its promise of being the anti-SMALLVILLE (Read: Watchable), but continues to illustrate The CW’s viability as a network across this increasingly crowded prime-time television landscape. Also falling under the category of “good,” CW President Mark Pedowitz’s move to delay his Network’s premieres until October in an effort to minimize reruns and the blitzkrieg that is the flurry of Fall competition paid off with solid numbers for returning favorites such as THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and SUPERNATURAL. And while solid numbers may not quite describe HART OF DIXIE and NIKITA’s second and third season respectively, solid, nay, delightful storytelling does.
The Bad: Did you see the not-so-dearly departed EMILY OWENS M.D.? It’s precisely shows like that which have this TV Addict questioning the job-skills of certain Network executives. Equally disappointing, was The CW’s other new offering not starring Stephen Amell. Yes, we’re talking about BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, which it would appear only got the go ahead thanks to international appeal and marketability of titular beauty Kristin Kreuk. That said…
The Future: Is positive. Primarily because replacing EMILY OWENS M.D. and GOSSIP GIRL — the latter of which wraps up its six season run tonight — are newcomers the CARRIE DIARIES and CULT. Two shows with surprisingly stellar premieres that most definitely have us eagerly anticipating what’s going to happen next!
Grade: B 