OMG! It's like, an Upfront!

Ahh, May. Time when the networks traditionally have their Upfronts. I've blogged about upfronts before.

This year's upfront took place in the afternoon (early evening for the East Coasters), whereas every other year (that I have been witness to, anyway) has happened in the morning, so that was a little weird.

Maroon Five was the opening band, and they were, you know, adequate. The main problem with them was that they just kept going. After the 2nd song, I really thought they'd be done. (I seriously thought they'd be done after 1, but two wasn't out of the realm of possibilities) But they played 4. Dude. It's an Upfront, not a concert.

Anyway. After that came probably the shortest Upfront Presentation to date. Dawn Ostroff really just zipped through the lineup, and for once they went in order, rather than jumping around the week, which was nice.
Before they got to the schedule, though, she had to give some blah-de-blah about how the CW is all about the "3D's" - "Demographic", "Desirable", and "Destination".
The CW is keying in on the Demographic of young women (18-34), with Desirable programs for that demographic, and is the best destination for shows for that target audience. (Yeah. I know. People actually get paid to come up with nonsense like that.)
Anyway. The point is that (this year, at least) the CW is going to be going after women pretty aggressively, and wants to be the network known for "OMGTV". (Sigh.)
That being said, here's the lineup for fall of '08 (with new programs in bold):

Mondays:
8pm - Gossip Girl
9pm - One Tree Hill

Tuesdays:
8pm - 90210
9pm - Surviving the Filthy Rich

Wednesdays:
8pm - America's Next Top Model
9pm - Stylista

Thursdays:
8pm - Smallville
9pm - Supernatural

Fridays -
8pm - Everybody Hates Chris
8:30pm - The Game
9pm - America's Next Top Model ("encore" of Wednesdays episode)

Sundays -
????

So. Yeah. 90210 is, as you've probably read about, a spin-off (some 10 years after the original show ended) of Beverly Hills, 90210. From the limited amount they showed of the program, it looks like it's going to be Gossip Girl, just set in California. Five years ago I probably would've tuned in out of curiousity (I did watch the original 90210 in the early years. I was a stupid kid, okay?) but now... no. Just not my cup of tea - at all. And, dude. I'm totally old now, and all this show will do is serve to remind me of that. No thanks.

Surviving the Filthy Rich looks to be another teen-age soap opera, and I guess is based on a novel of the same name? Basic premise: Young 20-something in college gets recruited to be a tutor to some ultra-rich teenage sisters (who are party animals, and are totally supposed to represent the Bush daughters, imo) in Palm Beach, Florida. Bonding and life lessons - as well as bikini-clad women - ensue. Pass.

Stylista is, in a nutshell, The Apprentice set at Elle magazine. A bunch of reality tv contestants try to become fashion designers and magazine editors. ...in a reality tv type of way. Yeah. I don't think I'll be watching that, either.

Smallville will be in Season 8, and has new producers and no more Lex Luthor. But, I'm sure I'll watch it anyway, because I really do not know how to stop. Plus, I'm curious how bad it will get.

Sunday wasn't really touched upon, which was ...troubling. All that Dawn said about Sunday was how the CW has made a deal with ...um...some company that I can't remember the name of right now - and they will be producing the shows that air on Sundays? So basically it was, "We don't know what we'll be airing on the night we have to fill 5 hours, but it's gonna be something!" Yikes.

Reaper is coming back, but not until midseason.

What. Eva!!