The CW fans were taken aback when the network announced it’s upcoming Fall 2024 schedule!
While the programming lineup for the new Fall season features the long-awaited return of Superman & Lois for it’s fourth and final season, network staples like All American, All American: Homecoming and Walker were very noticeably missing.
Now, The CW’s president of entertainment Brad Schwartz is opening up about why they were not on list and why they haven’t been renewed yet.
Keep reading to find out more…
“That’s the big question. We said a year ago that we’re gonna develop 12 months a year, we’re going to greenlight things 12 months a year, we’re not going to be held to this upfront week, in this upfront schedule,” he told THR. “So we have our fourth quarter locked; we’ve had it locked for a long time. But, we will have decisions on All American, on Walker, on Sight Unseen. All American: Homecoming hasn’t even aired yet… We just didn’t make those decisions this week.”
When asked about if they have a timeline on those decisions, he said, “There will be some that’ll come out in a few weeks to months.”
Brad also notes that the budgets on the shows are a major factor in looking at the renewals, given that Nexstar is still looking to turn a profit on The CW. They also have to look at how the shows are performing on streaming services and if it’s worth it enough to pick them up for a new season.
“In the Nexstar earnings report, they said how we’ve improved our earnings by $100 million this year. And we’ve done that by being really, really careful when it comes to what we pay for shows versus their performance,” he shared. “And so every show we look at, we have our ratings team, our scheduling team and our finance team put P&L’s together for the shows and be like, ‘This is how it rated, this is the revenue brought in,’ and then you add the streaming revenue… and kind of put all the revenue together and then when we can say this is honestly what we can afford.
“You try to take your heart out a little bit, and be like, ‘I would love to keep doing this show, here are the economics that makes sense,’” he continues. “And then you work with your partners to see if we can all make it happen. Sometimes you can and sometimes you can’t. All the shows that are bubble shows, I guess you would call them, we love them all, you know, probably can’t do them all.”
“Can we do this show and keep up the quality and deliver the show? Does it make sense for us? Sometimes at the studio level, it doesn’t make sense for us. And some, you’re like let’s try and figure it out. And honestly, it’s not just us. Everybody’s having these conversations.”
While it hasn’t been renewed yet, another show that airs on The CW is “expected to be renewed.
