PASADENA, Calf. — The CW leadership took the stage at the TCA Winter Press Tour here, defining the network’s brand for the reporters in the crowd. Entertainment president Brad Schwartz said he wants the press to “stop writing Big Four networks and start writing Big Five networks,” but acknowledged it will take some work. “We’re the underdog competing against titans,” he added.
Schwartz called The CW “a big-tent brand,” with scripted and unscripted programming, and a growing batch of sports in the network portfolio, including LIV Golf, ACC football and basketball, NASCAR and sports shows such as 100 Days to Indy and Inside the NFL.
Also Read: More Coverage of the TCA Winter Press Tour
On the scripted front, Schwartz talked up Sullivan’s Crossing and Wild Cards, both which have roots in Canada. He said he dislikes it when The CW’s shows from Canada, including Son of a Critch and Children Ruin Everything, are referred to as imports, as they are typically coproductions.
In terms of homegrown fare, All American returns April 1 and Walker is back April 3. All American: Homecoming will start when All American concludes, likely this summer.
The final season of Superman & Lois, Schwartz said, “is going to blow your mind” when it debuts this year.
Original Sherlock & Daughter is scheduled for a 2025 premiere. Schwartz called it a “reimagining of the classic franchise.”
Schwartz said other networks, including USA Network, had abandoned the “blue-sky” drama motif and CW shows such as Sullivan’s Crossing and Wild Cards fit that bill.
On the unscripted front, he mentioned Crime Nation, from James Goldston, former ABC News president. “A different ripped-from-the-headlines true crime story” each week, Schwartz said. “Gripping, can’t-turn-the-channel kind of stuff.” Crime Nation debuts February 20.
New unscripted stuff includes the FBoy Island spinoff Lovers and Liars, which prompted Schwartz to note, “Women play the dating game much better than men.” That premieres April 11.
Sally Ann Salsano is behind Police 24/7, which Schwartz said “feels like a Dick Wolf procedural, with “more story and emotion” than a typical unscripted show. Showing police both on the job and at home with family, it begins April 30.
Game shows Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble are spun from “incredibly well-known IP,” said Schwartz. Production on them begins in the spring.
Dennis Miller, The CW president, said Schwartz “was my only and first choice to come join me in this adventure we were in to turn a network around.”
Asked about LIV Golf, Miller said the partnership was “really opportunistic for both sides” and led to other sports opportunities coming to The CW.
Said Schwartz, “I think you’ll see more sports, not less sports, in the future.”
