The CW has announced its new fall lineup and a couple of highly anticipated shows were officially given the green light.  ‘The Flash’, starring the fleet-footed DC Comics super hero was picked up after a high profile two-episode stint on the network’s hit show ‘Arrow’, also based on a DC Comics character, Green Arrow.  Another DC concept (albeit by way of its Vertigo imprint),  iZombie, was also picked up for a full season.  Some may scoff that this is just an attempt to cash in on AMC’s success with ‘The Walking Dead’, but the ‘iZombie’ comic has absolutely nothing in common with ‘The Walking Dead’.  It’s more quirky and off-beat and is told from the perspective of an actual zombie (and not in a world overrun with zombies).  Hopefully audiences will give it a chance before chalking it up to a knock off.  Also picked up were ‘The Messengers’ and ‘Jane the Virgin’.

To make room, The CW cancelled the “bubble shows” which included ‘The Carrie Diaries’ and genre programs ‘Star-Crossed’ and ‘Tomorrow People’.  It also passed on pilots for ‘Identity’ and the ‘Supernatural’ Chicago-based spin-off ‘Bloodlines’.

‘The Flash’ has been considered a lock since it was announced.  The show will be produced by the same crew behind ‘Arrow’, Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Geoff Johns.  When the charming Grant Gustin popped up in two episodes of ‘Arrow’ last fall, he managed to win over fans, many of whom are excited to see the introduction of super powers into this universe.

‘Veronica Mars’ creator Rob Thomas is spearheading ‘iZombie’, starring Rose McIver as Gwen Dylan, an undead med student who must eat one brain a month to continue to appear human, and thus takes a job at the Coroner’s Office for easy access.  But when she eats a brain, she absorbs that person’s memories.  (No mention of the characters Ellie and Scott from the comics.)  The premise as described sounds like it’s more “inspired” by the comics than an actual adaptation.

Other newcomers include the high-concept ‘The Messengers’, following a group of people killed by an energy pulse after a mysterious object crashes down to Earth.  They are then awakened to learn that they are tasked with preventing the apocalypse.  Shantel Van Stanten and Sofia Black-D’Elia headline an ensemble cast.  ‘Teen Wolf”s Eoghan O’Donnell wrote the script and is executive producing along with ‘The Town”s Basil Iwanyk.  (The CW was considering this show and ‘Identity’ for the same time slot, so this show beat that one out.)

‘Jane The Virgin’ tells the story of a hard-working, religious woman played by Gina Rodriguez who finds herself mysteriously pregnant.  The show is based on a Venezuelan telenovela with Jennie Snyder Urman (‘90210’) serving as showrunner, co-producer and the writer of the pilot.  Joining her as co-executive producers are Ben Silverman, Gary Pearl and Jorge Granier.

As for returning shows, cult-favorite ‘Beauty and the Beast’ performed evenly with the cancelled ‘The Carrie Diaries’ but the former’s DVR viewings rose 67% and the show performs well overseas so it is staying.  ‘Beauty and the Beast’ was benched for the now-cancelled ‘Tomorrow People’, but unfortunately, due to less-than-stellar ratings, ‘BatB’ will most likely only get a shortened 13-episode order.

Finally, the freshman sci-fi series ‘The 100′ about a group of children born in space after the Earth was deemed uninhabitable who return to their parents’ home planet ranked best among The CW’s new shows and has performed well enough to score at least one more season.

Oh, and ‘Hart of Dixie’ also got re-upped.

Are you excited about these new shows?  Are you upset to see any go or not get picked up?  Chime in below in the comments section!

Source: THR