While most folks have held out hope that things would be back to normal soon, the effects of COVID-19 continue to escalate and The CW is the first network to announce that the usual fall TV rollout will not happen as usual this year. The main problem is that most shows had to cut their current seasons short, so there are still multiple episodes of ‘Batwoman’, ‘The Flash’, and ‘Supergirl’, as well as ‘Riverdale’, ‘Legacies’, and ‘Supernatural’ (which is in its FINAL season), that were left unfilmed. Luckily, ‘Black Lightning’ and ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ were completely wrapped before shutdowns went into effect.
Hopefully, the unfilmed episodes will be completed and aired this year, because The CW has declared that its new season won’t begin until at least January 2021!
The CW’s president, Mark Pedowitz, announced:
“As we manage the current crisis, we’ve developed a methodical programming strategy for this year and well in to next that we believe works for The CW, our advertisers, affiliates and audience while keeping the health and safety of our productions and creative partners front of mind… [2021 will offer] more original scripted programming throughout the year, week in and week out, than we have ever had.” (via Syfy Wire)
With ‘Arrow’ completed, ‘The Flash’ is now the elder statesman of the shared universe and will be going into its seventh season. ‘Black Lightning’ will kick off its fourth, and newcomer ‘Batwoman’ will embark on its sophomore go-round.
‘Legends of Tomorrow’ is not slated to return yet, so it will have a midseason debut again. Normally that means January, but at this point, that is up in the air. It will most likely arrive in the summer, but that’s just a guess. Rather startlingly, ‘Supergirl’ is also not listed as returning alongside the first batch, so it too will be shifting to midseason for its sixth installment.
Joining the party in its place is freshman series ‘Superman & Lois’ starring Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch. It does not look as though there will be a massive crossover like last winter’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” but that was somewhat expected as it would be nearly impossible to mount another event on that scale, much less bigger. Instead, there will be a crossover between ‘Batwoman’ and ‘Superman & Lois’, with some characters from the other shows popping up.
As Pedowitz stated:
“We’re still working on it. It will be a smaller event than usual, we’re only planning a two-hour event. We are talking about doing Superman and Batwoman together. There’s a lot of characters coming from our other shows.”
Also not on the slate is ‘Green Arrow & The Canaries’, a potential spinoff that was teased earlier this year in one of the last episodes of ‘Arrow’. Though The CW has not ordered it to series, it is reportedly still in development and remains in the running to become an ongoing program.
If you want to know what to expect in the New Year, here is the announced schedule for The CW (via Screen Rant):
SUNDAY:
8/7c: Batwoman
9/8c: Charmed
MONDAY:
8/7c: All American
9/8c: Black Lightning
TUESDAY:
8/7c: The Flash
9/8c: Superman & Lois
WEDNESDAY:
8/7c: Riverdale
9/8c: Nancy Drew
THURSDAY:
8/7c: Walker
9/8c: Legacies
FRIDAY:
8/7c: Penn and Teller
9/8c: Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Keep in mind, there might be new installments of most of these shows later this year, provided production can resume and the remaining episodes of the current seasons can be filmed. That’s the plan anyway.
Are you bummed that The CW’s new “fall” season has been pushed to winter?