Don’t Write Off The CW Yet: Sullivan’s Crossing Is a Cozy Place to Visit

The CW under Nexstar differs greatly from the version of The CW owned by Warners Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global for nearly two decades. This was always the plan, but it means many longtime viewers wrote off the network this spring and summer when their favorite shows concluded their runs. But while a variety in programming, including sports, has allowed the network to reach a new audience, there are still hints of the old network if you look for them. And I’m not talking about the legacy CW series that were renewed but will soon go the way of their brethren. I’m talking about the cozy and comforting Sullivan’s Crossing. 

Based on a series of books by romance author Robyn Carr and adapted for TV by Roma Roth, the wholesome soap is an adult-oriented family drama that would not have been totally out of place on The CW or even its predecessor, The WB. The show, which was produced for CTV in Canada and imported to the U.S. this fall, stars Morgan Kohan as Maggie Sullivan, an award-winning Boston neurosurgeon who returns home to Sullivan’s Crossing, a picturesque campground in Nova Scotia owned by her estranged father, Sully (Scott Patterson), after her partner in a medical practice is indicted for fraud. What is initially meant to be a brief reprieve, however, becomes an extended stay when Maggie learns that she’s also being sued for malpractice by the grieving mother of a former patient. 

While far from groundbreaking, the show’s predictability is one of its greatest assets (see also: the gorgeous scenery of Nova Scotia, where the show is filmed), as it follows familiar storytelling patterns to their expected, welcomed ends. Knowing that problems will arise but be resolved without issue is one of the reasons to tune in, as is the knowledge Maggie is a fundamentally good and empathetic person. She’s a heroine for whom it’s easy to root, making for a pleasant and easy watch. But she’s not the only reason to tune in. There is also a sweet boyfriend (Allan Hawco) willing to do anything for Maggie; a former best friend (Lindura) who has returned to town to help raise her nephew; surprisingly frequent medical emergencies that allow Maggie to put her medical training to good use; and, oh yeah, a hunky lawyer with his own emotional baggage who completes the requisite love triangle. That said lawyer is portrayed by Chad Michael Murray—the former star of the popular WB-turned-CW drama One Tree Hill whose squint still conveys multiple emotions and whose hair is now at its most swoopy—only increases the comforting sense of familiarity surrounding the show. But the drama also raises the narrative bar by incorporating the stories of the Indigenous people of Nova Scotia through Frank (Tom Jackson) and Edna Cranebear (Andrea Menard), a married couple who work at the campground and are part of Maggie’s found family.

With the show’s easy charm, it’s not difficult to imagine it airing alongside series like The CW’s Hart of Dixie, a heartwarming romantic dramedy starring Rachel Bilson as a New York City doctor who moves to Alabama and finds a new home, or even WB series that similarly explored complicated family dynamics, like Everwood, Gilmore Girls, or even Reba. It’s a shame, then, that it’s such an outlier in the network’s current lineup, which also includes LIV Golf, the reality series FBoy Island, the Christian-themed drama The Chosen, and a lot of acquired series from Canada that lack the escapism offered by Sullivan’s Crossing. 

When Nexstar purchased a controlling stake in The CW in 2022 (Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global each retain a 12.5 percent ownership stake), it did so noting that it intended to turn the network profitable by 2025. Historically, the network operated at a loss, serving as a platform for its parent studios’ projects while relying on international distribution rights and a massive Netflix deal to operate (that deal ended in 2019). The diversification of The CW’s programming slate since Nexstar took over has the network trending in the right direction, showing quarter-over-quarter progress, but if we have learned anything in 2023—the year that Barbie dominated the box office and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour dominated everything else (and, well, also the box office)—it’s that media created for and by women has incredible reach and significant cultural influence, and it should never be underestimated. 

Years of being overlooked by the men who still hold the majority of senior positions in media and entertainment means that, despite gains, women—and especially women over 30—remain hungry for better representation and stories that center their experience. It’s a powerful lesson that has already been learned by Netflix, which in recent years has seen incredible success with its programming slate of female-oriented projects, including Bridgerton, Virgin River, and Sweet Magnolias, which all, like Sullivan’s Crossing, are based on an existing series of romance novels. 

But while romance is an obvious common denominator, it’s not the only connection Sullivan’s Crossing shares with Netflix’s popular shows. Series creator Roma Roth is also an executive producer on Virgin River, and the books upon which the series is based are by the same author whose novels serve as the basis for Virgin River. Once you know that, it’s easy to see the similarities: both feature competent female leads who work in the medical field and are at a turning point in their lives; both are set in idyllic small towns where everyone knows everyone else; and both feature medical storylines that allow their leading ladies to find a level of fulfillment even if their lives are not perfect. 

In Virgin River, Maggie’s counterpart is Melinda “Mel” Monroe (Alexandra Breckenridge), a midwife and nurse practitioner who packs up her life in Los Angeles to relocate to the tiny mountain town of the series’ title to start over after the death of her husband. Both Maggie and Mel find solace in escaping the big city for a slower way of life. But while Mel adopts a new home and finds a renewed sense of purpose and another shot at happiness, Maggie begins to rebuild bridges and rekindle old friendships while reconnecting with the person she used to be, back before her mother moved them to Boston and married a wealthy doctor, changing the trajectory of Maggie’s life. 

Despite their subtle differences (Sullivan’s Crossing is slightly less melodramatic than Virgin River, which features a criminal element that bleeds into the lives of its characters), the former is the perfect complement to the latter, which recently wrapped its fifth season with no end in sight. There has never been a better time for a show like Sullivan’s Crossing to air—it’s just a matter of whether the show’s target audience knows it exists.

When it debuted on CTV in March, Sullivan’s Crossing was reportedly the highest-rated Canadian drama launch in more than two years, becoming the top show in its time slot across key demographics. Nielsen data for its run on The CW shows that the series is averaging less than half a million viewers each week and is pulling in a .05 in the 18-49 demo. Of course, in 2023, we know that live+same day numbers are an outdated measurement that ignores how most people watch TV. They don’t even begin to tell the whole story, and I would be interested in knowing how well Sullivan’s Crossing performs when accounting for DVR, on-demand, and streaming views. But knowing how well similar shows on Netflix have performed also makes me wonder if the streaming service would have been a more ideal home instead of a broadcast network that started moving away from a predominantly women-led lineup in the early 2010s, and has since diversified even more.

In Netflix’s just-released engagement report detailing viewership data for January through June of this year, several of the platform’s programs aimed primarily at women ranked near the top of the list. According to the company, its 238 million global subscribers spent 251 million hours watching the second season of Firefly Lane, which debuted in Dec. 2022 and is an adaptation of an emotionally affecting novel that chronicles the friendship of two women from young adulthood. Meanwhile, the Bridgerton companion series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, which premiered in early May, tallied 503 million hours through June (it’s worth noting the first season of Bridgerton, which debuted in 2020, racked up more than 136 million hours in the first half of this year, while Season 2 came in at 133 million hours viewed). The newest seasons of Virgin River and Sweet Magnolias were released in the second half of the year, hence no recent viewership data for them, but Netflix’s top 10 list is a helpful indicator of what subscribers are watching at any given moment, and both have historically been present at or near the top when new episodes hit the service. All of this is to say that it’s easy to imagine that a show like Sullivan’s Crossing, with all its similarities to these programs, would enjoy similar success.

But since the show’s present and future is tied to The CW (the network has come on board for a second season), the task becomes simply raising awareness about the show, both so that the audience we know exists can find it and so that viewers who wrote off The CW know the network they once loved hasn’t completely disappeared, that beneath the football and the golf and the Christianity lessons there are glimmers of what once was. Whether or not Sullivan’s Crossing is destined to exist in a vacuum or is a harbinger of things to come remains to be seen. But if you’re a fan of Virgin River or a former CW/WB viewer who abandoned the network earlier this year, know that you’re missing out on a delightful, comforting show that’s worthy of your time.

The first season of Sullivan’s Crossing is now streaming on The CW.

Kaitlin Thomas is an entertainment journalist and TV critic. Her work has appeared in TV Guide, Salon, Gold Derby, and TV.com, among other places. You can find her tweets about TV, sports, and Walton Goggins @thekaitling.

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