The Old CW Is Dead, But Is the New CW Actually Kind of Working?

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For the better part of two decades, The CW built its brand on teen-friendly soaps and DC superhero shows. They were core to the brand—hell, they were the brand. The network is synonymous with series like Gossip Girl, Riverdale, Arrow, Flash, The 100, All American and Jane the Virgin.

But those shows are long gone, and The CW is still here—and arguably stronger than ever, somehow, even without them.

The network launched as a team-up between CBS and Time Warner in 2006, which basically merged competing net-lets the WB and UPN into the new network The CW and combined those networks’ most successful shows under one umbrella. To that end, much of the original programming came from those studios, though overall ratings and profits remained a struggle through much of the network’s existence. Despite that, The CW became its own kind of cultural phenomenon in the Netflix era thanks to deals that sent many of the network’s originals to the top of the streaming charts—led by shows like All American and The Flash.

In 2022, WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS moved to unload the network with a sale to Nexstar Media Group, with the new ownership group vowing to make the network profitable by basically tearing it down to the studs and starting fresh, while carrying over a handful of the most successful originals, but with substantial budget and cost-cutting measures. All American: Homecoming, Walker and Superman & Lois are all wrapping up (or have already wrapped up) final seasons, with All American the only original series set to return next season. But even with All American’s return, it comes with massive cost-cutting and cast retooling, most notably the departure of series star Daniel Ezra.

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The final, 10-episode season of Superman & Lois premiered on October 7, marking the end of a decade-plus era of DC superhero shows that came to define the network’s identity, with a slate that at its peak encompassed live action originals Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning and Batwoman. All that’s left now is Clark Kent’s final bow, providing the end to what would come to be known as the Arrowverse (though technically, Superman & Lois takes place in an alternate universe from that, but we digress).

So what does the network actually air now?

As part of its new-look CW plan, Nexstar filled all that empty scheduling space with cheaper scripted co-productions like procedural Wild Cards (a surprise hit from the early line-up change), crime drama Joan and drama Sullivan’s Crossing (which stars The CW royalty Chad Michael Murray, of One Tree Hill fame), the hit religious drama The Chosen, and new originals based on existing IP like The Librarians: The Next Chapter. On paper, the strategy makes sense—The CW’s originals were typically low-rated anyway, and effects-heavy superhero shows aren’t cheap to make. So if the ratings ceiling is low regardless, rolling the dice on cheaper projects in hopes one or two might become a modest hit makes the most financial sense.

The new CW has also followed the playbook pretty much every other broadcast network has been running for decades, leaning into cheaper game show and reality programming, including a block of iconic improv comedy stalwart Whose Line is it Anyway, and new game shows based on classic board games Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble. They’re cheap and pull in decent ratings, and can safely be used to eat up two nights of programming that used to cost a whole lot more to produce with scripted originals.

But easily the biggest change for the CW over the past year is a concerted effort to lock up live sports rights—essentially targeting lower-tier college sports and alternative sports that haven’t already been gobbled up by bigger market players like ESPN, NBC, Warner Bros. and CBS. Some of the network’s biggest rights acquisitions include the (controversial, Saudi Arabia-backed) golf tour LIV Golf, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and a diverse college sports package that includes Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) football and basketball games, games from Pac-12 leftovers Oregon State University and Washington State University, and even a post-season bowl game in the Arizona Bowl.

Along with direct sports rights, the network has also gotten creative with sports-related series, most notably becoming the new home to long-running prestige pro football series Inside the NFL, which is in its 48th season and had previous stops at HBO and Showtime. The network has also added a college football pre-show in CW Football Saturday, and NASCAR Countdown Live to accompany its racing rights package.

Essentially, the CW is taking bits and pieces of what has worked to keep larger networks afloat and adapting it to a smaller scale and a tighter budget. It’s early, but the plan seems to be working. Last season, a primetime ACC football game between Florida State and North Alabama drew 1.3 million viewers, the best numbers the network has seen in more than six years at the time. The game itself, sadly, saw Florida State’s Heisman-contender quarterback Jordan Travis sustain a season-ending injury, which accounted for much of the surprise interest in the game, but it was a huge ratings win nonetheless. NASCAR has also proven a hit, with some races peaking at 1 million viewers.

Regardless, it’s certainly a shift from the brand the network was built on, but whether fans like it or not, that network of superheroes and soaps is gone. The new-look CW? It’s certainly something different, and though it’s still carving out what that identity is long term, it’s hard to argue that it isn’t working. The old CW might be dead, but … long live the CW anyway?

Trent Moore is a recovering print journalist, and freelance editor and writer with bylines at lots of places. He likes to find the sweet spot where pop culture crosses over with everything else. Follow him at @trentlmoore on Twitter.

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