It’s CW Pilot Season: So Many Spinoffs
The year has only just begun, but the broadcast networks are already pondering what their fall lineup is going to look like. The CW is getting to the task early by ordering five pilots to be filmed. And many of them sound familiar…
No network is more addicted to the spinoff concept than The CW, and three of the five pilots currently being produced are extensions of other shows. First off, we have the required Berlantiverse superhero series with Batwoman. If you were watching the Elseworlds crossover last month, you got to see a preview of what a CW Batwoman would be like.
Jane The Virgin may be ending, but Jane’s story is far from over….literally. The proposed spinoff Jane the Novela would be a dramatic reenactment of one of her novels, with Gina Rodriguez providing narration. You have to admire The CW’s commitment here….Jane the Virgin was never a ratings winner, but they’re still willing to please the few who did watch.
From out of nowhere comes Katy Keene, a Riverdale spinoff based on the fashion model created by Bill Woggon who had her own series in the 40s and again in the 80s. As Archie characters go, Katy is pretty Z-list and technically does not even exist in the same continuity as the Riverdale comics.
But you have to understand, Archie Inc. is kind of stuck right now. Sabrina escaped to Netflix, and they can’t make the next most logical choice and spin off Josie and the Pussycats, because the band no longer exists on Riverdale. So….Katy it is; remember her? No? Too bad, she’s what you’re getting.
Are there original pilots The CW is considering? Depends on what you mean by original. Nancy Drew is the latest TV take on the classic teen sleuth, brought to us by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. The official description reads like this: “Set in the summer after her high school graduation, 18-year-old Nancy Drew thought she’d be leaving her hometown for college. But when a family tragedy holds her back another year, she finds herself embroiled in a ghostly murder investigation — and along the way, uncovers secrets that run deeper than she ever imagined.”
The Lost Boys is an adaption of the 1980s movie, brought to us by the brilliant Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars, the soon-to-be-ending iZombie). “After the sudden death of their father, two brothers move to Santa Carla with their mother, who hopes to start anew in the town where she grew up. But the brothers find themselves drawn deeper and deeper into the seductive world of Santa Carla’s eternally beautiful and youthful undead.”
Looking at these pilots by description alone, they’re all so CW-y that we have no idea which of them will get picked. Our guess: they choose all of them and shove all your favorite shows into midseason with 13 episodes apiece.