Continuing its grand tradition of saying, “Eh, what the hell,” to just about any show that garners the slightest amount of critical praise or audience, The CW went ahead and renewed almost every scripted show it has for next season. That means there will be at least one more year apiece of Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, Reign, Jane The Virgin, The 100, The Flash, and Arrow.
The decision leaves only Hart Of Dixie and Beauty And The Beast still in limbo. Since The CW has done everything but hang a “This Space For Rent” sign on Hart Of Dixie’s time slot, cancellation seems likely (especially with iZombie and The Messengers’ upcoming debuts), but Beauty And The Beast is another matter. At The CW’s TCA panel, network head Mark Pedowitz said the show would be returning in late May or early June, adding, “One of the reasons we picked it up was to begin bringing scripted programming in the summer.” Decent ratings could keep it on the air—unless, of course, Beauty decides The Beast is acting like a total spaz and breaks it off.
Given that the network’s two biggest shows are both DC Comics properties, naturally the network is also saying it would like more of that, please. The channel is launching Vixen, an animated series set in the same universe as Arrow and The Flash, on The CW Seed, its online digital platform (and pilot testing ground). Overseen by Arrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim, Vixen tells the story of Mari Jiwe McCabe, an orphaned girl from Africa whose mystical Tantu totem ”gives her the abilities of one animal at a time.” No word yet on the potential for crossover episodes with her fellow superheroes, but presumably The CW can just stick the animated character into its live-action shows, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?-style.
But don’t get The CW wrong: It wants more live-action DC shows, too—specifically a show for the Atom, Brandon Routh’s recurring Arrow character from this season, who can shrink and enlarge himself as well as other objects. Hence Greg Berlanti’s TCA admission that he is in “very early talks” on the “very general idea” of a series for the character. With exciting language like that sizzling the air, it’s no wonder Berlanti quickly added that he wasn’t allowed to discuss that very general idea any further, for fear that his grandiloquence could ignite the whole building.