From the Upfronts: The CW Announces 2020-21 Sched, Moves Returning Shows to January

This was supposed to be Upfront week when the broadcast networks have lavish presentations to unveil their upcoming schedules, but the current pandemic has put a damper on that. Most of the Upfronts have been cancelled or replaced with virtual meetings with the sponsors, so news on the 2020-21 schedules has been sparse so far. But ever-reliable CW has released its full schedule and addressed the status of most of its shows in development at the time that it usually would have had its presentation.

The Fall schedule shows the clear impact of the shutdowns as it consists of Summer hold-overs and acquisitions, with the network’s regular shows delayed until January. Summer entries The Outpost and Pandora were impacted by the production delays and will shift to Fall in 2020. Last year’s Summer anthology series Two Sentence Horror Stories has received a second season order and it will also air in Fall. The CW has acquired the rights to DCU’s Swamp Thing along with the British fantasy-comedy Dead Pixels, and those will join the Fall schedule as well. And the final seven episodes of Supernatural‘s final season will air in Fall as well (assuming filming can be completed on the two unfinished eps). The rest of the schedule will be filled out with non-genre acquisitions and shows like Penn & Teller: Fool Us. You can see the full schedule of genre entries further below.

As for the network’s Arrow-verse entries and other returning shows, those will get moved to a January start, though still with full-season orders. The plan is to have a brief hiatus in March and then resume new episodes through July/August. Superman & Lois will be the only new genre entry joining the schedule in January. Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow have been pushed to a Spring start (and there is no word yet on whether they are heading into their final seasons) as will Roswell New Mexico.  A two-hour cross-over event featuring Superman and Batwoman is planned for the coming season as well.

As far as new shows in development, Rob Thomas’ The Lost Boys is getting rolled for a third time, but the network still wants to get that one to series at some point.  As for the Arrow and The 100 spin-offs, The CW President and CEO Mark Pedowitz has said that they are still “very much alive”.  But with a very crowded schedule starting in January, and the reality of life after the production shutdowns, don’t expect those to make it to the lineup next year.

Following are The CW’s Fall and Mid-Season schedules of sci fi and fantasy shows (you can see the full schedules at this link):

Fall 2020:

Tuesday

8 PM Swamp Thing Encore Run

Wednesday

8 PM Two Sentence Horror Stories Returning for 2nd Season
8:30 PM Dead Pixels U.S. Premiere

Thursday

8 PM Supernatural Final Episodes
9 PM The Outpost Returning for 3rd Season

Sunday

9 PM Pandora Returning for 2nd Season

January 2021:

Monday

9 PM Black Lightning Returning for 4th Season

Tuesday

8 PM The Flash Returning for 7th Season
9 PM Superman & Lois Series Premiere

Wednesday

8 PM Riverdale Returning for 5th Season
9 PM Nancy Drew Returning for 2nd Season

Thursday

9 PM Legacies Returning for 3rd Season

Sunday

8 PM Batwoman Returning for 2nd Season
9 PM Charmed Returning for 3rd Season

Spring 2021:

Supergirl Returning for 6th Season
Legends of Tomorrow Returning for 6th Season
Roswell New Mexico Returning for 3rd Season

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