A 10-year streak has ended at the CW. For the first time in the network’s 11-year history, no new fall series has received a full-season order after the CW opted not to pick up additional episodes of its freshman shows, dramedy No Tomorrow and drama Frequency.
It has been almost customary for the CW to give full-season orders to all of its new fall series, which was the case in the past three seasons. In fact, in the network’s first 10 seasons, only four fall series did not receive orders for additional episodes: Runaway, which was part of the CW’s first fall lineup in 2006; Life Is Wild (2007); The Beautiful Life (2009); and, most recently Emily Owens, MD (2012). (The list does not include the 2008 MRC Sunday block, which was done as a time buy with no creative involvement by the network.)
It has been a rough fall for the CW, which produced a string of commercial hits (Arrow, The Flash) and critical darlings (Jane the Virgin, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) in the past few fall seasons. All DC series, including import Supergirl, have been solid, and veteran Supernatural continues to defy its age, but neither No Tomorrow, based on a Brazilian format, nor Frequency, based on the 2000 movie, got traction despite a marketing push and strong lead-ins. Both shows drew a paltry 0.3 adults 18-49 Live+same day rating for their post-premiere airings.
