CW Puts "Gilmore Girls" on "Mars"

The CW's inaugural fall lineup looks like a TV fantasy league: Rory Gimore bantering with Veronica Mars; Tyra Banks hanging with Chad Michael Murray; the Camdens putting more distance between themselves and Jim-Bob.

The reality is the new venture, rising in September from the ashes of the WB and UPN, cherry-picked the strongest shows from the struggling networks, and built one, big WB-UPN hybrid where Gilmore Girls is paired with Veronica Mars, and America's Next Top Model is married to One Tree Hill. That was the plan when the CW was announced last January, and that was the schedule unveiled Thursday.

Just don't ask Aquaman how his day went. (More on that later.)

In all, the CW will become home to 13 series late of the WB and UPN, all but two of which, Beauty and the Geek and surprise survivor Reba, will debut in the fall. Other shows making the cut are: the comedies, Everybody Hates Chris, All of Us and Girlfriends; the hourlong dramas, 7th Heaven, Smallville and Supernatural; and, the unreality series, Friday Night Smackdown!.

Originally, the CW announced it had salvaged 12 series, six from the WB, and six from UPN. Reba, the five-year-old sitcom starring Reba McEntire, was not mentioned in the morning press releasing touting the network's fall lineup. But by evening, the news was that Reba had been given a 13-episode reprieve, and told to be on standby as a midseason replacement. As Broadcasting & Cable reported last week, canceling Reba literally would have been too much for CW execs, who were faced with having to pay as much as $20 million for the series, alive or not, due to a 2005 decision by WB execs to renew the comedy through 2007.

While fewer dollars hung in the balance, the suspense was no less suspenseful for Veronica Mars, One Tree Hill and Supernatural, all which had been considered iffy job candidates for the CW. Last week, worried Veronica fans even took to the skies, in the form of an airplane-toted banner ad, to make a plea for the future of the teen sleuth.

The pickup of 7th Heaven is an out-and-out resurrection--the series was canceled last November by the WB; what was billed as the final episode aired last week. But whispers had been heard for months that the CW might want keep around the Camdens. And keep them around the new network will, right in the 8 p.m., Monday slot that's been their home since August 1996. At 221 episodes and counting, 7th Heaven is TV's longest-running family drama ever, leaving The Waltons smaller in its rear-view mirror with every new hour. Stars Stephen Collins, Catherine Hicks, David Gallagher, Beverly Mitchell, Mackenzie Rosman and George Stults were all noted in the network announcement, and presumably will all be back for the 11th season.

The body count of WB and UPN shows that didn't get the CW call was high, claiming a dozen series currently on the air. Some of the casualties were never-watched misses such as Pepper Dennis and The Bedford Diaries. Several of the casualties were veteran comedies such as One on One, Half & Half and Eve. Then there was Charmed, its spell over after eight seasons, and Everwood, its mountain idyll destroyed after four seasons.

Despite the spate of cancellations, the CW has more than enough TV to fill six nights, hence, it ordered just two new series, and announced just one new midseason show.

The new fall shows are: The Game: A half-hour comedy about the girlfriend of a pro-football player. Starring Tia Mowry. No word one twin Tamera's whereabouts. Runaway: If Harrison Ford's Fugitive remarried, had three kids, then went on the run again, he'd be a lot like Donnie Wahlberg in this hourlong drama about a man out to clear his name, and make nice with his neighbors in a small Iowa town.

The midseason show is: Hidden Palms: A teenager, who apparently has never, ever watched a David Lynch movie or surfed past Desperate Housewives, learns picture-perfect neighborhoods may not be so perfect after all. Not announced was the Aquaman project from the executive producers of Smallville. The proposed series might have suffered from bad timing and/or bad karma--it originally was developed for the doomed WB.

As of now, the CW is a lock to air in more than 90 percent of the TV nation. In many cities, it'll be found on stations previously occupied by the WB. In related news, MyNetworkTV, the Fox-backed upstart broadcast network, also debuting in the fall, announced that it was ready to go in 79 percent of the nation's TV markets. MyNetworkTV largely will rely on two telenovela-style series to fill its dance card.

Here's a night-by-night look at the CW's fall lineup:

SUNDAY: Everybody Hates Chris, All of Us, Girlfriends, The Game, America's Next Top Model reruns MONDAY: 7th Heaven, Runaway TUESDAY: Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars WEDNESDAY: America's Next Top Model, One Tree Hill THURSDAY: Smallville, Supernatural FRIDAY: Friday Night Smackdown!

Additionally, the CW said Beauty and the Geek will air on Wednesdays in between new cycles of America's Next Top Model.