Keeping Track of Tyra

The next America's Next Top Model challenge? Find Tyra Banks.

For three years, Banks' catwalk series aired on UPN. As of Wednesday's season premiere, it airs on the CW, the green-branded network produced from the WB and UPN's recyclables.

So, where does the CW air? The short answer is almost everywhere. The long answer is, well, longer. In some areas, the CW airs on old WB stations. In others, it airs on old UPN stations. In still others, it airs on stations that previously were neither WB nor UPN outlets. And in some places, it airs on digital cable. The only way to know for sure: Consult your local listings or visit the network's site, cwtv.com.

The new channel configurations don't just effect Top Model, but other long-running favorites such as 7th Heaven, Gilmore Girls, Smallville, One Tree Hill, Girlfriends and Friday Night Smackdown, all former WB or UPN shows picked up by the CW.

As a TV media writer for the Cincinnati Enquirer, John Kiesewetter knows some viewers are getting angsty over the changes.

"There are many fans here for 7th Heaven, Gilmore Girls, Smallville--mostly WB shows--that since August have been calling and emailing, 'How are we going to find Gilmore Girls?'," Kiesewetter says.

In Cincinnati, the answer wasn't fully answered until 1 a.m. Sunday, Kiesewetter says, when Time Warner struck a deal to carry the CW on digital and basic cable. (The network can also be seen there on another local cable system, as well as DirecTV.)

Cincinnati, the nation's 33rd largest TV market, is the nation's largest TV market to be without an over-the-air, or broadcast, CW affiliate.

In the three biggest TV markets, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, the CW can be had without a cable box, but not without a channel changer. In all three metropolises, former UPN shows, such as Top Model and Smackdown, are moving to stations that formerly were home to WB shows.

Because of all the real-estate moves, Christopher Lisotta, senior reporter at the trade magazine TelevisionWeek, says the CW's ratings may suffer, at least at first.

"I think it's going to take some time," Lisotta says. "No matter how many bus ads you have...It's going to take some time for people to find it."

Top Model is the CW's first guinea pig. Although the new network launched Monday, it didn't launch with new product, an Entertainment Tonight-produced promotional special excepted.

In July, CW entertainment president Dawn Ostroff explained the network's fall fashions would be presented over a three- to four-week period in order give the affiliates time to get up and running.

True to plan, next week will see the season premieres of 7th Heaven, Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, Smallville and Supernatural, and the debut of the all-new series Runaway.

Others shows, such as Everybody Hates Chris and Veronica Mars, won't begin their new seasons until the week of Oct. 1. The CW's so-called "content wraps," commercials that'll play like lonelygirl15 videos, only with plugs for, say, American Eagle Outfitters, are set to debut Oct. 3.

Once everyone's in place, most nights, such as Tuesday's Gilmore Girls-Veronica Mars tandem, will be look like a WB-UPN mash-up. That also is part of the plan--pairing shows from two struggling networks in order to, ideally, create one non-struggling network.

"Now, that doesn't mean Supernatural and Veronica Mars will suddenly reach massive heights because they're on the same schedule," Ostroff told reporters last summer. "I mean, we wish that were the case, but we're a bit realistic with what our expectations are."

It was hard to tell whether the CW passed or failed its first ratings test. On Monday night, the network averaged about 2 million viewers, which was either not very much considering the WB and UPN each averaged 3.1 million last season, or quite a bit considering it only aired a 7th Heaven rerun and the ET special.

The truer test comes with Top Model's two-hour opener. Last season on UPN, the reality series averaged 5 million viewers.

UPN ended its decade-long run last Friday; the WB on Sunday. The CW's salvage effort kept mourning at a minimum.

"If you're a Gilmore Girls fan, I don't think you care if it's on the CW or the WB," Lisotta says.

"As long as you can find it."