This won’t take long: CW was so satisfied with its lineup from last year that it’s introducing only two new series for fall – both of them dramas
Last fall, CW introduced three new dramas, two of which, The Originals and Reign, will be back this fall, as will midseason entry The 100. Of the two new shows, one, The Flash, is a spinoff from Arrow, and yet another TV entry from DC Comics for fall 2014. The other new show also is adapted from a previous source: the inspiration for Jane the Virgin is a telenovela from Venezuela.
Scheduled in the 9 p.m. ET Monday slot, Jane the Virgin stars Gina Rodriguez as Jane, and Andrea Navedo as her mother, Xiomara. Jane adores the over-the-top melodrama found in telenovelas, until she suddenly finds herself in the real-life equivalent of one. A determined virgin, Jane learns she’s pregnant – the result of an erroneously delivered artificial insemination – which throws her into the life of the sperm donor, Rafael, played by Justin Baldoni. Both Baldoni and Rodriguez come from the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful, so the CBS-owned CW is hoping for some cultural crossover.
Here’s a first taste. It looks very unlike most of the CW offerings – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing:
Then, Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET, there’s The Flash, the DC Comics speedster who last got a series of his own in 1990, on CBS. For this new CW series, both Barry Allen and his costumed alter ego The Flash are played by Grant Gustin, who’s already played the characters three times on Arrow. The teaser promo underscores that relationship, and not much else:
Beauty and the Beast and Hart of Dixie are being saved for midseason, along with some new replacement series, including two genre shows, The Messengers and iZombie.
For now, though, iTired…
So that’s the end of this year’s fall 2014 TV report.