Reaper Saved, Aliens Axed
May 14, 2008

The on-the-bubble Reaper has officially been renewed with a 13-episode order for midseason on The CW, but it appears that the critically acclaimed but ratings-challenged Aliens in America won't be coming back. It's a morning of mixed emotions. Hey, all you folks sending petitions for Jericho and Moonlight, do your part for Aliens in America. The spin-off of Beverly Hills 90210 is officially on the network's slate and there will be six other new shows produced, but most will be on Sunday nights, leaving a lot of the schedule untouched. With a schedule that's clearly aimed at young women, the focus at the CW upfronts were on 90210, Stylista, Surviving the Filthy Rich and the success of Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill.

Mondays will stay the same with the network's biggest buzzed show, Gossip Girl, anchoring the night with One Tree Hill and Thursdays will stay the same with Smallville and Supernatural continuing to provide relatively strong returns. Wednesdays has been the home of America's Next Top Model for years, as the network has tried to pin a reality show on Tyra's shoulders but now Banks herself will produce the show's companion, Stylista, another fashion-driven reality show. Beauty and the Geek will take at least the first part of the season off and may never return again after two installments of less-than-good ratings with some sources reporting it's "on-break" and some saying it's done.

Tuesdays will be brand new for The CW with the spin-off of Beverly Hills 90210 anchoring the night. The show is tentatively called 90210 and will lead into Surviving the Filthy Rich, another female-driven drama series. With GG and OTH on Mondays and the Tyra reality series on Wednesdays, that's three nights in a row where The CW will directly be targeting young females. Dawn Ostroff, the net's president of entertainment said, according to Zap2It, "With shows that everyone is talking about, from 'Gossip Girl' and 'America'' Next Top Model' to our upcoming '90210,' our new lineup has the best Monday-Friday schedule flow we have ever had at The CW. We are zeroed in on our target demo of young women 18-34 with both new and returning series, and each programming block provides a strong promotional platform for the following night. We're confident that the quality of our shows for the fall season will make The CW the destination for young women."

Friday nights sees two of the Sunday series, Everybody Hates Chris and The Game, moving to the 8pm slot, followed by repeats of Top Model. Saturdays and Sundays are still up in the air. Media Rights Capital, a production company, will produce a three hours block for Sundays with two comedies and two dramas. Finally, Reaper will return for a second season with a 13-episode order. It could be part of the Sunday slate or brought back midseason. Officially canceled are CW Now, Online Nation, Life is Wild, Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants, Pussycat Dolls Presents, Girlfriends, WWE Friday Night Smackdown!, and Farmer Wants a Wife. For the record, several sources - Zap2It and Variety included - don't list Aliens in America as officially canceled. So, you can still hold out a little hope that it could end up on that unannounced Sunday sked or mid-season. We can always hope.