Upfronts: The CW

A few changes to report on at the WBUPN, most of which will not concern you unless you are under 25, deeply into fashion, or a media business nerd.

What's out? - Girlfriends is the oldest show to get the hook, while Beauty and the Geek gets the hook at least one season too late. Aliens in America is also toast, a bit of a strike casualty I think. Then there are all the generically-named shows like CW Now and Online Nation that no one could tell apart.

What's back? - Among last year's new shows, Gossip Girl and Reaper managed to stick, with the latter coming back in midseason. Gossip Girl will team with One Tree Hill on Monday, Smallville and Supernatural will hold down Thursday, while Everybody Hates Chris and The Game are banished to Friday.

What's new? - Tuesday brings one of the more talked about shows with 90210, a return to the teens of West Beverly Hills High, hopefully with actors whose ages are closer to 20 than 30. Jennie Garth will have a recurring role, the only link to the original. It's paired with Surviving the Filthy Rich, the story of an Ivy-educated journalist who gets fired and becomes the tutor/nanny for a rich family's girls. It's based on some chick lit book I've never heard of, which isn't a shock as I'm not exactly in the genre's target demo.

Wednesday will pair America's Next Top Model with Stylista, another Tyra Banks reality show which lands on the other side of the camera as it seeks to find an up and coming editor for Elle.

Sunday's lineup will no longer be reruns (Friday gets an encore of ANTM, though), but instead will feature shows from Media Rights Capital, an independent producer of movies, TV and new media content. The announcement pushed the idea that this allows the CW to focus on weeknights, with an emphasis on Friday as an important night for "retailers and marketers with a weekend product push." Friday night seems a little late to push things for the weekend, but I'll allow them their spin. I'm sure the CW's inability to program Sunday in the past has nothing to do with this.

Prognosis? - Great, if you're a 14 year old girl. 90210 may intially bring in some parents who remember the original, but I'm not sure there'll be enough nostalgia to keep them around. Thursday and Friday seem like the nights with the most potential for a diverse audience, but I don't think they can compete on either night (though Friday is pretty much a wash for everyone). I don't expect this lineup will see the CW break out of netlet status, but it's going to really work for the CW's core viewers.