Upfronts: The CW

For a network focused on pulling in the youngest viewers, there are a surprising number of aging shows on the CW lineup for next season. Only two new shows for next season, helped by the network sticking to its plan to program weeknights only.

What's gone - Melrose Place would be the most notable cut, given how the network pushed for the show to match the same relative success as 90210. Casting Ashlee Simpson may not have been such a great idea, in retrosepct. The Beautiful Life, the network's latest attempt to translate the success of America's Next Top Model into episodic TV, also got the hook. Among the others, I only stop to note that I never knew there was a show called Blonde Charity Mafia. The name alone cried for cancellation.

Day by Day -

Monday: 90210 moves over to partner with Gossip Girl, which seems like a good idea. Why have one hour of backbiting rich kids when you can have two?

Tuesday: One Tree Hill moves in with adoption drama Life Unexpected. Which is fine, I guess.

Wednesday: America's Next Top Model continues, and will lead in to Hellcats, which follows a pre-law student at a Memphis university who,after losing financial aid, parlays her youth gymnastics experience into a spot on the school's cheerleading team, leading the usual backstabbing and Bring it On-type shenanigans. I think.

Thursday: The Vampire Diaries leads in to Nikita, a show about a woman who was recruited to become a spy and assassin as a teen, and who had now turned against those that trained her, an outfit known as Division. Meanwhile, they keep turning out teenaged spies, one of whom is beginning to see why Nikita decided to turn. This should sound familiar, it being the basis, more or less, for two feature films and a previous TV series.

Friday: Brings Smallville and Supernatural together, in a sensible pairing, even if Smallville seems like it's been around since 1994. This is supposedly the show's last season, which seems at least one season too late. I can't say I'm thrilled about the network playing the usual game of sticking its sci-fi/fantasy type series on Friday nights, but if the network really does skew younger it may not be a bad move, as most of the fans should be too young to go out to bars.

I can't say this is the worst lineup the CW could have come up with, though they may be trading stability for some of their younger viewers. That also may not be the worst thing if they can bring in a few more viewers in their 20s. Still, I don't see them threatening NBC any time soon.