From "Superstition" to "Supernatural," The CW's Upfront Presentation Hit All the Right Notes

The Big Message Amid sweeping changes throughout the industry including its two parent companies The CW continues to stand tall as a brand that delivers diverse passionate audiences yearround Also before anyone came up with the acronym AVOD advertisersupported on demand TV the service was one of the first anywhere to take advantage of distribution through smart TV sets and devices with a 247 format An updated app combining The CW39s programs with material from Diginet CW Seed launched last month on most smart TV productsHost Mark Pedowitz pictured above The CW39s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and the reigning network chief with the longest tenure Unflappable direct and enthusiastic and always seeming relaxed and happy to be there his presence on stage was a home runWhat Worked Kicking things off with a performance by Stevie Wonder truly a national treasure In an inventive sequence Wonder was first seen on video singing quotWhere Is Our Love Songquot Midway through the song the video gave way to Wonder performing live with his musicians and singers on either side of the stage From there he segued into a rousing turn with his iconic 1970s hit quotSuperstitionquot complete with those famous brass riffs He had the crowd clapping singing and chanting quotCW is the wayquot Wonder remains a wonder of our time Make that of all timeWhat Also Worked Maintaining the tone and pace attendees of The CW39s event enjoyed for years prepandemic The format remained basic and highly effective Pedowitz or someone else talked up a new series which was followed by preview clips and then appearances by cast members on stage for a few minutes of friendly banter For a change of pace former Supernatural stars pictured below left to right Misha Collins Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki all starring in andor executive producing their own CW series hooked up to quotpitchquot some new programming concepts to Pedowitz Their exchange pictured at top produced a few chucklesWhat Didn39t Work Can39t think of anythingBonus Points Major cast members from upcoming and returning scripted series on The CW gathering on stage for an extended bow at the end and some extended moves to quotSuperstitionquot before heading backstageData Points All American Homecoming the spinoff series of All American that launched earlier this year is now the secondmost popular series on The CW39s primetime lineup The new CW app has enjoyed more than 100 million downloads so farNews All three pilot concepts developed in recent months at The CW will become series during the 202223 season A pair of prequels will go on this fall Walker Independence and The Winchesters Gotham Knights about a squad formed to carry out Batman39s quest for Gotham City justice after his death will premiere next year Walker and Walker Independence make up the new twohour Thursday block with The Winchesters leading off Tuesday nights In other fall schedule developments DC39s Stargirl and Kung Fu will graduate from midseason or summer status and run backtoback Wednesdays while a pair of Canadianproduced acquisitions Family Law and Coroner take over Sunday nights Current series The Flash Nancy Drew Superman and Lois and Riverdale on its seventh and final season will come back early 2023 Riverdale star KJ Apa is pictured below Also a number of scripted series will do episodes with mental health storylines as part of a new public service outreachParting Words quotWe need to become a united people of these United States We can39t just talk about it We have to celebrate itquot Stevie WonderquotOur brand continues to be recognized by diverse passionate audiences This is what we will continue to doquot Mark Pedowitz Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The CWquotThis service is evolving and adapting to a changing landscape We pioneered convergence strategies with multiplatform metrics for advertisers in a safe trusted environmentquot Rob Tuck The CW39s Executive Vice President of National SalesquotSaddle up y39all It39s going to be quite a ridequot Walker Independence star Katherine McNamaraquotWe will see you next season Same battime same batchannelquot Gotham Knights costar Misha CollinsClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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From "Superstition" to "Supernatural," The CW's Upfront Presentation Hit All the Right Notes

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Simon Applebaum

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From "Superstition" to "Supernatural," The CW's Upfront Presentation Hit All the Right Notes

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