“The Secret Circle” Bumped Three Weeks For…Supernatural?
After tonight, Thursday nights for the next three weeks are going to look similiar to the 2009-2010 TV season on The CW.
In a surprise scheduling move by The CW, “The Secret Circle,” which was slated along with “The Vampire Diaries” to go into repeats on February 23rd for three weeks is now going off the schedule for that time. It will return as planned with new episodes on March 15th.
The show that’s going to air in that timeslot instead? ”Supernatural!” SPN is going on it’s own hiatus for two weeks starting February 24th, scheduled to return with new episodes March 9th. The CW has decided to not only in that three week time period to air “Supernatural” repeats on Thursday, but they will continue to run on Friday as well. There will be twice as much “Supernatural” to see! Here’s the schedule according to the CW press release:
February 24th (Friday) – “Season 7: Time For A Wedding”
March 1st (Thursday) – “Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magical Menagerie”
March 2nd (Friday) – “How To Win Friends and Influence Monsters”
March 8th (Thursday) – “Repo Man”
March 9th (Friday) – It says TBD, but it’s supposed to be episode 7.16.
No reason was given for the schedule change. Speculation has been raised that maybe it’s a sign that “Supernatural” will be changing time slots next season. I’m not buying that, especially Thursday at 9pm. I’ve noticed that The CW has been running repeats of other shows on different nights, like “Hart of Dixie” recently airing a repeat in “90210’s” slot. They’ve been using their little gaps in the schedule to promote their shows on different nights. Considering that the “Supernatural” episodes being repeated on Thursday are the three most recent, it’s a chance for fans that have missed the show recently to get caught up, and do so on a more viewer friendly night. That way, they’re more likely to watch again live on Friday when the show comes back from repeats. Or at least DVR it. That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it!
I’m certainly not taking this as a lack of faith in “The Secret Circle” either. The show had it’s first ten episodes aired in a week long marathon back in December, and ratings wise it seems to be doing well. Still, taking a show off air for three weeks for any reason is risky, but I think the show will handle it just fine. After all, their lead in is the number one show on the network.
No matter what the reason for the change, it’s nice to see for once “Supernatural” get an extra boost from The CW. New CW boss Mark Pedowitz is a fan. ”Supernatural” season 8 is looking extremely likely, and given the very aggressive pilot season from The CW (8 pilots, a network record) it’s very possible “Supernatural” is going to be needed to tentpole a new show next season. It’s too early to say on that though, so I’ll just take these other little gifts as they happen.
So why do you think “The Secret Circle” was replaced? Why “Supernatural” and not shows like “Nikita” or “Ringer” who could really use the exposure? Or will none of this matter since no one watches CW repeats anyway?
I think TSC was replaced to see if SPN would do well in it’s old time spot. It is possible that they are thinking about moving it off of Friday and if it’s to be used to tentpole a new series, they usually don’t start a new series on Fridays. They can, Grimm is a good example of a good show that aired on Friday’s and it’s doing very well.
I don’t see why the CW would feel the need to promote SPN now. It’s already stable on the network, but it’s possible they are trying to see if they can get the viewer numbers back up to where they used to be. Highly unusual for CW but…..
I also don’t think The CW is going to move SPN back to its old slot but do think assuming The CW renews TSC it will be moved to another night so that TVD can be used to a new show.
“I’m not looking for teeth” as Dean would say about this CW “Gift Horse” 😉 . I’m thrilled, because I don’t recall The CW ever airing an SPN rerun in another CW shows’ normal time slot.
I would love it. too, Sanlegreen, if SPN remains where it is and I’m 95% sure it will, if The CW would launch a new genre show “behind it” at 8 pm (Arrow, Cult/The Selection or B&TB, even though I’m less than thrilled with Kristen Kruek as the female lead). This would be a gutsy move for Mark Pedowitz to make.
Is there an edit function on this forum? I meant “TVD can be used to *launch* a new show and I misspelled “Sablegreen” – sorry.
No problem! Typos are common.
The edit function is only for those that login. You don’t have to enter the capchta codes when creating your message either. That’s the big bonus of logging in. You get a user profile too and can download an avatar. Registration is easy and free.
Okay, sales pitch over. Thanks for your comment! I couldn’t agree more.
Wow, that’s pretty cool that they decided to do that, but I hope that doesn’t mean that the show will go back to Thursdays. I’m one of those that like the show at 9:00 p.m. on Fridays. I watch it live at that time, but on Thursdays, I’m in bed by that time. Yeah, I’m old and I need my sleep.
P.S. I happen to like “The Secret Circle”, so I hope it will be back next season. I’ll watch anything having to do with the supernatural, my friends and family are actually starting to wonder what’s wrong with me!
Personally, I love that Supernatural will be on more in the next few weeks. It’s nice to see it get some attention. Maybe this is due to all the whoopla that surrounded the PCA’s. I’m sure I wasn’t the only person who shot off a couple of “hot” emails about that whole situation. Any who knows? As I said, I’m one happy person and I will be watching the CW more than I usually do for the next few weeks…. 😀
SN’s lost an estimated million and a half viewers since S4, so I’m guessing the network is trying to see if the Thursday night slot will increase the ratings. I don’t think it’s the time slot that’s been the problem, though.
Actually, that’s a proven NETWORK problem. The CW is down 30 percent in just this year alone! Since SPN season four, live ratings have really tanked at the network. SPN has lost less viewers than others around at that time. Gossip Girl is now barely breaking a million. That used to get 3 to 3.5 million as least.
As a matter of fact, with the exception of The Vampire Diaries, few shows reach the numbers Supernatural does currently on a Friday as opposed to season four. Even The Vampire Diaries currently doesn’t match what SPN did in S4, and that’s their number one show.
Of course I’ve done numerous articles on how CW shows have huge bumps in DVR and iTunes, and online viewing at this time is unknown but from what I heard there’s a bump. A 5th place network doesn’t inspire live viewing. Which is why CW prez Mark Pedowitz has made online deals with Hulu and Netflix.
Of course none of this addresses why SPN reruns are bumping The Secret Circle, but there’s my little arsenal of knowledge. Hope it was informative!
Here are a couple of those articles I was talking about:
[url]https://www.thewinchesterfamilybusiness.com/archive-articles/76-the-business/16627-supernaturals-ratings-keep-improving.html[/url]
[url]https://www.thewinchesterfamilybusiness.com/archive-articles/76-the-business/16654-supernatural-by-the-numbers-part-deux.html[/url]
I have several more too! Just search for “Supernatural ratings” in our search box.
Alice, your conclusion is just right on! I think the one big problem with the CW is lack of variety in programming. So many of the shows seem to be repackaging of the same idea. ie.. GG is similar to 90210. HoD is similar to OTH. TVD and TSC are very alike. Only Nikita and SPN are unique. The problem with Ringer…it’s BORING! The writing sucks! I’m glad that team isn’t writing for SPN anymore!!!! Even the great directors that have come on board can’t seem to save it! It’s a shame! Anyway, my point is this….they need to add some good comedies, maybe half hour shows instead of hour long ones and maybe a good cop procedural show or a mystery one with a unique edge to the storyline to make it different. The CW just needs to add something to spice up the schedule. Oh..and stop with the ANTM wannabees….I’m so burnt out on reality TV!
Alice you are preaching to the choir, you and I know this, but trying to explain it to people who refuse to understand is a different story.
As to your question, I think it’s just to give a little bit of exposure to SPN, considering the head of the network really truly likes the show.
Oh yeah Melanie below brought up something good if AI is 2 hours those three weeks, it could explain the move. SPN would probably do well against Idol, give SPN a little more viewers that might watch the show live on Friday…
Ok I’ve babbled on long enough 😀
I think there are probably a couple of different factors at work. I believe (this could be incorrect but its how I understand it works)the network is only allowed 1 or 2 replays of an episode or they have to pay for it. So the episodes are repeated once over the course of the season and once over the summer. TSC has repeated a lot, thanks to the marathon in December – and SPN has not – there were a few weeks where no SPN aired – maybe this catches SPN up? And the cynic in me wondered if AI is 2 hours on Thursdays those weeks? So SPN takes the hit? Either way, SPN repeats well compared to most of the other CW shows. It seems like a vote of confidence to me.
I’m sure it has to do with the new show Grimm on NBC having the same time slot as spn. Considering its the first real competition SPN has ever had in the sci-fi horror thriller category, they are probobly testing to find out if the fan base is still interested.