Summary
- The CW continues to cancel series, including Run the Burbs and Everyone Else Burns, limiting its scripted show catalog.
- Successful shows like Supernatural, the Arrowverse, and Riverdale have helped The CW stay alive despite streaming competition.
- The network needs to find new original shows that follow successful models to sustain its brand identity.
The crisis continues on The CW. The network has canceled a long list of series in recent months, increasingly limiting its scripted show catalog, and they continue to do so with two new victims, Run the Burbs and Everyone Else Burns.
Run the Burbs premiered in 2022 on the Canadian network CBC Television, and was acquired by The CW in July 2023. The plot centers on a family living in the suburbs of the fictional town of Rockridge, and they seek to give a new spin to their lives, trying extremely new things. The show was created by Scott Townend and Andrew Phung, with the latter also leading the cast that also includes Rakhee Morzaria, Ali Hassan, Julie Nolke, Samantha Wan, Candy Palmater, Chris Locke, and Aurora Browne.
Everyone Else Burns, for its part, is a British comedy created for Channel 4 by Dillon Mapletoft and Oliver Taylor, released in January 2023. The story follows a family that belongs to a Christian sect and dedicates much of their days to trying to recruit new members, and try to protect themselves from burning in the eternal fire. The series stars Simon Bird, Kate O’Flynn, Amy James-Kelly, Harry Connor, Morgana Robinson, Lolly Adefope, Ali Khan, Kadiff Kirwan, Arsher Ali, and Liam Williams. The show premiered on The CW in October, and was renewed for a second season by Channel 4 in October, but it looks like fans who watched it on the American network won’t be able to see what’s next.
According to Deadline, both series have been pulled from The CW’s schedule. For now, they will be replaced by two other series, Whose Line Is It Anyway? and The Great American Joke Off. These are not the first acquired titles that the network has decided to remove. The series Bump and Barons, Down to Earth With Zac Efron, and Fantastic Friends suffered the same fate.
The CW Must Return to Its Roots
There is no doubt that the rise of streaming has affected television networks like The CW, but thanks to successful productions like Supernatural, the Arrowverse or Riverdale they had managed to stay alive despite the invasion of services like Netflix or Disney+.
However, little by little they began to lose those powerful stories. The Arrowverse ended with the premiere of the final episodes of The Flash earlier this year, while Riverdale also came to an end a few weeks ago. Additionally, Supernatural ended in 2020, and the most recent attempt to expand its universe, The Winchesters, failed.
Currently, other popular shows such as All American, its spinoff All American: Homecoming, Walker and Superman & Lois, whose next season will be its last, are maintaining the network’s identity. But, they will not be able to support the weight of the entire brand, so looking for new original shows that have similar models to those that made it successful at some point would be the best strategy to follow for The CW.