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Britt Robertson Cast In ‘White Rabbit’

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Tuesday July 10, 2012 @ 3:07pm PDTTags: Britt Robertson, The First Time, The Secret Circle

Britt Robertson White RabbitBritt Robertson has joined the cast of the dark bully drama White Rabbit. The actress joins True Blood’s Sam Trammell and The Descendants’ Nick Krause, who plays Robertson’s boyfriend. Tim McCann is directing. Robert Yocum of Burning Sky Films, Shaun Sanghani of SSS Entertainment, and Jacky Morgan are producing. Robertson, who appeared on The CW’s now cancelled The Secret Circle, will be seen soon in the teen romance The First Time from Sony Pictures. The feature premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Robertson is repped by Innovative Artists.

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Ratings Rat Race: ‘Grey’s', ‘Private Practice’ Up; ‘Vampire Diaries’, ‘Secret Circle’ Flat

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday January 6, 2012 @ 8:45am PSTTags: Grey's Anatomy, The Secret Circle, The Vampire Diaries, Winter Wipeout
Nellie Andreeva

ABC and the CW returned to originals last night with CBS, NBC and Fox sticking to reruns. The premiere of ABC’s Winter Wipeout (2.8/8 among adults 18-49) was down 26% from its January 2011 premiere but up from the special … Read More »

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RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Ends Fall Run With A Bang, ‘Big Bang’ Tops Night

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday November 11, 2011 @ 9:45am PSTTags: Bones, Charlie's Angels, Community, Grey's Anatomy, Parks and Recreation, Prime Suspect, Private Practice, Ratings Rat Race, Rules of Engagement, The Big Bang Theory, The Office, The Secret Circle, The Vampire Diaries, The X Factor, TV Ratings, Whitney
Nellie Andreeva

ABC’s veteran medical drama Grey’s Anatomy (4.0/10 in adults 18-49) had its fall finale last night. The series ended on a high note – Grey‘s was up 14% from its fast national rating last week. Private Practice (2.9/8), which is heading into its two-hour fall finale next week, was up 12%. On a low note, ABC’s canceled drama Charlie’s Angels (1.1/3) at 8 PM was down a tenth to a series low in its final airing. It dragged down ABC’s nightly average, so the network (2.7/7, 8 million) finished third in both 18-49 and total viewers.

CBS aired a new The Big Bang Theory (5.2/15, 15.7 million) and Rules Of Engagement (3.6/9), followed by drama reruns of Person Of Interest (2.0/5) and The Mentalist (1.9/5). For a third straight week, Big Bang went up in the fast nationals vs. the previous Thursday. The last two times, the comedy posted a new Thursday high in 18-49 and may again tie or surpass its current Thursday best (5.4) when the Live+Same Day ratings are released this afternoon. Big Bang once again topped the night in both 18-49 and total viewers. Rules was down a tenth from last week. CBS (2.8/7, 10.9 million) topped the night in viewers and finished second in 18-49 to Fox.

The second results edition of Fox’s The X Factor (3.3/9) was down 8% from last week. Bones (2.7/7) was down 18% from its season premiere last week. Fox (3.0/8, 9.5 million) still won the night in the demo. Read More »

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RATINGS RAT RACE: CBS, NBC Comedies Rebound, ‘Bones’ Debuts, ‘Big Bang’ Rocks

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday November 4, 2011 @ 9:33am PDTTags: Bones, Charlie's Angels, Community, Grey's Anatomy, Parks and Recreation, Person of Interest, Prime Suspect, Private Practice, Ratings Rat Race, Rules of Engagement, The Big Bang Theory, The Mentalist, The Office, The Secret Circle, The Vampire Diaries, The X Factor, TV Ratings, Whitney
Nellie Andreeva

UPDATE 2 PM: Big boost in the finals for Big Bang, which indeed posted a new 18-49 Thursday with a 5.4 rating, up from 5.1 in the fast nationals. Going up a tenth are ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, NBC’s The Office and Parks & Recreation, Fox’s The X Factor and the CW’s The Vampire Diaries, which hit a season high.

PREVIOUS: All series that were pushed down by Game 6 of the World Series last Thursday bounced back last night. CBS’ The Big Bang Theory (5.1/15 in adults 18-49, 15.5 million) was up 13% from its fast national 18-49 rating last week. The hot comedy posted a new Thursday high in total viewers and will do the same in adults 18-49 when the finals are released later today. (It currently runs tied with the Thursday demo high it logged just two weeks ago but will be adjusted up as it always does.) Big Bang once again ranked as the highest-rated program of the night in 18-49 and total viewers. Rules Of Engagement (3.7/10, up 12%, 11.9 million) also posted new Thursday highs in total viewers and 18-49. Person Of Interest (2.7/7, 11.7 million) was flat, while The Mentalist (2.9/8, up 16%, 13.6 million) hit a season high in 18-49 and drew its largest audience since the season premiere.

Fox’s The X Factor (3.6/10, 11.3 million) aired its first-ever result show, which also was the series’ first hourlong edition. For those reasons, there is no apples-to-apples comparison to previous episodes, but X Factor grew nicely half-hour to half-hour, from a 3.3 to a 4.0 in the demo. At 9 PM, Bones opened its seventh season with a 3.3/8 in adults 18-49 and 10 million viewers. In 18-49 that was up 22% from the show’s debut last season, but this year Bones had a lofty X Factor lead-in vs. being a self-starter at 8 PM last year. Additionally, there was a significant half-hour-to-half-hour drop-off, from a 3.5 to a 3.1, which you don’t want to see in a 9 PM drama. Still, Fox (3.4/9, 10.6 million) edged CBS (3.3/9, 12.9 million) for the top spot in 18-49 to post a seventh consecutive Thursday demo win this season. Read More »

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CW Announces Midseason Launch Dates

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday November 2, 2011 @ 2:17pm PDTTags: 90210, America's Next Top Model, CW, Gossip Girl, Hart of Dixie, Nikita, One Tree Hill, Remodeled, Ringer, Supernatural, The Secret Circle, The Vampire Diaries, TV Schedule
Nellie Andreeva

The CW has set return dates for its original series, which will go on hiatus next month. The network will roll out its lineup on January 5 with the Thursday duo of The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle. The final 13-episode season of One Tree Hill will launch on January 11 and will run on Wednesdays in tandem with new reality series Remodeled, which will serve as a bridge between the two cycles of America’s Next Top Model. Because Remodeled‘s order is shorter than that of OTH, the final episodes of OTH are expected to air with Top Model, whose midseason premiere date will be announced early next year. Here is a list of the CW’s midseason premiere dates: Read More »

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RATINGS RAT RACE: Epic Game 6 Boosts Fox, ‘Prime Suspect’ Hits Low

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday October 28, 2011 @ 9:39am PDTTags: Community, Grey's Anatomy, Parks and Recreation, Person of Interest, Prime Suspect, Private Practice, Ratings Rat Race, Rules of Engagement, The Big Bang Theory, The Mentalist, The Office, The Secret Circle, The Vampire Diaries, TV Ratings, Whitney, World Series
Nellie Andreeva

After a lousy ALCS championship series and a slow start to the World Series, Fox got cooking last night with a thrilling 11-inning Game 6, which forced a rare World Series Game 7 (we hadn’t had one in nine years). It’s a dream come true for Fox executives and a nightmare for NBC ones whose Friday premieres of Grimm and Chuck tonight will have to face that game. (CBS has opted to sub its originals with repeats at the last minute.) The big game last night, which will propel Fox to an easy nightly win in 18-49 and total viewers when time-adjusted ratings are released, impacted the competition in a typical pattern, pushing down male-skewing shows like CBS’ The Big Bang Theory and Person Of Interest and NBC’s Community and The Office, while boosting female-oriented series such as ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, NBC’s Whitney and the CW’s The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle.

Maybe ABC should’ve tried a Charlie’s Angels series with Charlie Brown as the boss. Last night, a rerun of the 45-year-old cartoon It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown at 8 PM drew a 2.3/6 among 18-49, which was higher than any episode of the canceled Charlie’s Angels in the slot. Vs. last year, the Charlie Brown animated special was up 5%. Grey’s Anatomy (3.7/9) was up 3% from last week, and Private Practice up 4%. Read More »

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Ratings Rat Race: Strong Start For ‘Rules’, ‘Big Bang’ Poised To Post Thursday High

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday October 21, 2011 @ 9:22am PDTTags: Charlie's Angels, Grey's Anatomy, How To Be a Gentleman, Person of Interest, Ratings Rat Race, Rules of Engagement, The Big Bang Theory, The Mentalist, The Secret Circle, The Vampire Diaries, TV Ratings, World Series
Nellie Andreeva

This is a nice vindication for a series that never had a permanent time slot or launch date, shuffled around the schedule and bounced between fall and midseason. Getting a last-minute upgrade to Thursdays from its original Saturday(!) time slot this fall, veteran CBS utility player Rules Of Engagement (3.7/12, 11.5 million) posted its best fall premiere in four years last night. Compared with last fall, when Rules aired Mondays at 8:30 PM, the veteran comedy was up 19%. Rules delivered far stronger numbers than the comedy it replaced, rookie How To Be A Gentleman, which posted a 2.5/7 in its last Thursday airing, and matched the demo performance in the Thursday 8:30 PM slot last week of a Big Bang Theory repeat. The Big Bang Theory (4.9/15, 14.7 million) had a great night, up 11% from its demo fast national last week to match its best Thursday demo rating with a regularly scheduled telecast and post its second-biggest audience on the night. Big Bang is expected to break the tie and post its best Thursday number when the finals are announced this afternoon as the hit comedy always gets adjusted up. UPDATE PM: It’s official – a new Thursday high for Big Bang, which rose to a 5.1 rating in 18-49 in Live+Same Day. Big Bang once again ranked as the top program on Thursday in 18-49 and total viewers. At 9 PM, Person Of Interest (2.7/7) matched its fast national from last week, as did The Mentalist (2.5/7) at 10 PM. CBS (3.2/9, 12.6 million) is expected to finish second for the night behind Fox’s coverage of Game 2 of the World Series. There is no time-adjusted data for the game, but, just like Game 1 on Wednesday, it appears to be down from the corresponding telecast last year. Read More »

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UPDATE: CW Could See $1B From 4-Year Licensing Deal With Netflix

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday October 13, 2011 @ 11:10am PDTTags: 90210, Barry Meyer, CW, Gossip Girl, Hart of Dixie, Les Moonves, Netflix, Nikita, Ringer, Supernatural, The Secret Circle, The Vampire Diaries

UPDATE, 11:10 AM: This deal’s more lucrative than it initially seemed. Wells Fargo Securities analyst Marci Ryvicker figures it could be worth as much as $1B for CW. While she acknowledges that “the accounting is somewhat complex,” she says that CBS — which co-owns CW with Time Warner — might see an additional 5 cents a share annually. Lazard Capital Markets’ Barton Crockett says it could contribute 2 cents a share to Time Warner. “The money-losing CW may also retain a minority of the Netflix fee, helping reduce its losses,” he adds. The deal’s so valuable because CW’s young-skewing shows fit well with the audience that streams shows on demand from Netflix. What’s more, Netflix’s payments escalate for long-running series.

Warner Bros Television Group president Bruce Rosenblum won’t comment on the financials but says the terms “won’t be repeated” because “other networks don’t own (as much of) their own content.” This isn’t an exclusive deal in the traditional sense — the shows can appear elsewhere – but Netflix has a narrow right to show entire seasons on-demand from previous years. (Others can license select episodes.) “We know from Day 1 that the syndication on-demand window has been sold, but we also have the ability to sell linear rights down the road,” Rosenblum says. CW shows also may continue to run on Netflix even if the deal isn’t renewed; the online service has the right to keep offering series that begin while it’s in force.

PREVIOUS, 7:55 AM: This one follows the usual pattern: Nothing current — just previous seasons of CW series. And it’s not exclusive. Producers can continue to sell their shows in syndication and to other digital services. No mention of how much Netflix will pay for the programming. Here’s the release:

October 13, 2011 — CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Television Group announced today a licensing agreement with Netflix [Nasdaq: NFLX] allowing U.S. members of Netflix to instantly watch previous seasons of scripted series that air on The CW from its current schedule through the 2014-15 season.

Read More »

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CW Gives Full-Season Orders To ‘Hart Of Dixie’ & ‘Secret Circle’, Goes 3-For-3

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday October 12, 2011 @ 3:00pm PDTTags: CW, Hart of Dixie, Mark Pedowitz, Ringer, The Secret Circle, TV Pickups
Nellie Andreeva

CW Gives Sarah Michelle Gellar Drama ‘Ringer’ Full-Season Order

In one fell swoop, The CW has given full-season orders to all of its three freshmen series. Following the pickup of Ringer earlier today, the network also has given back-nine orders to fellow rookies Hart Of Dixie and The Secret Circle. None of the three have been breakout hits for the CW, but network president Mark Pedowitz indicated that it was less the series’ ratings performance and more their long-term potential that drove the pickup decision. “We believe in the creative strength of these dramas, and by giving them back nine orders we can give our audience the chance to enjoy complete seasons of all three of them,” he said. “With compelling storylines, engaging characters and tremendous buzz, we firmly believe that Hart Of Dixie, Ringer and The Secret Circle can become signature series for The CW, the kind of top-notch shows that are synonymous with our brand.” The CW had been in bad shape in the ratings, down 36% in adults 18-39 to a 0.7 in the Live+Same Day numbers for premiere week. But when the Live+7 numbers for the season’s opening week came out yesterday, the network shot up 43% to a 1.0 to erase the declines and then some. Read More »

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Ratings Rat Race: ‘Charlie’s Angels’ Dives, ‘Suspect’ Steady, ‘Office’, ‘Grey’s’ Hit Low

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday October 7, 2011 @ 9:41am PDTTags: Community, Grey's Anatomy, How To Be a Gentleman, Person of Interest, Prime Suspect, Private Practice, Ratings Rat Race, The Big Bang Theory, The Mentalist, The Playboy Club, The Secret Circle, The Vampire Diaries, The X Factor, TV Ratings, Whitney
Nellie Andreeva

Fox got some really bad news last night when the Yankees get eliminated from the playoffs, leaving the network’s post-season baseball coverage without its 2 biggest draws – the Yankees and the Red Sox, which bowed out a week ago. Softening the blow was the fact that the network won its third Thursday in a row among adults 18-49 with The X Factor (3.8/10), which still refuses to grow but has been extremely persistent in its ratings performance. The reality series matched its fast national rating from last week, just as it did on Wednesday. (X Factor always gets adjusted up in the ratings.) Keeping steady was actually a major accomplishment last night as the big Yankees-Tigers game on TBS pushed most broadcast series down.

There were only 2 other series not to drop week-to-week last night and one of them was a show that needed good news — NBC’s Prime Suspect (1.5/4), which matched its performance last week even as its lead-in, Whitney (2.3/6) was down 8%. Prime Suspect is the only new NBC series whose fate is undecided but the network’s brass are rallying behind it, and its hold last night is encouraging thought it needs to eventually grow to earn a pickup. That could happen next week when the network will start airing reruns of the show in the Monday 10 PM slot vacated by cancelled Playboy Club to give the crime drama starring Maria Bello additional sampling. Prime Suspect was not the lowest-rated NBC series on Thursday this time – it was tied with Community (1.5/5), which was down 17%. Parks & Recreation (1.9/5) was down 10%, while The Office (3.1/8) was down 11% to log its lowest-rated episode in 6-and-a-half years, since the finale of its poorly rated 6-episode first season in the spring of 2005. While baseball was a factor, it is still disconcerting for the veteran comedy to drop so much as it raises concerns about the show’s viability without star Steve Carell. Read More »

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RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Gentleman’ Debuts Low, ‘Angels’, ‘Whitney’ & ‘Suspect’ Drop

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday September 30, 2011 @ 9:13am PDTTags: Charlie's Angels, Community, Grey's Anatomy, How To Be a Gentleman, Parks and Recreation, Person of Interest, Prime Suspect, Private Practice, Ratings Rat Race, The Big Bang Theory, The Mentalist, The Office, The Secret Circle, The Vampire Diaries, The X Factor, TV Ratings, Whitney
Nellie Andreeva

NBC’s Bob Greenblatt Not Rushing To Cancel Low-Rated ‘Playboy Club’ Or ‘Free Agents’

CBS’ decision to put two unproven new series back-to-back on lucrative Thursday night — comedy How To Be A Gentleman and drama Person Of Interest — was quite a gamble for a risk-averse network like CBS. And now, the tandem starts to spell trouble for the network in their first airing together. In its premiere, How To Be A Gentleman (2.7/8) was down 33% from the debut of the now-defunct $#*! My Dad Says in the 8:30 PM slot last year but still did better than anything but X Factor in the half-hour. Gentleman dragged down Person Of Interest (2.7/7, 12.4 million), which slid a modest 13% from its premiere last week directly behind The Big Bang Theory. The ripple effect continued with The Mentalist (2.5/7, 12.7 million), down 11%. The only good news for CBS last night came at 8 PM, where Big Bang (4.8/15, 14.5 million) matched the fast national 18-49 rating for its season premiere last week and was once again the top program of the night in viewers and the 18-49 demo. CBS (3.0/8, 12.3 million) was No. 1 for the night in total viewers and second in 18-49.

How quickly they fall. After a disappointing start last week, ABC’s Charlie’s Angels (1.5/4) took a 29% dive in Week 2 and is facing likely early cancellation. Grey’s Anatomy (3.5/9) was down 15% from its two-hour opener last week. At 10 PM, Private Practice launched its fifth season with a 2.8/8, down 15% from last season’s debut and its lowest-rated premiere ever, but it still won the 10 PM hour in 18-49. ABC (2.6/7, 8.4 million) finished third for the night in viewers and 18-49. Read More »

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‘Smallville’ Showrunners Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders Join ‘The Secret Circle’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday September 20, 2011 @ 11:13am PDTTags: Kevin Williamson, The Secret Circle
Nellie Andreeva

Former Smallville showrunners Brian Peterson and Kelly Souders, who guided the long-running drama’s final seasons, have joined the CW’s new genre series The Secret Circle. The gig is consulting, at least for now. The Secret Circle‘s Kevin Williamson, who … Read More »

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RATINGS RAT RACE: OK Start For ‘Secret Circle’, ‘Vampire Diaries’ Premiere & ‘Wipeout’ Finale Down

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday September 16, 2011 @ 9:36am PDTTags: Ratings Rat Race, The Secret Circle, The Vampire Diaries, TV Ratings, Wipeout
Nellie Andreeva

Four days before the official start of the fall season, the CW has already launched three of its four new series. The latest, The Secret Circle, opened last night with 3 million viewers and a 1.3/4 in adults 18-34. It was even with last fall’s premiere in the time slot of Nikita among adults 18-34 but down 16% in total viewers and a tenth in adults 18-49 as Nikita is a little broader and older-skewing. Secret Circle edged the Nikita premeire in women 18-34 (1.9/5) by 6% to post the network’s all-time high in the slot in that demo. The Secret Circle‘s lead-in, the third-season premiere of CW’s flagship drama The Vampire Diaries (3 million, 1.6/5), was down 11% in total viewers and 16% in 18-34 from last fall’s premiere but built on the May finale. Secret Circle and Vampire Diaries — which share Kevin Williamson as executive producer and Alloy books by L.J. Smith as source material — showed good compatibility, with Secret Circle retaining 100% of the Vampire Diaries audience. But the real test for the two shows will come next week, when they will face all-new competition, including Fox’s The X Factor. The only original offering on the Big 4 last night was the two-hour finale of ABC’s Wipeout (2.2/6 in adults 18-49), which was down 19% from last September’s two-hour closer. Read More »

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New Broadcast Season: Which Network’s Got The X Factor?

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday September 13, 2011 @ 11:56pm PDTTags: Dancing With The Stars, Desperate Housewives, Free Agents, Glee, Hart of Dixie, House, How To Be a Gentleman, Last Man Standing, Person of Interest, Ringer, Sunday Night Football, Terra Nova, The Playboy Club, The Secret Circle, The Sing-Off, The X Factor, TV Schedule, Two and a Half Men, Two Broke Girls, Up All Night
Nellie Andreeva

The broadcast season unofficially kicks off tonight. And just like in a kids board game, the youngest of the networks, the CW, got to start first, unspooling its new series Ringer starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. Also launching tonight are the new seasons of the CW’s 90210 and NBC’s Parenthood, marking the unofficial start of the new season, which kicks in on Monday. Here are the networks’ standings going into the fall season:

With Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies on tap for baseball’s postseason this year, along with the heavily promoted The X Factor and new big-budget dinosaur drama Terra Nova, Fox is in a position to significantly outperform last fall when the network carried the National League Championship Series and had two DOA shows, drama Lone Star and comedy Running Wilde. The question marks at the network this fall are the new comedies, New Girl and I Hate My Teenage Daughter, though both are propped up by solid lead-ins, Glee and X Factor, respectively, and whether Glee and House can rebound after a disappointing 2010-11 season. If the stars align and X Factor lives up to its ratings expectations, Fox may win the fourth quarter as it did two years ago when it also had the American League Championship Series and the highly rated freshman season of Glee.

Fox’s main rival for the top spot in the fall will be the epitome of stability, CBS, which will get a ratings boost from the re-launch of Two and a Half Men. The consensus is that CBS has potential breakout hits on its hands with new Monday comedy Two Broke Girls, which is launching behind the much-hyped return of Two and a Half Men, and possibly Thursday drama Person of Interest. The network is getting high marks for taking its aging series such as the CSI franchise and Survivor and relocating them to troubled spots on the schedule that they shore up. The network is expected to accomplish that again this season with the mothership CSI series, which is moving to Wednesday 10 PM, with its replacement on Thursday, Person of Interest, looking to do at least as well as CSI if not better. The only question marks at CBS are new Thursday 8:30 comedy How To Be a Gentleman and where Men will settle after the initial ratings spike. Read More »

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TCA: Kevin Williamson Says ‘Secret Circle’ And ‘Vampire Diaries’ Won’t Cross Over

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday August 4, 2011 @ 5:20pm PDTTags: CW, Julie Plec, Kevin Williamson, L.J. Smith, TCA, The Secret Circle, The Vampire Diaries, TV

Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s coverage of TCA.

According to executive producer Kevin Williamson, there won’t be any guest crossover, or story crossover, between the CW’s The Vampire Diaries and the network’s new series The Secret Circle, making its debut Sept. 15. Even though both series are based on supernatural book series by the same teen-appeal author, L.J. Smith, Williamson told a TCA audience today that an effort is being made to keep the shows separate. The witch mythology of Secret Circle and the vampire-werewolf-occasional witch mythology of Vampire Diaries, he said, just don’t mix. “I don’t think you’ll see that crossover,” he said. “That would kind of limit us. We want to create our own story.” Read More »

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‘Secret Circle’ Executive Producer Richard Hatem Exits CW Series

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday July 28, 2011 @ 1:34pm PDTTags: CW, Kevin Williamson, Richard Hatem, The Secret Circle, Warner Bros. TV
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Exactly two months after he joined the upcoming CW drama series The Secret Circle as an executive producer, Richard Hatem has been let go for creative differences. Executive producer Kevin Williamson, who came on board the project in February and rewrote the original script by Andrew Miller, is running the series, which he executive produces with Miller and Alloys Entertainment’s Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo. “Kevin has a vision, and they just didn’t see eye-to-eye creatively,” a source close to the show said. I understand that Hatem is staying in business with Secret Circle producer Warner Bros TV through a development arrangement, which is now being finalized. It is not clear whether Hatem will be replaced on Secret Circle. Before him, there were two other writing executive producers, Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, who had originally developed the project with Miller, but they departed in March after the Williamson’s script was picked up to pilot with him as showrunner. Hatem wrote and executive produced another CW drama pilot this past season, Heavenly, and then joined Secret Circle in late May after his pilot was not picked up to series by the network. Read More »

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COMIC-CON: TV Series Will Be Out In Force

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday July 5, 2011 @ 12:51pm PDTTags: Alcatraz, Allen Gregory, Awake, Comic-Con, Comic-Con TV, Game of Thrones, Grimm, Ringer, Terra Nova, The Big Bang Theory, The Secret Circle, True Blood, Wilfred

Deadline Comic-Con TV Contributor Gary Hodges reports:

While a studio presence for movies is shaping up to be a little thin at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con (save for notable exceptions like the Cowboys and Aliens premiere and a rumored Steven Spielberg pop-in), the television side of things doesn’t seem bad at all. In fact, it already is looking pretty meaty, promising to keep small-screen aficionados (and this Deadline writer) hustling if they want to see every panel the convention has to offer. The announcements are still rolling in and the official schedule is probably still a couple weeks away, but here are a few of the juicier tidbits about what to expect at the July 21-24 event that we’ve heard so far.

20th Century Fox has announced that it will be promoting at least 13 shows this year with panels, from the familiar (Bones, Family Guy, The Simpsons and Glee, all with their respective casts) to a handful of new offerings. Probably the one garnering the most interest is Terra Nova, the sci-fi drama that boasts Spielberg as an executive producer and a ballsy commitment from Fox, which has already ordered 13 episodes (said to cost about $4 million apiece). The show should find a receptive audience at the convention, as it tells the story of how Earth in the year 2149 is apparently so bad, time-traveling to 85 million years ago to be chased and eaten by expensive CGI dinosaurs is considered an improvement. Another new Fox offering that’s interesting and destined to be fodder for the talking heads is Allen Gregory, an animated series about the titular precocious 7-year-old boy (voiced by Judd Apatow-darling Jonah Hill) and his gay dads. There’s also an animated Napoleon Dynamite series on the way, with the film’s original cast returning to do the voice work, and Awake, a sci-fi drama about a detective (Jason Isaacs) who, after a car accident, finds he can occupy two parallel realities: one where his wife died in the crash, and a second where it was his son who perished. No word yet on which reality has Fox canceling every other new series because they poured all their money into Terra Nova’s gaping prehistoric mouth.

Warner Bros will also be there in force, with a 3,000-square-foot booth on the show floor and 16 shows in their lineup. Most of the shows are old standbys; then again, most are also beloved by the average convention-goer. The Big Bang Theory cast is always welcomed with enthusiasm, making their scheduled appearance a no-brainer. Likewise Chuck, Fringe, Nikita, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries and curiously apostrophe-free Childrens Hospital all will have no problem finding happy, receptive attendees to fill seats for a chance to glimpse their favorite star in the flesh. As for new fare, the enigmatic drama Alcatraz opens present-day with 302 people — wardens and prisoners — suddenly reappearing in the infamous prison, 50 years after their mysterious disappearance. It also stars Lost alumnus Jorge Garcia as a “hippie geek” Alcatraz expert, a challenging-sounding role that I hope he’s up for. Person of Interest is a sci-fi series about a computer program that predicts future crime victims (sounding a bit like Minority Report, but minus the precognitive crack babies who sit in a bathtub all day) and the former CIA agent (Jim Caviezel) who is tasked with trying to solve the crimes. Lastly, WB will roll out The Secret Circle, a young-adult fantasy-horror-romance series based on the book of the same name. In the series, teenaged Cassie (played by Britt Robertson) discovers she comes from a family of witches. Oh, and love; she also discovers love. Read More »

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CW Announces Fall Premiere Dates

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday June 20, 2011 @ 12:13pm PDTTags: 90210, America's Next Top Model, CW Fall Premiere Dates, Gossip Girl, H8R, Hart of Dixie, Nikita, Ringer, Supernatural, The Secret Circle, The Vampire Diaries
Nellie Andreeva

The CW today was the first broadcast network to announce its fall premiere dates. The network will launch three nights — Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday — the week before the Sept. 19 official start of the fall season, Friday during premiere week and Monday’s lineup the week after. With the exception of Friday, which pairs sophomore Nikita and veteran Supernatural, all other nights feature a returning series and a newbie. Here is CW’s premiere schedule: Read More »

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CW Planning Schwartz/Savage, Kevin Williamson & McG Blocks, ‘Nikita’ To Friday?

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday May 17, 2011 @ 5:05pm PDTTags: CW, Gossip Girl, Hart of Dixie, Nikita, Schedule, Supernatural, The Secret Circle, The Vampire Diaries
Nellie Andreeva

Kevin Williamson and the duo of Josh Schwartz & Stephanie Savage may be getting their own nights on the CW next season. I hear Schwartz and Savage’s veteran Gossip Girl may be paired with a newly picked … Read More »

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