The CW is a combination of the old WB and UPN. It’s a couple of years old and is jointly owned by CBS and Warner Brothers. If you were familiar with UPN you will know that a lot of their shows targeted African Americans like Everybody Hates Chris and Girlfriends, and the WB shows were more family oriented like The Gilmore Girls and Seventh Heaven.
When the two networks combined most of the shows targeted at African Americans went bye bye. But there was still The Game and Everybody Hates Chris. But the CW announced this winter that it was a) getting out of the business of half hour sitcoms, and b) focusing remaking shows from the 90s like Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place that appeal to young white women aged 18-34.
The three-year-old television network is betting its future on the whims of young women, almost to the exclusion of everybody else. By designing a schedule that appeals to them, the CW hopes to build an identity where there really hasn’t been one in the three years that it’s been operating.
Mara Brock Akil the creator of Girlfriends and its spinoff The Game is trying a seldom used tack to keep her three year old show on the air. She’s going to pitch a remake of the show as an hour long dramedy to the network this week. According to the Hollywood Reporter:
…for “The Game,” such a transformation would actually make sense creatively. The Game” already plays like a half-hour comedy-drama, mixing the genres more than a traditional sitcom does.
I hope it works. I don’t really want BROADcast networks to be in the niche business and focusing only on these trendy remakes and Gossip Girl type shows.
“Game” creator pitching makeover to save show (Hollywood Reporter via Reuters)
The CW bets its future on young women viewers (AP)
It’s not just CW. FOX and MTV are obsessed with airing TV shows about spoiled, whiney, privileged rich white girls. (I can’t think of anything for ABC or CBS)
I am so freakin sick and tired of this 90210 bullshit (what the hell was that token Arab guy for? Just ONE non-white in the cast, set in Los Angeles? Give me a goddamned break)
Isn’t The Game about rich people too? Professional football players and their wives/girlfriends seem to fit in with the glamorous lives of those of 90210 and Gossip Girl. Hopefully the new format will get a green light for the sake of Tia Mowry.
Does anyone at CW have a clue? Does no one at that company have any vision? This programming decision is one that will come back very quickly to bite them on the ass. This is a new era that requires new programming that reflects changed sensibilities, and there doesn’t seem to be anyone at that network who understands this.
I have only recently become familiar with this blog, Jessica’s creation. I had heard of it and it made an impression.
Mostly I am incredibly impressed with how outspoken and brave Jessica is to both see and express all of these perspectives. These comments though about white women seem a little off. These shows are about spoiled primadonnas, does it matter what ethnicity they are, really? Shouldn’t we be really careful about classifying all white women as such, as having anything to do with the characters on these shows? That seems very sexist to me and racist. I am a white woman and my life has been the opposite of these characters, and I find them offensive on the basis of their whole attitudes, not b/c of their color.
OTH bayybyy I love Skills & Fergie!
No a whole lot diversity but a quality CW show!!
~One tree hill 4eva!!
Even if CW wont air the show again at bare minimum they should sell the program to another channel!