At the CW: Part 2
The show will also have "enhanced streaming" opportunities: shop for the show's fashions, create personal profiles, playlists, and music videos and send messages from the web and cell phones to billboards in Times Square and Sunset Boulevard.
Back to the schedule. Thursday and Friday, the network's "sticking with stability" and keeping its current lineup - Smallville and Supernatural Thursday and wrestling Friday.
Because of what Ostroff says was a lack of stuff for young women for young women on Sundays, The CW's offering Online Nation and CW Now! at 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively. The latter, Ostroff says, will be the "ultimate source" on trends and a fast-paced look at "everything hip, hot and happening in youth culture" from the producers of Extra!. The former, "taking the best of user-generated content and making it user-friendly." Basically, it looks like those wacky web video compilations on Bravo and VH1 - and it got big laughs.
Saying the network wants to "shake things up" for advertisers, Ostroff introduces ad sales chief Bill Morningstar, who talks up the creative ad options - last season's "content wraps" and a couple of new entrants.
"When you think of The CW, we want you to think of a network that's breaking the mold and doing things differently," Ostroff says.
"Our goal is to turn the on-air viewing experience on its head," Morningstar says.
The two new options are some kind of mysterious sponsored segments on CW Now! and "Ad Cwickies-" ("not that kind of quickie-let's keep it clean," Morningstar says.) - a number of five-second, single-sponsored ads that will "stop you in your tracks," Morningstar says.
"Together we need to keep trying new things, so if you're game, we are too," he says.
Going back to the schedule, Ostroff says new 8 p.m. Sunday-night, South Africa-set family drama Life is Wild is a "great escape" that her four kids under 17 can all watch together - a "family show for the CW generation." The cast comes out on stage with some kind of leopard. The crowd oohs and ahs.
The biggest laughs probably go to clips of midseason's Green Acres-style reality show Farmer Wants a Wife and its reality sister, the mother/daughter beauty pageant Crowned. Those and Pussycat Dolls season two will keep the CW with fresh reality shows all year, Ostroff says.
The other two new scripted series actually go over pretty well too. Aliens in America embraces this upfront's running love-your-inner-nerd theme as it follows a 16-year-old Pakistani exchange student who bonds with his geektastic American host brother. Reaper has something to do with the devil's bounty hunter - the parents sold his soul before he was born? Couldn't really follow.
The show's Jack Black-esque screaming star and his castmate come out to bray that "[bigshot media buyer' Rino frickin' Scanzoni's in the house-it's a party, man!"]. And the devil actor comes out in a puff of smoke.
Ostroff goes over the talking points again - The CW's the only broadcast network targeting 18-34-year-olds and they're looking for new, network-defining series tied to existing hits.
"When it comes to our new shows and our fall schedule we know our viewers will really get into it," she says. "The bottom line is we want The CW to be the first stop our viewers make when they want entertainment and when you want to reach this audience we want to be the first stop for you too."
She ends the show - about an hour long - with the network's new theme song (last year, the show ended with a CW theme song from the Black Eyed Peas - do they get a new one every year?). This one, "Get Into It," is from Pussycat Doll Nicole. She brings out all the young CW talent. They dance with her. Over and out.
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