CW Renews ‘The Carrie Diaries,’ ‘Nikita’
The CW has renewed its two remaining bubble shows, giving additional seasons to both The Carrie Diaries and Nikta.
With the pickups, the CW has renewed nearly its entire lineup — including Arrow, The Vampire Diaries, Hart of Dixie, Supernatural and Beauty and the Beast. Rookies Cult and Emily Owens, M.D., were canceled earlier this year, while veterans 90210 and Gossip Girl came to a close this season.
The news comes mere hours after the youth-skewing network picked up four dramas to series, including sci-fi entries The 100, Star-Crossed (previously Oxygen), The Tomorrow People and departure Reign, the story of Mary Queen of Scots. Those four will join The Vampire Diaries’ spinoff The Originals on the CW’s 2013-14 schedule.
Episode orders for both series will be announced next week when the CW presents its lineup to Madison Avenue ad buyers in New York. Here’s a closer look at how both series fared this year:
PHOTOS: Broadcast TV’s Returning Shows 2013-14
Nikita
One season shy of the 88-episode mark needed for syndication, the Maggie Q starrer from Warner Bros. Television has a small but vocal base of dedicated fans to the tune of 1.1 million viewers on Fridays and 0.3 in the adults 18-49 metric. As with several other of the CW’s series, Nikita has a strong afterlife on Hulu, where it continues to bring in new eyeballs for the youth-skewing network. The series will continue on for a fourth season. Noted showrunner Craig Silverstein on Twitter after the news broke Thursday: “Nikita will return but not for a full season. We can promise an incredible finish though!”
The Carrie Diaries
The heralded Sex and the City prequel from Amy B. Harris arrived for a midseason bow with much fanfare but the AnnaSophia Robb ’80s-set series didn’t make the splash the network had hoped for. Despite praise from critics, the 13-episode effort ended its run averaging a 0.4 rating among adults 18-49 and 1.1 million total viewers. However, thanks to the CW’s five-year, $75 million Hulu deal, Carrie will continue on for a second season. “The good news is we’re No. 2 in streaming and I think in the world of The CW, they know that’s the future,” Harris told The Hollywood Reporter following April’s season finale. “Their entire advertising campaign is ‘CW TV Now.’ It’s like get your TV now on your iPad, on your TV; they know how it’s going and they have a young audience and we have an incredibly young key demo audience.” The CW also announced this week that it would re-run the series starting in June, offering a second chance to hook viewers.
