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The real smackdown: CW’s lineup

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Times Staff Writer

The big screen in the spiffy auditorium on the Warner Bros. lot flashed three possible fall schedules for the new television network faster than you could say CW.

“Did you see ‘Everwood’? I thought I saw ‘Everwood’ in at least two of them,” said one of the guests at the CW’s first development meeting with advertisers on Wednesday afternoon.

“ ‘Smackdown’ was on all three of them,” offered another. “But ‘Reba’ was there too,” said another observer. “That was confusing.”

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Yes, and it was meant to be. Those three shows were among 13 UPN and WB programs on the screen whose makers would all love to find a home on the CW when those two networks shut down in the fall. The mock schedules were just teases, a little devilish trickery from the folks at CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., partners in the new network and frequent users of their nifty slogan for the day, “Imagine the possibilities.” For instance:

“It really all was hypothetical,” said the CW’s president of entertainment, Dawn Ostroff, at a cocktail party after the meeting. “We didn’t pick schedules that could never happen, but it was all really hypothetical. You were supposed to imagine the possibilities: It’s all possible.”

What is also possible is to glean actual information, particularly after everyone has sipped one or two baby bottles of champagne through blue straws. Not Ostroff, mind you, but some of those other high-powered men and women in suits who are paid to protect and promote. From them, it was learned unofficially that the following shows are locked in to fill 6 1/2 hours of the CW’s 13-hour fall schedule: “America’s Next Top Model,” “Gilmore Girls,” “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Smallville,” “Beauty and the Geek” and “WWE Smackdown!”

Good for them! But what about “Everwood”? Or “One Tree Hill”? Or “Veronica Mars”? Inquiring minds wanted to know, including a powerful studio executive who asked not to be named but who had a keen interest in a particular show. “ ‘Everwood,’ ” he whispered softly in Ostroff’s direction.

“Everyone’s coming up to me,” Ostroff said and laughed. “I should have a note pad to keep track of the requests.”

It could be worse.

“I get flowers every day,” Ostroff added. “I get gifts.” From producers lobbying for a slot?

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“From the fans!” she said. “What’s really hard is that I really like ‘Everwood.’ I really like ‘One Tree Hill.’ I like so many of the programs that it’s really hard. But what excites me the most about having these programs is that people are so passionate about them.”

Remember, Ostroff said, the CW also is producing six pilots (and maybe more), so the network will be launching new shows as well as keeping UPN and WB fare.

“When it gets down to it, it will be about what fits with what, what are the ratings, or if you have something you haven’t given a shot, and it’s something you really believe in,” she said. “There are so many different pieces to the puzzle.”

One piece that is certain is the network’s target audience: 18- to 34-year-olds who, Ostroff told advertisers, have $1.4 trillion in collective spending power, are diverse (37% are minorities), and employed (81% have jobs).

In fact, throughout the presentation, photographs of the “CW Generation,” young, beautiful and multicultural -- looking like nothing so much as a Benetton ad -- popped on the big screen and eight flat-screen television monitors.

“Not only will we know who they are but we will live in their world,” Ostroff promised.

We believe you. But what about “Everwood”?

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