CW network banking future success on contests for young women

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) _ After a slow start, the fledgling CW television network is betting much of its immediate future on pageants. <br/><br/>The CW said Friday it was planning to make ``Crowned,''

Friday, January 19th 2007, 3:48 pm

By: News On 6

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) _ After a slow start, the fledgling CW television network is betting much of its immediate future on pageants.

The CW said Friday it was planning to make ``Crowned,'' a beauty pageant that involves young women competing, and living in close quarters with, their mothers. It will probably air this fall.

A new reality series where judges including Lil' Kim pick a new member of the pop group Pussycat Dolls is scheduled to launch on March 6. And another edition of ``America's Next Top Model'' is set to begin on Feb. 28.

The CW, a joint venture between Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. unit and CBS Corp., was created a year ago with great fanfare from remainders of those companies' shuttered WB and UPN networks. The idea was to create a stronger network from the best programming on two financially failing ones.

It hasn't worked out that way, at least in popularity. The CW is averaging 3.2 million viewers so far this season. At the same point last year, the WB was averaging 3.3 million and UPN had 3.4 million, according to Nielsen Media Research. Among the CW's targeted audience of people aged 18 to 34, the network is up 7 percent over the WB and is even with UPN.

``We've got a long way to go but we're very happy with where we are,'' said Dawn Ostroff, the network's entertainment president.

The CW introduced only one new series in the fall, preferring to stick with existing ones from UPN and the WB. That series, a drama called ``Runaway,'' was canceled by mid-October.

``We've said from the beginning that we were being realistic with our expectations because we knew it would take our viewers some time to find the CW,'' Ostroff said.

Two of its most popular series, ``7th Heaven'' and ``Gilmore Girls,'' are questionable beyond this spring. The family drama ``7th Heaven'' was canceled by the WB last spring and aired a series finale, only to be resurrected at the last minute. ``Gilmore Girls'' is near the end of its seventh season, when contracts expire with its stars.

Ostroff said she's talking with producers about continuing the series. She said that the series had a poor fall creatively but promised better episodes in the spring.

Ostroff made sure to say that the girls competing in ``Crowned'' will all be of voting age.

``I didn't want people to think it's JonBenet (Ramsey),'' she said.

She said she was drawn to exploring a mother-daughter dynamic, particularly when the women must live together in a pressure-filled atmosphere.

``Young women are drawn to these shows,'' she said. ``They're very aspirational and very dramatic.''