Good News for The CW: Fall Freshmen <i>Reaper</i> and <i>Aliens in America</i> are Among the Critics' Favorite New Series

Ed Martin Live at the Television Critics Association Tour

Beverly Hills CA - What a difference a year makes.

The CW network's presentation Friday at the Television Critics Association tour was that of a solid, established network primed to enjoy significant success with its targeted demographic - those ferociously fickle 18-34 year-olds who would just assume talk or text or watch five minute viral videos than sit down in front of a television program and actually pay attention to it.

That's a big change from last summer, when The CW felt like little more than a cobbled together mix of aging properties plucked from the remains of The WB and UPN.

Indeed, The CW's roster of new series heading in to the 2007-08 season seems to have the best collective-buzz among the nation's critics. Seriously, since the TCA tour began two weeks ago I have asked dozens of them which new shows they like best. ABC's Pushing Daisies is generally the first response (followed by various ruminations on why it may not last, but that's an issue we'll get to later this week when ABC closes out the tour). Almost to a critic, the next two series named are CW newbies Reaper and Aliens in America.

For those who may not know, Reaper is a supernatural comedy-drama-action-adventure about a young man who learns that his parents once sold his soul to the devil and is now charged by Satan to capture demons that have escaped from hell. Aliens in America is about a 16-year-old nerd in a small Midwestern town who finds a new friend when his family inadvertently takes in a Pakistani Muslim exchange student.

The CW's other two new scripted shows, Gossip Girl and Life is Wild, don't appear to be headed toward anyone's top-ten list, but critics overall have responded to the high quality of both productions, and they are very interested in both. Gossip Girl, about super-wealthy teenagers on the Upper East Side of New York City who are so morally adrift they seem not to be human, is becoming a lightning rod of controversy because, many critics feel, it depicts alcohol, drugs and casual sex among teens as glamorous and is being largely targeted to teen-aged girls. Conversely, Life is Wild, about a veterinarian and his family who relocate to South Africa, seems poised to fill the family viewing void left by the departure of the long-running hit 7th Heaven. As an added bonus, it is filled with adorable animals, two of which (a snoozing baby lion and an adult cheetah with a very loud purr) appeared with the cast via satellite from a location near Johannesburg during the session for this show.

The response by the TCA membership to these series and other CW properties wasn't a total love-fest, but given the edgy contemporary content of so many of the network's shows that couldn't have come as a surprise to any of its executives. There were many concerns expressed about Aliens, the pilot of which plays right into every Hollywood stereotype about small town America and presents the young Pakistani Muslim as the very soul of tolerance and enlightenment -- a naturally combustible combo these days, or so one might assume. But, even though several critics -- especially those from the south and the Midwest -- took the creators of Aliens to task during a press conference for that show, the room never turned against it. That's because it's well-produced and well-acted, and because Adhir Kalyan, the young South African actor who portrays the exchange student, was articulate, engaging and very witty.

By the way, I'm thrilled to report that a scene involving a gun in a school that had been played for laughs in the pilot, and which I found especially repugnant, has been removed.

During her press conference, CW entertainment president Dawn Ostroff - when she wasn't answering questions about the Pussycat Dolls' reality franchise, a favorite target of TCA members - addressed concerns about Aliens and Gossip. She disagreed with the suggestion that Aliens is in any way condescending toward the Midwest. "We look at it like it could be anywhere in America," she said. "It could be in a city, and it's just about a family."

About the content of Gossip, which one critic noted would likely "give a lot of parents a lot of trouble," Ostroff reminded everyone that the show is based on a series of young-adult books that have sold over 10 million copies, so there is already broad familiarity with the franchise. Gossip, she said, "takes place in a heightened reality. It's just so glamorous and it's not very much like everybody's normal life."

But what about the CW-generated Web site that invites kids into the world of Gossip Girl, another critic asked.

"It's more about being able to find the clothes that the characters are wearing and being able to tap into the music they hear on the show, and [viewers] being able to watch the show while talking to [their] friends on the social networking part of our site," Ostroff explained.

Given that The CW is not yet one year old, the fact that so many critics and journalists are suddenly so focused on so many of its shows has to be good news for executives at the network and its parent companies, Warner Bros. and CBS. Last year during TCA nobody had anything good to say about Hidden Palms, The Game and Runaways. Critics instead were in an uproar over the decision not to include the beloved WB drama Everwood on The CW's inaugural schedule.

Not all of The CW's new 2007-08 series will work, but so far they are the most talked about freshmen class of the new season. In fact, if the response here at TCA is any indication, and if its producers really focus, Reaper could end up being the hottest new series on any network this fall. That has to count for something.