CW renews 'Vampire Diaries,' 'Supernatural,' 'Gossip Girl' and more

 Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles of The CW's 'Supernatural'

Credit: The CW

In one fell swoop, The CW renewed the bulk of its lineup on Tuesday (February 16), ordering new seasons of "Supernatural," "Gossip Girl," "90210," the long-running network anchor "America's Next Top Model" and the freshman hit "The Vampire Diaries."

If you do the math, that's at least five primetime hours of returning programming, basically half of the netlet's weekly offerings.

The pickup includes the second season for "Vampire Diaries," the fourth season for "Gossip Girl," the sixth season of "Supernatural," the third season of the reconstituted "90210" and Cycles 15 and 16 of the venerable "ANTM" franchise.

Of the five renewals, the closest to a surprise was "Supernatural," which has shown improvements of 29 percent and 8 percent in The CW's targeted demos of women 18-34 and adults 18-34. That bump may have just a little to do with "The Vampire Dairies," which ranks as The CW's top show among adults 18-34 and has boosted the netlet's Thursday night 8 p.m. performance by a whopping 114 percent among women 18-34.

If you're wondering, while "The Vampire Diaries" is tops for The CW among adults 18-34, "Gossip Girl" is still The CW's leader in women 18-34.

With "Supernatural" and "90210," which regularly doubles its female 18-34 viewership when DVR numbers are factored in, off the bubble, that leaves only a few question marks for The CW.

The CW had yet to announce the fate of the long-running dramas "Smallville" and "One Tree Hill," or the freshman dramas "Life Unexpected" and "Melrose Place." We can't necessarily guess on the other three, but we aren't holding our breath for a second season of the new "Melrose Place."

Daniel Fienberg
Executive Editor

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A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.