The CW Announces 2011-2012 Primetime Schedule: Sarah Michelle Gellar Returns, And More.

Today the CW announced their primetime lineup for the 2011-2012 season, and don't worry-- unlike all the other network announcements that have happened this week, this one won't take long to read. Because they only program two hours a night and have no half-hour long shows, the CW schedule is pretty short, despite the fact that they've added a remarkable 4 new shows to the lineup. Though we learned in February about three pilots they had ordered, only one, Hart of Dixie, made it to the lineup. Other new shows include Ringer, which marks Sarah Michelle Gellar's return to television as a woman running away from the Mob, and H8R, a reality series that forces people to meet celebrities they hate. Yup, it's the CW all right.

Check out the lineup below, and come back later today for more details on all the new shows.

The CW FALL 2011-12 SCHEDULE
(*New programs in UPPER CASE; all times ET)

MONDAY
8-9 p.m. – Gossip Girl
9-10 p.m. – HART OF DIXIE

TUESDAY
8-9 p.m. – 90210
9-10 p.m. – RINGER

WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m. – H8R
9-10 p.m. -- America's Next Top Model

THURSDAY
8-9 p.m. – The Vampire Diaries
9-10 p.m. -- THE SECRET CIRCLE

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. – Nikita
9-10 p.m. – Supernatural

Supernatural: Castiel's true Agenda revealed soon? (may contain Spoilers)

Supernatural producer Ben Edlund has revealed that Castiel's true agenda will soon be revealed.

It was recently revealed that the angel (played by Misha Collins) had betrayed the Winchesters by teaming up with the demon Crowley (Mark Sheppard).

"[Dean] has brought Cas into the family, so... it's going to hurt him deeply... to discover what we understand to be the case right now, which is that Cas is capable of working with a demon," said Edlund. "Even that [realisation] is going to be so painful. It's going to be a hard week for that good-looking b**tard."

Edlund, who also wrote this week's episode 'The Man Who Would Be King', admitted that the show's writing team had "hesitations" about exploring Castiel's dark side.

"I like the fish-out-of-water, dumb jokes, and I like Cas," he said. "I like the thing on camera that Misha created that complemented this new strain of creature, this angel coming into our world and gave a body and character to it. That's a really great thing.

"But one of the rules of Supernatural is loss, and losing things. You have to love something before you can feel its loss." Edlund previously confirmed that Castiel will go down "a pretty interesting path" as the show's sixth season draws to a close.

Supernatural continues on Friday at 9/8c on The CW.

(source: DigitalSpy)

'Nikita' star confirms finale death

Melinda Clarke has confirmed that someone will die in the season finale of Nikita. Clarke, who plays Amanda, refused to reveal too many details about the episode airing on May 12. However, she told Zap2It: "I can say that somebody dies in the finale." Clarke would not confirm which character will be killed off but admitted that she believes Amanda will die at some point in the lifetime of the show.

"Hopefully the show continues for three or four seasons, or even more, but my opinion is that by the time we know the show is ending, I would say that Amanda might die," she said. "She died in the other series and all the baddies might have to go away at some point. Anybody can be knocked off. We still need to have good and bad, so hopefully Amanda has a lot more."

The CW recently renewed a number of its series but the future of Nikita is still uncertain. However, Clarke revealed that she is optimistic that it will return for a second season. "I think this show will just keep getting better because now we've established really important relationships and I think what audiences love is the connection between people," she said. "We have this high production value and the show looks amazing.

"Season two could be really, really exciting and I'm hoping personally that it has a lot to do with the relationships because in the finale there's a moment - for me as an actor, there's one line where you see her as a human being. Well, there's a few moments, but she's doing what needs to be done."

Nikita airs on Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW.

(source: DigitalSpy)

Tonight: Nikita, Glass House

Frustrated that Nikita (Maggie Q) continues to intercept his black boxes, Percy (Xander Berkeley) sends Michael (Shane West) to check on one of the boxes and the guardian attached to it.

Nikita makes it to the small Pennsylvania town first and is shocked to find that the guardian is a normal woman named Dana (guest star Christina Moses) who has abandoned her post and is attempting to live a normal life with her husband and child. Tensions mount when Michael is forced to report Dana's actions and Division swarms in to clean up any evidence of her existence.

Meanwhile, Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca) and Jaden (Tiffany Hines) get into an argument and Nathan (guest star Thad Luckinbill) gets caught in the middle.

Supernatural Renewed For 7th Season (Trailer)

Some good news coming out of The CW for Supernatural today: Supernatural has been officially renewed for a seventh season.  While a seventh season seemed like a forgone conclusion after many years where the fate of Supernatural was left up in the air, fans were anxiously waiting for this news to finally be confirmed.

A lot of factors likely went into ensuring Supernatural another spot on the schedule next year. One is likely the ending of Smallville, which is another show that appeared on the original WB network along with Supernatural. 

The ending of Smallville means that the network is losing one of its three supernatural-based shows (with The Vampire Diaries being the third).  Losing a staple like Smallville - which isn't bad considering it's just ending its tenth season - could have made the network happy to hang on to another long-running show.  Especially considering Supernatural has consistently performed well in the ratings.  This year marked the move of Supernatural to Friday nights (to once again be paired with Smallville, which had been on Friday nights since the Fall of 2009), but the change didn't really impact Supernatural's ratings.  It's holding steady in all of The CW's key demos and has had consistently steady ratings for the network.

Another factor was the announcement that Supernatural's two main stars - Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles - had renewed their original six year contact for one additional year.  With the ending of both Smallville and the incredibly likely cancellation of Life Unexpected (pretty much a forgone conclusion), The CW is left with at least two open spots on their schedule, maybe more depending on what happens with One Tree Hill, Nikita and Hellcats.  While they have a few strong potential pilots to fill the empty spots on the Fall schedule, there's no sense in ending Supernatural now and ridding themselves of a stable show for a new one with unknown results.

I know a lot of fans will be wondering where the show goes from here.  We were all asking that towards the end of season 5, actually.  Supernatural's creator, Eric Kripke, had stuck to his original five year plan, with the apocalypse storyline ending in the season 5 finale.  When Kripke handed the reins of showrunner to executive producer/writer Sera Gamble at the end of last season, fans were left wondering "where do we go from here?"  The good news is that Sam Winchester returned from the Hell he jumped into in the season 5 finale.  We also explored stories involving Sam without a soul and the rise of monsters.  What season 6 has been lacking, however, is the strong season-long arc and terrifying big bad that many previous seasons excelled at.  However, the show had to find its footing again after concluding a multi-year arc, so it's understandable.  Season 7 could go a long way to making up for a few of the weaker aspects of season 6.

As a fan, I'm thrilled to watch the Winchester brothers on my screen for another year.  I'm curious to see where the show can go next season and to see where this cliffhanger we've been promised in the season finale can lead.

A new episode of Supernatural will be airing this week on April 29. Watch the Trailer below:

(clarissa @ tvovermind.com)