CW Upfront Presentation: Live Blog

CW Upfront Presentation: Live Blog

CW’s Upfront presentation today winds up the broadcast TV portion of the week, at New York City Center. CW chief Mark Pedowitz will walk media buyers through network’s expansion to six nights a week, with the add of a Sunday slate, for 12 hours of original scripted programing – trailing only CBS.

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Making good on its promise to use existing series and recognizable franchises to return to Sundays nine years after turned it back to affiliate stations, Supergirl got elected to kick off the night. And, it’s paired with a re-imagining of Charmed, returning to the night it last was seen on in 2006.

Arrow darts over to Mondays. Jane the Virgin warms the bench until midseason when it returns to say so-long. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and iZombie also are set for swan-song seasons.

Meanwhile, a star of one of CW’s new series will be noticeably MIA at today’s presentation. Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva reports In the Dark star Levi was not allowed into the country, what with being four-legged, and his reps unable to get him the needed visa to travel from Toronto to New York City in the short window between official pickup last Friday and today’s upfront event.

In the Dark stars Perry Mattfield as a blind woman named Murphy; Levi plays Pretzel, her dog.

Here is how it’s going, on ET time:

11:03 AM: CW presentation begins, per tradition, with a music performance. This year it’s Thirty Seconds to Mars.

“We’re the early morning breakfast band!” lead singer Jared Leto jokes after first number. “I’ll tell you, this not rock and roll hours at all… I hope you had your coffee and espresso and egg sandwich.”

Before his second song, Walk on Water, he tells the ad execs it’s okay “If you want to get a little crazy – but I know you got your suits on.”