There have been a lot of great TV shows on The CW over the years. While some of them had close to or more than a decade on the air, such as Arrow and Supernatural, others didn’t get a fair chance. There were some one-season wonders, and then others that at least got a chance to wrap up, but it was still too soon.
It’s time to look back at The CW and at some of the wonders that came from the network. There was a time when we knew if a show got more than one season, it would run for years. Things changed as Nexstar took over, and now we’re never certain about the future of the network’s shows.
Nancy Drew
I have to start with the series that at least got time to wrap up, although it deserved to go on much longer. Nancy Drew was based on the novels, following a young girl who is a private detective. The series aged Nancy up a little bit, so that she was a young adult rather than a child, but it still brought some of the childlike wonder to the series.
Over the course of four years, Nancy and the Drew Crew had multiple season-long and individual episode mysteries to solve, which brought a great balance. There was also time to see each of the characters grow as people, whether individually or in their relationships, which is something a lot of shows can struggle with — there’s usually one character forgotten about!
In the end, it was a pre-Nexstar series that didn’t survive, but it needed more time to give us realistic characters and intriguing, supernatural mysteries.
Walker: Independence
As Walker’s popularity grew, it led to a spinoff series. Rather than telling us the story of characters we already knew, Walker: Independence gave us a prequel series, offering a western crime drama. On top of that, we have a great mixture of characters and voices to tell the tale.
There was the season-long mystery of who killed Abby’s husband, but we also got individual episode mysteries. Everything that we thought we knew about the Walker family was turned on its head, and we had some great cameos that would eventually connect back to the original series. The first season ended with a continued mystery, and now we’ll never get the answers, as this series was canceled after just one season.
Life Sentence
For many people, the goal is to beat cancer. That was certainly the case for Stella Abbott, but she thought it was impossible. Her cancer was supposed to be incurable, and then suddenly, a clinical trial worked, and she had her life back. Life Sentence saw her and everyone who knew her readjust to a future with her in it.
We got a great mixture of comedy and drama with this series. On the surface, everyone was happy about her surviving, but it did bring up a lot of questions. Did she marry for the right reasons? How would her family handle realizing that they didn’t need to grieve or be worried that they might get that call anymore? How would she have to deal with the life-destructive decisions she had previously made?
We needed more to this story, as it was clear there was room for growth. Sadly, we’ll never know how Stella got to live her life.
The Secret Circle
Another one-season series that deserved better was The Secret Circle. Based on the books of the same name by L. J. Smith, the series brought a great mixture of teen drama and the supernatural for the witchy fans out there.
The series followed Cassie Blake, who moved to Chance Harbor, Washington, and while there learned that she was a hereditary witch. She became the sixth member of a secret coven, but that coven probably wasn’t as secret as they thought it was. Their parents clearly knew something, and there was a lot of intrigue around the town and supernatural events of the past. At the same time, we get the dynamics of growing up while learning you have these powers, making it a great option for Charmed and The Craft fans.
iZombie
While iZombie lasted for five seasons, it still came to an end sooner than it should have. The ending also felt rushed, as the show was given a final season order rather than coming to an end when it was ready. There hasn’t been something quite the same since iZombie was canceled, although, I am happy to see that Rose McIver has landed a new supernatural comedy.
The series followed Liv, a college student who ends up contracting the zombie virus after a boat party. She then has to figure out how to live her life while consuming brains, and when she does consume the brains, she takes on the personalities of the individuals. However, she also gets memories, which is great when it comes to figuring out murders!
This one was a fun dramedy that made it clear just how amazing of an actress McIver is. It deserved to run until it was ready to finish, especially since there was no stopping the comedy of various personalities.