By Lynn Elber, Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --The CW network is pushing the traditional fall start of its new season to January 2021, a response to the industry-wide production shutdown caused by the coronavirus.
Instead of debuting new and returning CW series this fall, the network said Thursday that it plans to air the final episodes of "Supernatural" amid a mix of unscripted and acquired series including "Swamp Thing" from the DC Universe streaming service.
Mark Pedowitz, the network's chairman and CEO, said he anticipated that production could resume by late summer or early fall on the final two episodes of "Supernatural," adding to the five already completed.
"If not, we will then become very flexible and rearrange our schedule," he told a teleconference.
Other networks also are dealing with fallout from the production halt forced by the pandemic, with some delaying their fall schedule announcements.
The studios making CW's other series have targeted a September production start to allow for their planned January debuts, Pedowitz said. Asked if getting back to work by then was realistic in light of the pandemic, he replied, "As realistic as anything else is at this point."
"All American," "Black Lightning," "The Flash" and "Riverdale" are among the network's returning series.
The four new series are "Superman & Lois," starring Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch as working parents Clark Kent, aka Superman, and journalist Lois Lane; "Walker," a new take on "Walker, Texas Ranger" starring Jared Padalecki ("Supernatural"); "Kung Fu," a revamp of the original series with Olivia Liang as the martial arts hero, and "The Republic of Sarah," about a school teacher (Stella Baker) fighting a mining company to save her town.
Besides "Swamp Thing," the fall lineup also will include the Canadian investigative drama "Coroner"; a reimagined fairy tale series, "Tell Me a Story"; the British comedy "Dead Pixels," and "Penn & Teller: Fool Us."
CW's prime-time schedule for January 2020:
Monday
8 p.m. – "All American"
9 p.m. – "Black Lightning"
Tuesday
8 p.m. – "The Flash"
9 p.m. – "Superman & Lois"
Wednesday
8 p.m. – "Riverdale"
9 p.m. – "Nancy Drew"
Thursday
8 p.m. – "Walker"
9 p.m. – "Legacies"
Friday
8 p.m. – "Penn & Teller: Fool Us"
9 p.m. – "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"
Sunday
8:00 p.m. -"Batwoman"
9:00 p.m. – "Charmed"
Local school staple “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” from 1939 hits the big screen nationwide
Most Maine schoolchildren know about the boy lost for more than a week in 1939 after climbing the state's tallest mountain. Now the rest of the U.S. is getting in on the story.
Opening in 650 movie theaters on Friday, "Lost on a Mountain in Maine" tells the harrowing tale of 12-year-old Donn Fendler, who spent nine days on Mount Katahdin and the surrounding wilderness before being rescued. The gripping story of survival commanded the nation's attention in the days before World War II and the boy's grit earned an award from the president.
For decades, Fendler and Joseph B. Egan's book, published the same year as the rescue, has been required reading in many Maine classrooms, like third-grade teacher Kimberly Nielsen's.
"I love that the overarching theme is that Donn never gave up. He just never quits. He goes and goes," said Nielsen, a teacher at Crooked River Elementary School in Casco, who also read the book multiple times with her own kids.
Separated from his hiking group in bad weather atop Mount Katahdin, Fendler used techniques learned as a Boy Scout to survive. He made his way through the woods to the east branch of the Penobscot River, where he was found more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from where he started. Bruised and cut, starved and without pants or shoes, he survived nine days by eating berries and lost 15 pounds (7 kilograms).
The boy's peril sparked a massive search and was the focus of newspaper headlines and nightly radio broadcasts. Hundreds of volunteers streamed into the region to help.
The movie builds on the children's book, as told by Fendler to Egan, by drawing upon additional interviews and archival footage to reinforce the importance of family, faith and community during difficult times,... Read More