'The Carrie Diaries' & 'Arrow' Lead New Series Pickups At CW

Long a go-to place to reach teen-aged viewers, The CW (formerly known as The WB for you old timers) has made an impressive pick-up of five new drama pilots to turn to series for its forthcoming slate of shows. While the network that’s become commonly associated with “Gossip Girl” and the revamped “90210” regularly adds a few new teen-friendly scripted series every year, the addition of these five new shows is a new record for the network.

According to Deadline, new president Mark Pedowitz is keeping with the networks recent vow to increase the amount of original shows airing on the network at any time, allowing them to satiate the thirst for freshness among their short attention span crowd, altogether avoiding long spells of repeats. First, there’s the AnnaSophia Robb starring “Sex And The City” prequel “The Carrie Diaries”; the “Smallville”-esque Green Arrow-themed “Arrow”; a modern retooling of the 1980s series “Beauty and the Beast”; the mystery series “Cult,” and finally a medical drama in the Mamie Gummer-starring “First Cut.” Obviously the marquee name here is “The Carrie Diaries,” which we’re sure many young “Sex and the City” fans will be frothing at the mouth for, and curiously enough features a pilot directed by “The Good Girl” and “Cedar Rapids” helmer Miguel Arteta. Perhaps the involvement of Arteta means that the series will return the “Sex and the City” brand to its wiser roots of the show’s first couple seasons, rather than the overblown camp of the two mega-grossing features.

We’re sure many CW regulars will be excited to see so many new series may soon be making their way to airwaves, and it’s also interesting to see that a shorter cable-like approach is being taken to a series like “Cult,” which will only feature a 13 episode season run. Looks like The CW is certainly aiming to please their viewers, and with these five promising acquisitions, it would appear they are taking great strides in doing so.