Back in 2006 when Warner Bros. and CBS Corp. formed the CW, they had grand plans for the major cable network to flourish, especially for women ages 18-34. With well-established hits such as Gilmore Girls and 7th Heaven heading the line-up of family-dramas, young girls flocked to their silver screens each night. Popularity continued with the introduction of One Tree Hill, America's Next Top Model, Supernatural and Smallville, and the CW soared in ratings.
Cut-to four years later, in the midst of an economic decline, with major networks such as NBC and ABC grasping at straws in the form of Cougar Town and Lipstick Jungle, the CW has also found itself in a state of decay. The teens that stressed alongside Mary Camden during her latest boy troubles, or Rory Gilmore's choice between Yale and Harvard, have grown-up. The CW has since upped it's game, providing this young, sex-craved generation with not-so family-orientated shows such as Gossip Girl, 90210 and, hopping on the bandwagon, The Vampire Diaries. In a world where scantily-clad girls rule all, these walking stick figures who lack acting chops have taken over the CW, providing teens with unrealistic and unrelatable story-lines.
Even though the CW appears to have given audiences just what they want, ratings continue to plummet. It seems that in a world where young women are surrounded by sex and sluts on stilts, what they really need, and even more surprisingly what they want, are shows with backbone, a little comedy and characters they can actually relate to. FOX and ABCFamily seem to have hit the mark with hits such as GLEE, HUGE and Secret Life of the American Teenager, where societal outcasts become the stars of their own stories, and the public approves in a major way. This change is not only refreshing for the youth of America, but has given these underdog networks a platform for triumph.
Bottom line: media and society put enough pressures on young people today, sometimes it is nice to relax in someone else's realities.
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