The CW this morning announced its fall schedule - biggest news from the network included a new spinoff from "The Vampire Diaries," titled "The Originals," as well as some time slot changes that include "Supernatural" and "Hart of Dixie." Also big news for CW fans, it was announced that "Nikita" will be entering its final season with six episodes starting midseason.

The following below is the press release from CW as well as its new primetime schedule:

“We had a terrific season last year, growing our audience on-air, digitally and socially.  Now we are building on that success by continuin...

Arrow's first season modeled the structure of a summer popcorn comic book movie. The mid-season finale showed Oliver's personal crisis. Oliver alienated those around him a few weeks ago before inevitably winning them back. Summer popcorn comic book movies end with the salvation of a city or planet Earth. The hero always endures personal loss. Always. Arrow's season finale is the explosive final act in a movie. The bad guy seems unstoppable. The evil plan is in place. People across the city freak out, turn on one another. The ugliness inside the villain comes out in all those he wishes to de...

The writers shot Yow Fei in the bleeping head. I'm devastated. I imagined Yow Fei as an influential mentor to Oliver throughout Oliver's five year development into the most badass person on the planet. I felt rage over Yow Fei's untimely demise, over Fyres blatant lies, and the unsettling fact that Yow Fei will take the fall for the horrible terrorist attacks to come. I felt for Shado as she realized what just happened in front of her very own eyes. I wished Oliver was as badass five years ago as he is now so that he could escape without effort and then take out Fyres entire crew in less th...

The month of May is exciting for TV watchers. Seasons come together in the month of May, as the weather truly turns to beauty, with the promises of excitement and resolution in many TV shows across networks and cable channels. Spring began in late March but the sense of renewal and promise that's part of one's idea of spring doesn't kick in until the first day of May. May ends with the unofficial beginning of summer, and it begins with excitement. Similarly, May sweeps has excitement. May sweeps certainly gave me a sense of renewal as a blogger. The long grind of the TV season is nearly ove...

John Barrowman is best known for his heroics across space and time as Captain Jack Harkness on Doctor Who and Torchwood. But if that's all you know him from, you don't know half of the story. A multi-talented performer for more than 20 years, able to thrill and inspire and even sing, he's well on his way to the top of the acting universe, if he's not already there.

On Arrow, you know him as Malcolm Merlyn, alias "The Dark Archer," a high-ranking member of an enigmatic organization who also happens to be the father of Oliver Queen's best friend Tommy. But, as John points out, to categorize ...

Act III of the season begins.

With the first of the final four episodes of season 1, Oliver alienates his best friend even more, and his bodyguard, all for the love of a girl who could love him back but who he won't let because of his extracurricular activities. Season 1, in my opinion, is following the structure of a summer superhero flick, only the writers have successfully spread it out over 18 hours and counting. "Home Invasion" marks the time when Oliver loses the people he trusts because he's selfish with the people who've gone above and beyond for him. Diggle's gotten burned more th...

The Count is a villain that the writers are evidently quite fond of since he's still going after two episodes. The Count's first appearance led to Thea's car accident and subsequent community service wherein she met Roy from The Glades. Oliver hasn't forgiven The Count for bringing a drug into Starling City that nearly cost his sister her life. The drug resurfaces and gets a girl killed on a crowded street. The death brings attention to the club because Tommy's books suggest some illegal business is happening in a secret room to get more people, and their money, into the club. The episode u...

Arrow's done a variation of the 'two vigilantes in the same town' story this season in the dark arrow episode. The Dark Arrow is different from the vigilante in "Salvation." The Dark Arrow is the opposite of The Green Arrow, the antithesis, and the representation of what and who Oliver is fighting to rid from the city. The vigilante isn't notable besides his use of technology to publicly terrorize the people watching. Oliver wanted to take out a bad landlord, but the other vigilante gets him first and broadcasts his murder for all to see online and on the television. Oliver doesn't like oth...

I've been watching Batman Beyond on Hub since January. I never read comics growing up, so I missed the thrill of an old villain returning to cause chaos for the superhero. Villains don't return in superhero movies. Batman, Spiderman, Daredevil, Superman, et al, defeat the villain, never to see him again, and only deal with a new threat to the town. I like the recurrence of villains in superhero shows. I like the depth the villains have with each appearance, e.g. the Royal Flush Gang in their third and final (I presume) appearance. Arrow's bringing back old foes of Oliver. Floyd Laughton cam...

Sci-fi is the new black! The CW has renewed its strongest series in the fangtastic “The Vampire Diaries,” the superhero saga “Arrow,” and the downright demonic “Supernatural,” TVLine.com reports.

Diaries’ renewal for a fifth season was the safest best as it is the network's most-watched show, and a spin-off called “The Originals” slated to air in April.

“Arrow,” the action-packed freshman drama based on DC Comics' Green Arrow, was an instant hit, thanks to the talents of star Stephen Amell and those gratuitous work-out sequences.

“Supernatural,” starring Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles...

Previously on "Arrow":  Oliver, our hooded hero, went up against the Dark Archer (aka Malcolm Meryln, the father of his best friend.  He lost and barely escaped with his life. And Oliver’s mother Moira Queen attempted to make a turn for good but her plans were thwarted by Malcolm, who kidnapped her husband, Walter, to ensure her cooperation in his evil plan.

The latest episode finds us six weeks down the road since Arrow’s fight with the Dark Archer and yet Oliver is still feeling the effects.  He hasn’t been on the prowl for the criminal element haunting Starling City or marking off peopl...

T’was a few nights before Christmas when a new killer made his presence known in Starling City by taking out some bad guy named Adam Hunt. And we know its Hunt because he’s been saving every newspaper article with his name on it.

Elsewhere our hero is practicing close combat with Diggle, but not for long because the bodyguard says he has to go put in some face-time with his sister-in-law by taking his nephew to see Santa. This makes Oliver reminisce of Christmas’ past when all was right in their family and evil prevailed; he’s now slightly resolved to return the holiday cheer to the Quee...

At the start we find our hero and the huntress waking after a night of passion (that we didn’t get to see). But we don’t linger in Oliver’s bed long. Helena is off, up, and back to her killing ways once again. Girl sure doesn’t waste time does she? On her rader: the Triad. She wants to knock off the head of the Triad and then get the criminal organization (along with China White) to take on her father. But thanks to Oliver her initial attempt misfires.

He sweetens up the bitter sting of failure by taking her on a second date however. It’s a little weird because he’s giving off rela...

At the start of "Arrow's" latest episode, our hooded fellow is riding on his motorcycle and sulking over his forgotten lunch date with his mother. But the reminder, courtesy of Thea, turned out to be a segue to the introduction of this week’s target as Oliver witnesses another black leathered motorcyclist commit one of the more accurate drive-bys in recent television history.

The target: yet another shady business man with mob ties. Why is this a problem you ask? Well before becoming a part of the death-by-vigilante statistic in Starling City, the business man was attempting to close a...

Arrow opens up with a bank robbery – or business as usual in Starling City. The crime is carried out by a ski-mark wearing group known as the Royal Flush Gang. They’re skilled, working on a clock, and attempted killers of a cop, who attempts to save the day. And just when it starts to look like they are going to get caught, they are revealed to be smarter than the responding cops by having a Plan B and an alternate escape route.

Elsewhere in the city, Oliver is literally beating Diggle into shape and revealing the name of their latest target: Scott Morgan. But the former Marine has di...

At the end of last week’s episode Oliver was arrested by Detective Lance for a slew of charges including obstruction of justice and murder. But we start the beginning of this week back on the island where Oliver and Arrow the First (hereby known as ATF) are trotting through the forest in search of a meal. Oliver can’t yet handle the bow and arrow, so he’s been tasked with fetching whatever ATF kills. Unfortunately for him, black hooded ninjas are waiting to take him hostage near the dead fowl. Take this as a note boys and girls: forests and abandoned secluded islands are no place for t...

“Arrow” opens with more muscle flexing and a quick reveal on this week’s target: James Holder, the corrupt businessman behind a company that installed faulty fire detectors in the homes of the poor resulting in a literal death for some of the disenfranchised. So Arrow goes over to Holder’s house to dispatch some justice but mid-way into his [boring] spiel the bad guy is mercifully executed by a long-range gun shot.

Oliver is also hit by a bullet in the shoot-out and once back at his compound as he starts to faint, he figures out that the bullets are dipped in a rare poison – assassins ar...

Previously on "Arrow": We were introduced to Oliver Queen, a billionaire play-boy, just as his yacht capsized. He was canoodling with a girl later identified as his former girlfriend’s sister. She dies. He ends up stranded on a life boat with his dad and some other guy, and his father perhaps delirious from the recent events, decides that Oliver is the sole person that can right all of his wrongs, and promptly kills the other guy, and then himself. Oliver ends up on an island – gets rescued – and returns to his home where he is a care-free play-boy by day and a green hooded archer by n...

Over 4.2 million people tuned in to "Arrow" last night on The CW. The series stars the uber-hot Stephen Amell ("Private Practice") and the underappreciated Katie Cassidy ("Monte Carlo") as his former girlfriend.

Amell plays Oliver Queen, who miraculously survives a yacht crash and five years on an island. He emerges from that nightmare driven, changed and probably a little crazy as he develops a secret identity and uses his jungle smarts and mad archery skills to stick it to the powerfully corrupt.

According to preliminary Live Plus Same Day Nielsen ratings, "Arrow" was the most wa...

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. For many, that expression harkens up memories of a classic Christmas carol blaring though tinny mall speakers as you fight the crowds for the last three gifts on your lists. However, for this television blogger, Hollywood's newest crop of shows are all the presents I need. Judging strictly by the glittery wrapping that is their promos, here are my choices for this season’s can’t-miss new shows...

Arrow

In the past few years, The CW has made valiant attempts to broaden their roster beyond shows geared towards the Bieber set with smarter, sle...

It's that time of year again. Television fans have appointments with their couches as the fall season kicks off this month with tons of returning favorites and new shows. DVRs will be working overtime as viewers record their must-see-TV programs and talk about them later at the watercooler.

Check out the premiere dates of the new season (brand new shows are indicated with italics and by *). All times are eastern unless otherwise indicated.

Monday, September 10
The Voice 8 p.m. NBC

Tuesday, September 11
Go On 9 p.m. NBC *
The New Normal 9:30 p.m. NBC *
Parenthood 10 p.m. NBC

Wednesday, ...