This is something we don’t see often — repeats of a current broadcast series airing concurrently on another broadcast network in primetime. In a deal with Lionsgate, the CW has acquired the five existing seasons of ABC’s comedy series The Conners. Back-to-back reruns of the Roseanne spinoff will air Thursdays 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM, flanked by original episodes of Canadian comedy imports Son of a Critch at 8 PM and Children Ruin Everything at 9:30 PM.
The Conners will begin its CW run Jan. 4 at 8:30 PM with the series’ first two episodes, “Keep On Truckin’” and “Tangled Up In Blue”. In addition to airing in the Thursday slot, the sitcom starring John Goodman, Sara Gilbert, Laurie Metcalf and Lecy Goranson, will also be deployed elsewhere on the schedule when needed, including on Sunday, Jan.7, behind a broadcast of the Jennifer Lopez starrer The Wedding Planner.
The deal with the CW stems from the distribution pact The Conners producer, Tom Werner’s Werner Entertainment, signed with Lionsgate in August for the indie studio’s Worldwide Television Distribution Group to handle global distribution, including SVOD, AVOD, basic cable and FAST rights, and for its Debmar-Mercury unit to shepherd domestic syndication.
This is not a broadcast syndication deal with the CW’s station group owner Nexstar; The Conners is in the process of being sold in broadcast syndication for a fall 2024 launch.
The unconventional pact fits into the CW strategy under its new ownership for broadening the network’s appeal beyond its previous young adult focus while also moving the CW to profitability by keeping programming costs low.
That has resulted in the CW relying largely on international acquisitions (primarily from Canada but also the UK and Australia) on the scripted side beyond the handful of existing CW dramas, All American, All American: Homecoming and Walker as well as Superman & Lois, which will be ending its run with the upcoming 4th season.
The network has made Thursday a comedy night. Son of a Critch and Children Ruin Everything were originally paired with Canadian sitcom Run The Burbs and the acclaimed British comedy Everyone Else Burns on the night in the fall, but the latter two were quickly pulled off the schedule after a handful of low-rated airings; both are still available on The CW app and cwtv.com.
The CW is expected to use a proven performer like The Conners to shore up its comedy lineup and boost Son of a Critch and Children Ruin Everything.
The Conners is also a blue-collar sitcom that appeals to large swaths of the country beyond the two coasts that the CW’s new owners have been looking to reach. The pact follows the CW’s recent acquisition of the Yellowstone-esque canceled Hallmark ranch drama series Ride. Additionally, the CW will soon become the exclusive home to the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
The Conners‘ sixth season is slated to premiere Feb. 7 on ABC where it airs Wednesday nights. The comedy ranks as the network’s top-rated scripted series. It leads in key demos and posted strong season-to-season growth in its fifth season, garnering 4.9 million viewers in its season finale, with an adult 25-54 audience of 3.6 million.
Son of a Critch and Children Ruin Everything will segue from their second seasons, which are currently airing on the CW, to third seasons seamlessly. Season 3 of Children Ruin Everything is set to premiere Jan. 11. It will be the first one the CW is getting a first U.S. run on; the first two seasons were originally available in the U.S. on Roki. Season 3 of Son of a Critch, which the CW is co-producing, will debut on the U.S. network Jan. 28.
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