The CW Now – Get Out Your Photocopiers

The CW Now is a new series that premiered September 23, 2007 on The CW Television Network. The theme song and graphics could have been lifted from just about any existing wannabe entertainment show such as Extra, Entertainment Tonight, or Access Hollywood. But The CW has done little in this department to give this show a unique look and feel.

The CW Now is hosted by Chris Balish and Tanika Ray who could be personality carbon copies of any generic entertainment show host. Of course Tanika Ray is or was (does anyone really care?) a correspondent for Extra, so it doesn’t surprise that The CW Now has taken on certain Extra like qualities. Sadly, she is the extent of what The CW Now has in terms of credibility in the industry. Chris Balish I harldy feel a need to mention.

The premiere show sets off discussing Australia’s use of a pay-with-your-cell-phone technology, because audience all over The CW’s viewing area are all dying to know what the latest tech is Down Under. The mentioned the brand of the technology so many times, it sounded more like paid advertisement. You also get a plug for a bar in Sydney. The CW Now then takes you to London England to a massage parlor (weren’t we talking about tech)? We finally end up talking about finger print technology in Japan…how…uh…trendy. Is this a tech show, a travel show or a destination travel show for world travelers?

Next comes the true advertisement segment pimping the upcoming release of Microsoft’s Halo 3. This two and a half minute segment does its best to convince you that the video game is all the rage in the hot, hip celebrity world. Geeks will not be impressed as Halo 3’s popularity does not need to be glitz-and-glamorized for TV. Fans already know, CW Now.

Of course, what CW entertainment show would be complete without tying in the only CW television series the advertising executives seem to care about these days, Gossip Girl. Thanks CW. The non-stop obsessional advertisement on your network already lets us know you love this show. Thanks for canceling Hidden Palms for this mind numbing series. Of course we don’t get exclusive interviews with hot cast members that the young female audience would be looking for. We get the fashion designer instead…interviewed in a closet. Oh well. Thank you. Got the t-shirt. Move along now.

So now we have Fashion, Travel and Tech rolled into one show. Aiming at a demographic of rich traveling adults, teenage boys who play console games, and girls who want to see who made the dress Blake Lively is wearing. This is going to be a hit with every mutant on the planet! I would give you a play by play of the rest of CW Now, but it would really be pointless. Its all just more of the same, more tech, more fashion, more travel destination and plenty of name dropping when it comes to products. You may as well watch the commercials.

The CW Now only stands to reinforce that The CW is a network without a clue.