UPDATE: Upfronts 2015: The CW don’t need another hero (until midseason)

Considering the rocky fortunes and demolished lineups of the networks that kicked off this upfronts week, the amount of confidence on display during Wednesday and Thursdays presentations is staggering. As staggering as a network booking a big superhero show and holding it until midseason? By its own metrics, The CW just had its best season in network history, and it’s not about to scramble the lineup that got it there to fit DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow in—even if one of those titular legends can shrink himself down really teeny-tiny like.
The minimal amount of retooling on its fall schedule makes The CW’s newly found confidence evident. The Flash set viewership records, Jane The Virgin picked up a Golden Globe, and Supernatural is on course to live longer than either of the two networks that birthed The CW. Besides: With only 10 hours to program every week, The CW’s not at the mercy of a schedule that needs to be filled. It can move some pieces to shore up the tentpoles, pair a new series that seems like a departure with a returning show that felt like a departure last year, then spend the rest of the upfront treating attendees to cast appearances and musical performances. Here’s that lineup (with the new in bold), minus the musical performances. The A.V. Club doesn’t have Of Monsters And Men money—who do you think we are, The CW?
Monday
8 p.m.: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
9 p.m.: Jane The Virgin
In the fall of 2014, The CW took a highly stylized, high-concept hour-long serial and turned it into one of its new signature shows. In the fall of 2015, it’s hoping the lightning that struck for Jane The Virgin will strike again for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, the cleaned-up and stretched-out redux of Showtime’s abandoned musical-comedy pilot. The network has yet to post the show’s trailer online, but it’s worth noting how well-represented Crazy Ex-Girlfriend—and its creator-star, Rachel Bloom—is in the press images distributed with the lineup announcement. Sure, it’s the only new show coming to The CW this fall, but there’s some added “oomph” going into the act of getting America to fall for Bloom as hard as it’s fallen for Jane’s Gina Rodriguez.
Here, prospective viewer: Rachel Bloom brought you a morbidly amusing balloon, like the star of an Edward Gorey cartoon who’s just come home from the circus after seeing a clown trampled by an elephant.
Bloom’s character, Rebecca Bunch, impulsively gives up her frou-frou life in Manhattan to move across the country, seeking everything she didn’t have in New York (the requisite “love and happiness”) in the California suburbs. To best display her kooky nature, she’s crafted a variation of the classic Arrow Thru Head gag, only this one has emoji.
Judging by the razzle dazzle of her wardrobe and the expression on her face, this is an excerpt from one of the elaborate musical sequences that express Rebecca’s inner monologue. (Those parts for which there are no emoji, at least.) The giant pretzel, however, is very real, and is one of the biggest amusement attractions in the character’s new Californian stomping grounds. (What, you’ve never been to Pretzel World in West Covina? Oh, you simply must go.)