The CW Television Network moves forward with its renewed shows for 2015 to 2016, and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ is on its official list.
The drama has been renewed for a fourth season with the network making the huge announcement four months before the debut of its season three. With 13 new episodes, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ will be making a comeback on May 21.
Starring Kristin Kreuk and Jay Ryan, the series joins other shows for a pickup that was made earlier than expected. These series include ‘Arrow’, 'The Flash', ‘The Originals’, ‘Reign’, ‘Supernatural’, ‘The Vampire Diaries’, and ‘Jane the Virgin’, which have all been renewed for their respective seasons and are scheduled to premiere on 2016.
According to CW President Mark Pedowitz, the network plans to make a “big summer scripted expansion’, including the return of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ for a fourth season.
An announcement for the renewal of another CW series, ‘Hart of Dixie’ starring Jaime King, is yet to be made.
Meanwhile, the network’s announcement for the renewals of the said shows was made at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour.
“Each of these series have helped define what The CW is today, a network that is home to smart, provocative, quality programming, targeting a savvy adult audience, Pedowitz stated. “By picking up these shows now, our executive producers can start planning next season’s storylines, and rolling these shows out throughout next season guarantees The CW will have more proven original series for our fall, midseason and summer 2016 lineups.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, various changes have been evident in The CW over the past year. Aside from adding ‘Jane The Virgin’ and its TV adaptation of DC Comics ‘The Flash’, the network has also raked in considerable gains. It has achieved a 14 percent increase when it comes to its total number of viewers, a noteworthy accomplishment since 2011. A 0.9 percent gain has also been reported when it comes to targeting adult viewers aged 18 to 49.
Furthermore, by adding ‘The Flash’ in its lineup, a 40 percent increase in terms of the number of female viewers has been achieved while a 10 percent increase among males was also recorded. These give previous records a 10 percent boost compared to those of four years ago.
Meanwhile, fans may get to see a deeper relationship between Kreuk and Ryan’s characters in the upcoming third season, although certain threats to Cat and Vince’s relationship may become a huge challenge for the two.
Despite average ratings for ‘Beauty and the Beast’, the show’s renewal may be attributed to its large international fanbase and considerable popularity, especially having won the Favorite Network Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show award at the People’s Choice Awards.
