Why is Riverdale season 2 airing on Wednesday nights with Dynasty?

When we first heard the news that Riverdale season 2 was joining the Wednesday night lineup on The CW, we were surprised. This show fared decently on Thursday, and given that there are four superhero shows on the schedule, we figured that they would spread these plus Supernatural out throughout the week to capitalize on ratings.

However, the network showed that they had a slightly different plan. Not only does Riverdale have an extended episode order this season on Wednesdays, but it’s also being paired with a show in Dynasty that is a complete newcomer and a toss-up in terms of the ratings. You never know before something airs as to whether or not viewers are going to bit. The best thing that you can do is hope, even for something that is a remake of one of the biggest primetime soaps in history.

While it may not have been all that clear to us precisely what The CW was doing with their schedule at the time, there is a method to their madness. Speaking to reporters this week at the TCA Summer Press Tour, network programming head Mark Pedowitz made it clear that much of this move was made with demographics in mind:

“We’re losing ‘Vampire Diaries,’ we’re losing ‘Reign.’ We want to keep more women watching us. ‘Dynasty’ and ‘Riverdale’ does that … When I got here, we were 70% female to 30% male. We’re now 50-50. I think the better mix is 55-45, female to male. So we’re trying to bring more women back to us.”

In having this lineup on Wednesday plus the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend / Jane the Virgin Friday pairing, Pedowitz may feel as though he’s got some lineups that are established now with female viewers. Supergirl and Valor on Monday nights may also succeed in that to some capacity. Our feeling is that he does want to ensure that there is a balance of supernatural and non-supernatural shows, just as he also wants to have shows on the air that represent both Warner Bros. TV and CBS TV, the two studios who run The CW behind the scenes. There’s a lot that goes into running any television network, and the same goes for this one. One of the big struggles with The CW, in general, is cramming as many shows into ten hours of programming that tends to last from October until May/June. Pedowitz has done a good job of ushering in some new series and courting different viewers, but it’s true that shows like The Vampire Diaries were the lifeblood of the network for so many years.

When Riverdale does return this fall, expect to see more fallout from what transpired with Archie’s father, plus changes in the relationship between Archie and Veronica. Hopefully, more news and trailers will be released before long.

What do you want to see on Riverdale season 2?

Let us know in some of the attached comments! Also, be sure to click here in the event you want to get some additional news on the story of the show. (Photo: The CW)