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Superman & Lois "Not Profitable for Us" Before Season 4 Deal: The CW

The CW's Brad Schwartz on what led to the deal for Superman & Lois Season 4, if he could see the series returning for Season 5 & more.

Published Fri, 04 Aug 2023 09:34:08 -0500

by Ray Flook

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By now, fans of The CW's Superman & Lois know the deal when it comes to the show's future. While it's set to come back for a fourth season, the Nexstar-owned network's change in overall vision has resulted in some serious cuts to the series. The good news? We have Tyler Hoechlin, Elizabeth Tulloch, Michael Bishop, Alex Garfin, and Michael Cudlitz returning as series regulars – along with showrunner Todd Helbing. The bad news? We're looking at a season count that's dropped to 13 episodes, with Dylan Walsh, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Erik Valdez, Inde Navarrette, Wolé Parks, Tayler Buck, and Sofia Hasmik not expected to return (at least, not as series regulars). Over the past two months, we've offered our thoughts on the matter – as has The CW's entertainment president, Brad Schwartz. Now, thanks to THR's TV's Top 5 podcast hosts Lesley Goldberg (West Coast TV editor) & Daniel Fienberg (chief TV critic), we're getting some more insight from Schwartz on how the decision was made and what long-time viewers should take from it.

For Schwartz & The CW, It's All About Rights: While revealing that there was "a lot of original homegrown scripted content coming," Schwartz readily admits that the network is looking for rights deals with the studios that will allow The CW to better monetize their content on a broader & longer scale. "We can't just be a place that monetizes with advertising one time a week in primetime; we need to be able to monetize our content in more places," Schwartz explained. With Superman & Lois, the network wasn't getting that: "The new season of 'Superman & Lois' is coming, and you don't have seasons one, two, and three on your streaming platform. It's just a ridiculous experience, and nobody else operates that way." Schwartz sees The CW still working with studios on "big content," but the network is looking to get more monetary mileage out of new deals moving forward – which depends heavily on the studios voluntarily giving up some financial rights at a time when studios & streamers are getting crushed on the financial markets.

"It's not that we're spending much more or much less for a 'Sullivan's Crossing' versus a 'Superman & Lois;' we just happen to have more rights": An interesting point raised that touches upon both his comment above and the general assumption that the coast of a show like Superman & Lois would astronomical, Schwartz explains that it's not so much that the returning series costs more than a series like Sullivan's Crossing – at least upfront. But it's the network's inability to be able to monetize the content in other avenues (The CW app, FAST channels, etc) that made the series "not profitable for us." Schwartz explained why the deal for Sullivan's Crossing works better for the network: "We can have all the episodes on our streaming platform. When season two comes, we'll have all the episodes from season one and season two on our streaming platform in success. We'll be able to sub-license that to other places. We'll be able to launch CW FAST channels on Roku and Pluto that will be able to operate like a business that wants to put CW content under a CW-branded flag in many different places. And we never had those rights." He added, "Before, we couldn't start a CW FAST channel and put 'Superman & Lois' on it."

Schwartz on More "Superman & Lois": Noting that the series was one of four returning that does well on linear and that a new digital deal with the studios will "make sure that the show is profitable for everybody," Schwartz doesn't see why the series couldn't keep going into a fifth season – as long as it keeps with The CW's financial vision. "We've gotten those shows to a place where, why couldn't they continue if they're profitable? Those will be conversations we have with the producers to see the appetite to keep going. But if they're profitable and successful, and some of our highest-rated shows, why wouldn't they?" Schwartz added.