A couple weeks back, Brittany and I had a mini-pow-wow about whether the CW would pick Nikita up or not, when word came back on the CW’s first line of renewals. Luckily, Thursday morning, the CW’s new president, Mark Pedowitz (whose name reminds me of pedobear), released the new upfronts and luck of all lucks, they’re renewing Nikita.
So, what’ll change next year? They’re moving Nikita to 8:00 Friday night in Smallville’s old slot right before Supernatural. I’m up in the air about the move. Thursday night is pretty competitive, but Nikita did well there. Then again, both Smallville and Supernatural did well Friday night.
As Brittany revealed in her review last week and as the CW released this morning, next year will focus on the flipping of relationships. While this year surrounded Nikita and Alex working against Percy and Michael, next year will include Nikita and Michael working against Alex and Percy. While this year Nikita tried to disrupt Division’s missions, next year Nikita and Michael will try to correct Division’s evils.
If you didn’t think Nikita would get renewed, below find the pro-con discussion Brittany and I had.
An: I think the show is awesome and that the CW should pick it up. Compared to Gossip Girl and its other tween shows, we actually get strong writing, acting, and creative directing and plots which aren’t hinged on the attractiveness of the characters and who they sleep with. I love Hellcats, but honestly Hellcats, Gossip Girls, and Beverly Hills 90210 all have the same template.
If they actually marketed the show, they’d get the more hip, mature audience they’re looking for (and keep the younger ones). Although I enjoyed Osteroff, maybe Pedowitz who has dealt with more adult shows (Criminal Minds, not Desperate Housewives) will greenlight Nikita’s second season.
Brittany: I’m with you about CW picking it up … with a caveat, which is exactly what you said. I don’t want it to turn into any of the other CW shows just because it airs on that network. Ever since earlier in the season when it became public that the CW was disappointed in Nikita’s numbers with young women and wanted to lighten the show up, I’ve started to feel like they’re trying to turn the show into something that better fits their network mold. Look at the emphasis (granted also in the press) about the Michael/Nikita romance … and now they’re almost getting cute. I don’t want the characters, or the show for that matter, to lose their edge. The fact that the show ISN’T a typical CW show is what got me to watch it.
An: That’s why I fear the CW might not renew this show primarily because it’s well-written, interestingly directed, and is character/plot-driven. Back in the day, despite the teen focus, the CW (when it called itself the WB) put out good, unique dramas. Somehow four-to-five years ago, alongside the name change, it convinced itself it didn’t need good writing just pretty actors who appealed to a specific demographic. Come on, One Tree Hill sucks ass. Although the characters are far beyond high school age, their simplistic storylines still cycle around Beverly Hills 90210-esque plot lines, hence its iterative renewal. All the same, a show that’s expensive like Nikita, appeals to an older demographic (you know, late 20s and mid 30s) and is more about the talents of the cast (as opposed to their physical hotness) might not find renewal (not unless they re-boot to the hideous pilot beginnings and focus just on Nikita in short dresses).
Brittany: I was really shocked to see Nikita wasn’t on the CW’s renewals list earlier. But if you read their mission statement on their website they tout themselves as the only network that targets young women. I guess they think that’s what young women want. I mean, look at Life Unexpected. I didn’t particularly love it, but it was a different kind of show than the rest of the ones they had, and it only lasted two seasons.
And thank you, I’m not the only one who thought the pilot sucked.
Are you excited that Nikita is renewed? What do you expect for next year?
Clacked by An Nicholson 
on May 19, 2011 @ 23:58 EST5EDT
I would have been horribly disappointed if Nikita had not been renewed. “Nikita” is my absolute favorite show, with my second favorite being “The Good Wife”. I’m so sick of all the shows that use a premise of the government, police and prosecutors always being right, justifying stereotyping and prejudice (profiling), presuming guilt, and treating the Bill of rights as a “technicality to be evaded.
With Nikita there are is a strong female cast who are treated as intelligent, human and willing to fight insurmountable odds to help protect the most helpless among us.
I think if Nikita and the Good Wife were cancelled I would cancel my cable. Too much of my money is helping support the drift toward fascism as it is. Shows like “Criminal Minds” make me want to puke.
For next year I hope the show Nikita continues to have twists and turns, that Alex manages to track down the people for whom the people working to grease the wheels of the covert ops that start wars and commit war crimes are employed. Finding who ordered Division to murder Alex’s family – perhaps over controlling energy flow, infrastructure, prices, and currencies.
I expect the Maggie Q to bring Alex in to understand the whole horrible truth and to collaborate on how to help heal it. There is no tim to hesitate. The trap is springing shut., AND SHANE NEEDS AN OCCASIONAL RAP IN THE HEAD TO WAKE HIM UP!
PERCY AND THE CREWS HE WORK FOR ARE slimy with expertise in deniability and a clear idea of the mayhem they wish to achieve for corporate profit. Nikita is the conscience. The plot turns are necessarily as complex as the tangled web we’ve woven in furtherance of “The Great Game” being implemented both on the screen and off amongst nations. Even if some of the air shaft weaknesses and things blowing up get formulaic, the plots are still wild rides. I’m addicted. to Nikita and Alex – my fantasy heroes.
Nikita is one of the few shows that make my week and leave me feeling good — so it was a real bummer to have the show suddenly not be on with no warding or advisort by cw 11.
SO WHEN DOES IT AIR WHEN? You’d think they could mention it during the show that replacing it tonight or afterwards on the news, but noooooooo.
Nikita is one of the new best shows last fall. It is indeed well written and executed. It should have been a no-brainer to renew it, but considering the network it is in..it may have gotten the axe. I just hope Nikita continues on for several more years. If CW should drop it in the future…i hope another network picks it up. Maggie Q, Shane West and Melinda Clarke among others suit perfectly their roles.
Panty Buns: I love both Nikita and the Good Wife also but you know that the Good Wife is not on cable right? Haha. Also the idea of Nikita as being somehow empowering to women is hilarious since Nikita clearly puts way more energy into her clothes than her strategies. That being said Maggie Q is awesome and holds the show together and Melinda Clark is great at giving me the creeps. The rest of them almost ruin it with overacting.