The CW launched in 2006 and found early success with superhero shows that pulled in both young men and women. Titles like Smallville, Arrow, and The Flash built loyal audiences with clear heroes and strong stakes. Over time, that formula shifted, and so did the audience.
In Smallville, Clark Kent’s journey as Superman began to lean away from his growth and toward Lois and other female leads, leaving Clark reacting instead of leading. Arrow followed a similar path. Oliver Queen, once the center of the story, gave way to a rotating focus on Felicity, Laurel, and Dinah while he faded into the background.
Supergirl pushed Kara Zor-El into conflicts with powerful female villains while scripts leaned into messaging about toxic masculinity. The Flash shifted Team Flash toward Iris West, with Barry Allen often sidelined or reduced to support. In Batwoman, the network introduced a lesbian vigilante lead, only to face instability when the actress exited after one season and the role was recast with a different character.
Legends of Tomorrow turned its time travel team into a setup where women drove the action and male characters filled comic or tragic roles. Black Lightning elevated Anissa Pierce as Thunder, frequently placing her at the center while emphasizing social messaging. Even Supernatural, a long-running hit, began shifting focus in later seasons toward female characters overtaking the male leads.
Batwoman centered on a lesbian lead but ran into trouble after the original actress exited, leading to a race-swapped recast and a major character shift that struggled to keep viewers invested. Stargirl aimed for a lighter, legacy-hero tone but failed to build a lasting audience despite its connection to DC’s broader lineup.
And that planned live-action Powerpuff Girls reboot collapsed before launch, with leaked details and a rejected pilot signaling a project that never found a clear direction.
The result was hard to ignore. The network lost a large part of its original audience and struggled to recover. In 2022, The CW was sold to Nexstar Media Group. The new owners made a clear pivot. Male-skewing live events like NASCAR Xfinity Series racing, WWE NXT, and ACC college sports now account for a significant portion of the schedule.
That shift signals a course correction after years of chasing trends that pushed away core viewers. Yet Hollywood continues to double down on the same tired approach, even as networks like The CW provided a real-world case of what happens when identity-first storytelling replaces broad appeal. The industry keeps avoiding learning the same lesson the hard way, as feminization, identity politics, and DEI priorities reshape content and drive audiences out the door. Will Hollywood ever learn?
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English (US) · 