On the CW, the Eighth Ring of 'Heaven'

NEW YORK

A mess of WB shows and a smattering of UPN shows look nice and fresh when wrapped up in a spanking new candy-apple green "Free to be (you fill in the blank)" marketing campaign, ad execs learned yesterday during the new CW network's first prime-time schedule presentation.

You know, "Free to be bold," "Free to be romantic," even "Free to be bald," all of which were splashed across the Jumbo screen at Madison Square Garden.

"Free to be cynical," it said on the lanyard attached to the ID tag we received from the network, which debuts in September.

Really? Great! Here goes:

The CW miraculously found a way to revive "7th Heaven," which the WB had been forced to cancel, citing skyrocketing costs. Turns out, you can't kill this show with a stick if the production company and the new network are both owned by CBS Corp., so the company is negotiating with itself.

CW programming chief Dawn Ostroff said the network found a way to bring it back because the minister-and-his-brood soap was just the perfect lead-in for the new Darren Star drama "Runaway," about a guy on the run with his angsty teenagers and his 8-year-old after being framed for a murder.

Though it was Ostroff's first announcement to advertisers during Upfront Week in her new capacity as CW programming chief, no one from the cast came onstage to do the "we're-so-happy-to-be-here" blah, bah, blah, and we saw only Stephen Collins and one other cast member onstage during the end-of-presentation pretty-people-pose -- a WB upfront presentation tradition that the CW apparently intends to keep. During a post-presentation news conference, Ostroff was asked how many "7H" cast members had been signed to come back; she dodged the question, saying she wasn't sure, but many of them.

Just warming up:

Though the network's programming chief really wanted to hang on to WB's "Everwood," ultimately the CW did not pick it up because there just weren't enough time slots available where the series would work. And yet, the CW has room for a one-hour "America's Next Top Model" rerun every week. Not to mention "Smackdown!," which is so spot-on with the hip, young, sophisticated thing the CW has goin' on. And "One Tree Hill" is on the schedule because it's so compatible with "America's Next Top Model."

Like that? How about this:

Though "Veronica Mars" has been given every advantage, including a plum post-"America's Next Top Model" time slot on UPN and even several broadcasts on CBS, it failed to hang on to viewers in any great number. Even so, the CW has saved that show and paired it with "Gilmore Girls" on Tuesday nights, where you can expect it to be the next "Pepper Dennis" -- ratings starved.