The CW announced its midseason schedule today at the winter press tour of the Television Critics Association, including series premiere dates for new dramas iZombie and The Messengers, new unscripted competition series Cedric's Barber Battle and a new cycle of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
From executive producer Rob Thomas, iZombie makes its series debut on Tuesday, March 17 at 9/8c. following an all-new episode of The Flash. Rose McIver stars as Olivia "Liv" Moore, a rosy-cheeked, disciplined, over-achieving medical resident who had her life path completely mapped out... until the night she attended a party that unexpectedly turned into a zombie feeding frenzy. As one of the newly undead, Liv has devised a way to resist her baser urges to devour fresh human brains - she's taken a job in the Seattle coroner's office. In this appropriately dead-end job, she can secretly snack on the brains of the many Jane and John Doe corpses that make a final stop in the morgue. Liv remains resigned to an eternity without hope or purpose, until she realizes that with every brain she consumes, she retains a portion of that person's memories, and she begins to experience visions from the point of view of the murder victims. It's not the same as being alive again, but at least she can find purpose in her undead existence by helping to solve the murders of those who are indeed fully dead.
With iZombie on Tuesdays, the Winchester brothers move to their new night as Supernatural returns to Wednesday, beginning March 18 at 9/8c., the week after The 100 concludes its second season on Wednesday, March 11.
On Friday, April 10, The CW presents the series premiere of its apocalyptic new drama The Messengers at 9/8c. When a mysterious object plummets to Earth, the blinding explosion it causes sends out a shock wave that instantly connects five strangers who awaken after the pulse with extraordinary gifts they can barely believe. Most mysterious of all is a figure known only as The Man, who brings death and suffering wherever he appears. The wheels of Revelation have begun to turn, and these five newly christened Angels of the Apocalypse may be the only hope for preventing the impending Rapture.
That same night, The CW will debut its new reality competition series Cedric's Barber Battle at 8/7c., hosted by Cedric the Entertainer, followed by a brand new season of hit improv comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway? at 8:30/7:30c. The new series Cedric's Barber Battle sets out to capture the culture that exists in barbering communities across the country. Each week, the show will visit different barbershops in cities, including Los Angeles, Queens, Harlem and Austin, where the best barbers will go head-to-head in a hilariously unfiltered, no-holds-barred arena. Creating hair sculptures that feature elaborate designs ranging from images of a person's face to grand cityscapes, the barbers will use nothing more than their clippers and a few coloring tools to create intricate works of art that are both imaginative and location-centric.
iZombie also stars Malcolm Goodwin, Rahul Kohli, Robert Buckley and David Anders. Based upon characters created by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred, and published by DC Entertainment's Vertigo imprint, iZombie is from Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Spondoolie Productions and Warner Bros. Television. Executive producers are Rob Thomas, Diane Ruggiero-Wright, Danielle Stokdyk and Dan Etheridge.
Cedric's Barber Battle is produced by Big Energy Productions. Executive producers are Cedric the Entertainer and Mark Efman.
The Messengers stars Shantel VanSanten, Jon Fletcher, Sofia Black-D'Elia, JD Pardo, Joel Coutney, Craig Frank and Diogo Morgado. The Messengers is produced by CBS Television Studios and Warner Bros. Entertainment, in association with Thunder Road Pictures. Executive producers and Trey Callaway and Basil Iwanyk, with co-executive producers Eoghan O'Donnell, Kent Kubena and Ava Jamshidi.
