“Reaper” fans can breathe a sigh of relief. The CW is bringing the show back for another season.
“Reaper” will return for 13 episodes midseason and will likely be paired with “Supernatural” on Thursday nights after “Smallville” concludes its run.
The network made the decision Monday, going down to the wire on whether to pick up the series before the CW’s “upfront” presentation to advertisers the next day.
“Reaper,” which stars Bret Harrison as a young man who’s a bounty hunter for the devil, has a devoted fanbase but has struggled in terms of ratings. Most recently the show averaged about a 1.0 rating among adults 18 to 49. The show initially impressed critics with its strong pilot directed by Kevin Smith (“Clerks”), then seemed to stumble creatively. Recent episodes, however, have fans saying the show is back on track with a more serialized storyline and sharper wit.
The article is dead on. After a quick start, the show floundered a bit midseason and fell into a “freak of the week” routine. That, combined with the constant tease of Sam and Andi’s relationship (as well as Sam’s decision to keep Andi in the dark about his second job), made some of those midseason episodes predictable and a bit frustrating. But over the course of the last six or eight episodes, the writers have changed the landscape of the show and introduced a serialized storyline to keep things moving from week-to-week.
The nice thing about being on one of the smaller networks (like CW, USA, FX, etc.) is that those networks aren’t going for a home run in ratings. They’re happy with a single here and a single there, so good writing will generally get you another season to build your audience. (R.I.P. “Journeyman”) With veteran shows like “Smallville” and “Supernatural,” along with newcomers “Gossip Girl” and “Reaper,” the CW keeps hitting singles.
