The CW is moving three of its weekly TV series - Arrow, Riverdale and Jane the Virgin - to different nights, during the 2017-2018 TV season. Arrow debuted in 2012 and has since become the first brick in the wall that is The CW's Arrowverse, a collection of DC Comics-inspired superhero TV shows that also includes The Flash, DC's Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl (but will not include the upcoming Black Lightning). By comparison, the Archie Comics-based Riverdale is coming off its first season on The CW, having initially debuted as a midseason offering on the network.
Jane the Virgin, as a change of pace, is an original romantic comedy/drama series inspired by Spanish-language telenovelas (a genre that the show frequently riffs on) and will wrap up its third season next week (at the time of writing this), one day before the Arrow season 5 finale airs. While Jane the Virgin currently airs earlier in the week than either Arrow or Riverdale - on Monday nights, to be specific - that story is changing for the 2017-2018 television season.
The CW has officially unveiled its Fall 2017-2018 schedule, revealing that Riverdale season 2 will be airing on Wednesday nights from 8-9 pm EST (filling Arrow's former spot in the process). Arrow season 6 is moving over to take Riverdale's old spot in the 9-10 pm EST slot on Thursday (following Supernatural on that night), while Jane the Virgin is shifting back to Friday nights at 9-10 pm EST; there it will be following the musical comedy series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which will be airing at a new time (8-9 pm EST) on that night.
The CW is far from the only network to make significant changes to its tried-and-true lineup of genre TV shows that have been running for several years now, as part of the upcoming 2017-2018 season. ABC similarly raised eyebrows with its announcement that it will be moving Once Upon a Time and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to Friday nights this fall, in order to make its Fridays a "destination" for fantasy, sci-fi and comic book fans alike. This strategy brings to mind what The CW did earlier this year, by moving DC's Legends of Tomorrow to the Tuesday slot after The Flash (a strategy that the network will continue in 2017-18), making its Tuesday lineup the "destination" for fans of superhero television.
In no small part, these changes are reflective of networks' efforts to avoid cannibalizing their TV shows by pitting them directly against identical genre fare. Case in point, Arrow will be airing during the hour before its fellow DC Comics TV adaptation Gotham airs on Thursday nights, during the impending 2017-2018 TV season, while Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will no longer have to follow both Legends of Tomorrow and The Flash on Tuesdays. Most of the TV shows mentioned here have pretty steadfast and loyal audiences at this stage in their runs (or still-growing, in the case of Riverdale), so ideally they will continue to thrive thanks to these date changes... and dedicated TV fans will have a bit more breathing room, in their own viewing schedules.
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Arrow and Jane the Virgin's current season finales air next week on Monday (May 22nd) and Wednesday (May 24th), respectively. Riverdale returns for its second season this fall.
Source: The CW