Lots of fall television spoilers have been floating across the internet this summer, whetting our appetite for new episodes.  Glancing at each of The CW’s ten programs, we’ve chosen at least one intriguing storyline that should drive viewers to their nearest watercooler or chat room next month.   

90210:   Ready for some rockin’ and rollin’, West Coast style?  An earthquake jolts the Hills right away, but will that be enough to distract Naomi from her creepy teacher…who’s still very much around after the assault. 

Gossip Girl:   Two new babes steal the limelight—and that’s not easy with this cast.  Katie Cassidy latches onto Nate, but producers say she’ll also bring ‘nice, juicy trouble.’  Across town, Dan tends to Georgina’s baby, wondering how he became a papa. 

One Tree Hill:   What could be more dramatic than Clay and Quinn sprawled in pools of blood, with gun-toting whacko Katie still on the loose?  Might have been the series’ most heart-stopping season finale thus far. 

Life Unexpected:   In a stroke of programming genius, the Oct. 12 episode will feature a CW crossover, with One Tree Hill songbirds Haley and Mia (Cleveland’s Kate Voegele) trekking to Portland for Cate and Ryan’s radio concert promotion.            

America’s Next Top Model:   Venice and Milan…and a contestant who boasts “the smallest waist in the world.”  

Hellcats:   It’s a new show, so there’s much to reveal.  But judging from the promo trailers, Heather Hemmens (pictured) is more than an injured cheerleader.  She’s a Mean Girl.  And every pep squad dorm needs a backstabbing Mean Girl. 

The Vampire Diaries:   Seeing Katherine lop off four of David Anders’ fingers was frightening and gruesome.  The good news is Elena’s dad may well have survived the attack, says E! Online.  And doctors are doing wonders with re-attachment. 

Nikita:   Another freshman series, and this one’s working outside the box.  Expect action and suspense from the opening credits, but it’s an off-the-wall twist at the end that has bloggers abuzz.      

Smallville:   Nothing’s gonna be held back this season—it’s advisable to catch every episode.  Fan favorite Chloe will be missing for part of the year, throwing new beau Oliver for a loop.  But apparently her absence is tied to some new headgear: Dr. Fate’s helmet!  

Supernatural:   The new emphasis on family and monster mythology will be entertaining, but the highlight could be the Winchesters’ satirical send-up of the vampires from Twilight and Vampire Diaires.

Whether we agree or disagree with their subjective rankings, entertainment lists are a fun way to stir debate.  Tube hub Buddy TV charts the “20 Hottest Dads on TV,” and, naturally, WBNX stars scored well—even grabbing the top spot: 

#1:    Baze (Kristoffer Polaha, pictured) on Life Unexpected
#4:    Seely Booth (David Boreanaz) on Bones
#9:    Nathan Scott (James Lafferty) on One Tree Hill
#10:  John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) on Supernatural
#15:  Tom Scavo (Doug Savant) on Desperate Housewives
#17:  Harry Wilson (Rob Estes) on 90210
#20:  Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle) on Gossip Girl 

Forbes employs a more formulaic strategy in assembling its list of the “World’s 100 Most Powerful Celebrities.”  Measurements include earnings and media exposure across all platforms.  Noticeably absent from this year’s rankings are Tyra Banks, who appeared on the previous four compilations, and Will Smith (Fresh Prince), who claimed the #11 position in 2009.  Here are the WBNX stars who placed this year: 

#25:   Tyler Perry (House of Payne)
#26:   Jennifer Aniston (Friends)
#78:   Steve Carell  (The Office)
#84:   Ray Romano  (Everybody Loves Raymond)
#92:   Eva Longoria Parker  (Desperate Housewives)
#94:   George Lopez (George Lopez Show)
#100:   Mariska Hargitay  (Law & Order: SVU)

The newest additions to four CW series are sure to be crowd-pleasers, not only because of the actors involved—but the storylines they propel forward:

Evan Ross will undoubtedly bring some much needed edge to 90210.  The 21-year-old son of music legend Diana Ross, Evan immediately catches the eye of Annie (Shenae Grimes), but we wouldn’t be surprised to see him linked with singer Adrianna (Jessica Lowndes), since he’s a budding R&B artist himself.  The young film star has won acclaim for his early roles, quickly establishing himself as one of Hollywood’s most in-demand faces on the big screen.  Evan’s casting is a huge coup for 90210.   

Emma Caulfield.  The name alone sends Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans into a frenzy.  As Xander’s comical demon/girlfriend “Anya,” she was a favorite throughout the final five seasons.  This fall, Emma moves into the financial fishtank on Life Unexpected, working with Baze’s father in investments and—dare we say?—developing a crush on the boss’s son.  If you’re keeping track at home, that’s three new women (plus Cate) with an eye on Kristoffer Polaha.  Series creator Liz Tigelaar wasn’t kidding when she promised a much larger show for Season Two.

Jeff Hephner and Laurie Metcalf stole the show on last season’s short-lived CW drama, Easy Money.  Will he now steal the cheerleading coach (Sharon Teal) away from her longtime beau, D.B. Woodside, on Hellcats?  Yeah, that seems like the plan.  Jeff is the new football coach at Lancer University, where the pigskin is king, and we’re thrilled that this talented actor is back home on the network.  

Cindy Sampson is not exactly a household name, but she’s Dean Winchester’s go-to girl for affairs of the heart on Supernatural.  Dean showed up on her doorstep in the season finale, and when the spookshow reboots in September, we’ll have jumped ahead a year—during which Dean lived a “normal” life with Lisa and little Ben, unaware that Sam is alive and hunting.  Trust us, this is one premiere you don’t wanna miss.    

As filming begins this week on most CW dramas, several shows have beefed up their cast for exciting new storylines.  Here are a half-dozen faces you can expect to see a lot of this fall (l-r):

Taylor Kinney joins The Vampire Diaries as the brother of deceased Mayor Lockwood.  He’s well-versed in the family secret—howling at the moon, yellow eyes, rabid temper—and will drop the bombshell on nephew Tyler (Michael Trevino).  A recent series regular on Trauma, Taylor is also remembered for his nighttime soap, Fashion House.

D.B. Woodside has been cast as the cheerleading team doctor and live-in boyfriend of coach Vanessa (Sharon Teal) on Hellcats. Think he’ll notice her eyes have wandered lately toward the football coach?  D.B. played Principal Wood in the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and eventually rose to the office of U.S. President on 24.

Arielle Kebbel will make Baze’s heart race a bit faster as his new bartender on Life Unexpected.  The pin-up model got her showbiz break as Dean’s (Jared Padalecki) wife, Lindsay, on Gilmore Girls.  And CW fans enjoyed her twist last year as Stefan’s oldest friend, Lexi, on The Vampire Diaries.

Amy Price-Francis completes the new love triangle on Life Unexpected.  First she wedges onto Cate and Ryan’s radio show as a conservative know-it-all; then she, too, makes a move on Baze.  Will any of this stir up jealousy in Cate?  The British actress just finished a two-year run opposite Benjamin Bratt on The Cleaner.

Shaun Sipos (Michael Mancini’s estranged son, David, on Melrose Place) is a hot new teacher on Life Unexpected.  Could Lux (Britt Robertson) soon be distracted from Bug and Jones?  Reports hint at a strong schoolgirl crush!  Shaun has a long affiliation with the network, having begun his career in 2001 as the star jock on The WB comedy, Maybe It’s Me.

Corin Nemec is the Winchester boys’ condescending cousin, Christian, on Supernatural.  He’ll show up in the second episode and recur throughout the season.  Expect a lot of family revelations this year!  Corin is best known as the star of Parker Lewis Can’t Lose and his later role as “Jonas” on Stargate SG-1.

The second round of Teen Choice Awards nominations include 18 more stars and shows featured on WBNX, boosting our overall total this year to an eye-popping 49.  You can vote here for your favorites each day through August 5, with surfboard winners announced four days later.  Here are the additional nominees:  

Breakout TV Show:   Life Unexpected and The Vampire Diaries
Female Breakout Star:   Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries)
Male Breakout Star:   Paul Wesley (The Vampire Diaries)
Female Scene Stealer:   Hilary Duff (Gossip Girl), Bethany Joy Galeotti (One Tree Hill), Katerina Graham (The Vampire Diaries) and Shenae Grimes (90210)
Male Scene Stealer:   James Lafferty (One Tree Hill)
TV Parental Unit:   Rob Estes and Lori Loughlin (90210); Bethany Joy Galeotti and James Lafferty (One Tree Hill)
Male Hottie:   Ian Somerhalder (The Vampire Diaries)
TV Personality:   Mario Lopez
Music Single:   California Gurls (Katy Perry), The CW’s summer image theme
Red Carpet Fashion Icon:   Eva Longoria Parker (Desperate Housewives)
Choice Activist:  Eva Longoria Parker
Movie Scene Stealer:   George Lopez (pictured)
Choice Twitterer:   George Lopez

Aside from the cast and crew, no one is happier about Life Unexpected returning for another season than “unexpected fan” Katherine Heigl.  Viewers know her as the now-departed “Izzie” on Grey’s Anatomy, but Heigl and her husband, singer Josh Kelley, are also the adoptive parents of a one-year-old Korean baby.  “It’s an unbelievable show, an amazing story,” she raves to The Daily Beast, noting the appeal of foster child Lux (Britt Robertson) reconnecting with Cate (Shiri Appleby) and Baze (Kristoffer Polaha) after 16 years.  “I think about what it cost my daughter Naleigh’s parents to let her go, and that it was the best thing they could do for her, but how hard that must be emotionally.  I sit and watch this show every week from the birth mother’s perspective, and it’s amazingly well done.”  Heigl, of course, got her big break costarring with Appleby for three years on Roswell.  She represents scores of young actors from The WB who found fame and fortune—Heigl now commands $12-million per film, and Forbes ranks her #2, behind Tyra Banks, on its list of top primetime female earners.  (Beginning Monday, you can enter to win tickets to Heigl’s new movie, Killers, on our contest page.)  The one-time alien has high praise for Appleby, saying “she’s spectacular” on Life Unexpected.  In a strange twist, Polaha’s first professional audition was for Jason Behr’s role of Max—Appleby’s outer-space love interest—on Roswell back in 1999.  Over a decade later, Polaha and Appleby’s new characters are still just a bit “star-crossed.”

Life Unexpected /  Tuesday 9pm (New Season this fall!)

Finales, renewals and pilot pickups converge over the next 15 days—the most suspenseful period of every television season—and the major news outlets are leaking clues as to what announcements may be forthcoming.  Variety insider Cynthia Littleton (who co-authored a tell-all book about The WB) says The CW is “looking at a maximum of three (new) dramas, with one of those slots sure to go to Nikita.”  Deadline Hollywood confirms the assassin/spy redux is already assembling its crew, typically a sign that the series will make the fall lineup.  The network is also excited about supernatural thriller Betwixt, says THR; and cast member Josh Henderson tweets that the revised show title is Changelings.  One script reviewer feels it’s “a lot darker on its surface than Vampire Diaries.”  A third major contender appears to be Tom Welling’s college darkhorse, Hellcats, “seen as the CW’s stab at Glee, but with cheerleaders.”  Popstars Ashley Tisdale and Aly Michalka headline the ensemble, praised as “hot, very strong and very on-brand.”  Matt Barr (pictured), familiar to One Tree Hill fans as Peyton’s stalker, “Derek,” plays one of the heartthrobs.  Of course, any of the three other intriguing pilots could easily unseat a frontrunner, as programs are critiqued and scheduling options debated.  There is still no official word on One Tree Hill or Life Unexpected, other than EW’s hunch that both will return with at least 13 episodes.

In a few days, this TV season inches closer to conclusion with the first CW finales:  Life Unexpected and Melrose Place.  The freshmen series couldn’t be more different, yet each packs an emotional wallop not to be missed.  For those who appreciate the subtle nuances of a heartfelt family drama, Life Unexpected debuted strong and has steadily improved throughout its 13 episodes.  (Peter Horton’s understated guest role this week as the father who abandoned young Cate—masterful.)  It’s a credit to the core actors that we’ve disliked their characters’ actions at times, yet rush to embrace them in their new relationship struggles.  Many fans, of course, now want Cate and Baze to unite—and Lux is leading the quiet charge on Monday.  But…what about good-guy groom Ryan?  Perhaps not since Felicity have stars conveyed so much inner conflict with a fleeting glance, Kristoffer Polaha and Britt Robertson in particular.  Heralded by critics, Life Unexpected has been a rich addition to The CW, a show with myriad stories and peripheral characters to develop if it’s renewed next month by the network.  Then, on Tuesday we need to remember one thing:  No series does a finale like Melrose Place!  We’re promised a scintillating Amanda/Ella showdown, resolution to a central mystery, and a surprise appearance that’ll stop you in your tracks.  Did you catch the quick shot of Sydney (Laura Leighton) in the promo?  Could she actually have cheated death a second time?  It would be the type of outrageous Kimberly-blowing-up-the-complex watercooler moment that defined the original drama.  The type of nonstop shocking twists that primetime soaps need to survive.

When The CW recently gave early 2010-11 renewals to five series, two dramas were conspicuously missing from the list—Monday favorites One Tree Hill and Life Unexpected.   Last night reaffirmed why fans are lobbying hard for both to return this fall.  Zap2it calls the Tree Hill winter finale “one of the best episodes the show has produced in years,” particularly the scenes involving Bethany Joy Galeotti (Haley) and Bess Armstrong (her dying mother).  “They really have marvelous acting chemistry, and this story has given Galeotti a chance to shine.”  After seven years, this cast—perhaps more than any other on the network—does feel like a part of the family, and it’s easy to relate to their emotional struggles.  Later, Life Unexpected ramped up the friction with another strong outing.  Whether it was Lux and Bug, or Cate and Ryan/Baze, simmering feuds boiled over to really shift the relationship dynamics…and the upcoming preview looks downright explosive.  Even pitted against the Olympics juggernaut, the two series combined to draw nearly 20% more viewers than the prior week, The CW notes.  Wednesday encores of Life Unexpected have also performed well; and with Gossip Girl returning in two weeks, Lux and Co. may find even more viewers in their new 8pm timeslot.  One Tree Hill, meanwhile, will finish the season with four new episodes beginning April 26.  The timeslot-sharing experiment has not only kept fresh episodes on the air, but also enabled a critically-acclaimed new show to find a place in the lineup.  And with an overload of interesting fall pilots (a great problem to have), it wouldn’t be surprising if the CW Monday success story expands to other nights, as well.      

If you enjoy a healthy dose of shock-and-awe while watching television, you sure weren’t disappointed in the past few evenings of CW dramatics.  Let’s take a whirlwind review:  

The Vampire Diaries:   The captivating 1864 flashback episode revealed that Anna (Jeremy’s new stalker girlfriend) was a vampire child back when her mother, Pearl, and Katherine were supposedly burned in the church fire.  And Stefan was inadvertently responsible for Katherine’s capture!  But unless we’re missing something, it sure didn’t seem like Katherine was the vamp who turned the Salvatore boys, did it?  So who did?  In the present day…Bonnie and Elena are both kidnapped by the undead.  Uh-oh. 

Supernatural:   Another trip to the past, just not as far.  Landing in 1978 to save their young parents from rogue angel Anna, Sam and Dean were forced to tell their mother who they really are.  Major wow.  But just when it appeared they’d all be killed, the archangel Michael made his first appearance, using the body of John Winchester.  He easily vanquished the bad seeds before laying out Dean’s stunning destiny. 

Smallville:   The Absolute Justice event was a true TV milestone.  We knew Hawkman, Dr. Fate and Stargirl were key guest stars, but who expected to see historical newsclips of so many other Justice Society legends:  Atom, The Flash, Wildcat, Green Lantern, Mister Terrific, Hawkgirl and Ma Hunkle—along with the untimely murders of the now-aged Star-Spangled Kid and Sandman?  Did you catch the confirmation via Dr. Fate that Lex Luthor is, indeed, alive?  The more immediate threat, however, may come via Agent Amanda Waller and her Checkmate/Suicide Squad operation.  And Tess Mercer’s a secret agent?  Gal gets around. 

One Tree Hill:   When Bess Armstrong dropped in on her three girls for the first time in five seasons, you had to know something was up.  Pancreatic cancer and a short time live.  Haley and Quinn are devastated, and rebel sister Taylor is unable to face the end, quickly fleeing town without a goodbye.  Armstrong is a real heavyweight actress, and we’ll see her tackle this on-screen challenge over the next few weeks.  It was a bit surprising to learn that Haley’s father had also passed away, since it had never been mentioned on the show. 

Life Unexpected:   A week after the kookiest family dinner this side of Stars Hollow—and Lux’s shocking $3,200 rent payment for Baze—the kid reverted back to the kind of destructive decision teenagers often make.  In a fit of unbridled (and unjustified) anger, she exposed Cate and Ryan’s secret engagement to their radio audience.  And that led to the series’ most poignant lecture to date, as Cate offered up an ultimatum to a clearly-shaken Lux:  I’m doing the best I can at being a new mom, and you can take it or leave it…the choice is yours.  Powerful stuff.