The Carrie Diaries is happening: The CW has just picked up five new dramas for next season, including the Josh Schwartz/Stephanie Savage–produced prequel to Sex and the City starring AnnaSophia Robb as a young Carrie Bradshaw living in 1984 Manhattan. The show’s been a slam dunk for pickup almost from the moment the CW got the rights to Candace Bushnell’s novel, but insiders say the finished project looks good. As for the other four C-Dub pickups, look for an eclectic mix of superheroes, doctors, and an hour starring Robert (T-Bag!) Knepper as a creepy cult leader.
The latter series, appropriately dubbed Cult and also from Schwartz and Savage, is a sort of show-within-a-show revolving around a reporter investigating a TV show with a very rabid fan base. Matt Davis and Jessica Lucas star. The CW also greenlit its much-anticipated (by DC Comics nerds, at least) Green Arrow, which is from Brothers & Sisters alum Greg Berlanti, as well as the medical drama First Cut, about a young first-year intern at a Denver hospital. Finally, the CW is also moving ahead with its reboot of the eighties CBS crime procedural Beauty and the Beast, about a female cop who teams up with an Afghanistan war vet who turns into a Hulk-like creature when he’s pissed.