20 most quintessentially CW shows ever to air on The CW

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NEW YORK, NY – JULY 25: (L-R) Actress Lindsey Gort and Actress AnnaSophia Robb are sighted filming “The Carrie Diaries”on July 25, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Raymond Hall/FilmMagic) /

19. The Carrie Diaries

Seasons: 2

Starring: AnnaSophia Robb, Austin Butler, Ellen Wong, Katie Findlay, Stefania Owen, Brendan Dooling, Chloe Bridges, Freema Agyeman, Matt Letscher, Lindsey Gort

Why it’s a quintessential staple: Outside of The CW’s multiply long-running (or long-ish-running) series, there’s a healthy handful of series that didn’t make it past one or two seasons. This collection includes Lucy Hale one-off Privileged, Ashley Tisdale starrer Hellcats, and the ill-fated reboot of Melrose Place, among others. But one of the most enduring CW series that failed to amass a major viewership is The Carrie Diaries, a prequel to Sex and the City.

The Carrie Diaries, also based on a book by Candace Bushnell, caught up with our girl Carrie Bradshaw at the ripe age of 16 in the 1980s. Before she fell in love with New York City, she was a townie in small-town Connecticut going to high school and managing her relationships, friendships, and big-city ambitions. The series tracks Carrie’s coming-of-age journey from student to Interview Magazine intern to hopeless romantic in search of love and shoes.

On paper, The Carrie Diaries fit in perfectly with The CW’s lineup. Gossip Girl and Hart of Dixie producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage were behind it and Sex and the City producers Amy B. Harris produced it. But even though the nostalgic twist on a famous property didn’t result in another phenomenon, it was one of the most CW shows to have ever aired on the network, both a celebration of its past DNA and a nod to the risks it would soon take.

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