The CW in the context of Television network

Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located 7 miles (11 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a population of 105,833 as of 2025. The city was named after David Burbank, who established a sheep ranch there in 1867. Burbank consists of two distinct areas: a downtown/foothill section, in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountains, and the flatland section.

Numerous media and entertainment companies are headquartered or have significant production facilities in Burbank—often called the "Media Capital of the World" and only six miles northeast of Hollywood—including Warner Bros. Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, Nickelodeon Animation Studio, The Burbank Studios, and Cartoon Network. Universal plays a key role in attractions and entertainment in Burbank, with its theme park Universal Studios Hollywood and the NBCUniversal building. The broadcast network The CW is also headquartered in Burbank. "Beautiful Downtown Burbank" was stated often as a joke on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, as both shows were taped at NBC's former studios. The Hollywood Burbank Airport was the location of Lockheed's Skunk Works, which produced some of the most secret and technologically advanced airplanes, including the U-2 spy planes. The city contains the largest IKEA in the U.S.

Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Olsen is most often portrayed as a young photojournalist working for the Daily Planet. He is close friends with Lois Lane and Clark Kent, and has a good working relationship with his boss Perry White. Olsen looks up to his coworkers as role models and parent figures. From 1954 to 1982, Olsen appeared in 222 issues of the comic series Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen and Superman Family, in addition to the main Superman titles.

The character has appeared in most other media adaptations of Superman. He was portrayed by Tommy Bond in the two Superman film serials, Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950); Jack Larson in Adventures of Superman; Marc McClure in the Superman films of the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the 1984 film Supergirl; Michael Landes in the first season of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Justin Whalin in the subsequent three seasons; Sam Huntington in the 2006 film Superman Returns; Aaron Ashmore in The CW's Smallville; and Michael Cassidy in the 2016 DC Extended Universe film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In the Arrowverse series Supergirl, he was portrayed by Mehcad Brooks. Douglas Smith portrayed the character in Superman & Lois. In Superman (2025), he was portrayed by Skyler Gisondo.

WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, that serves as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister to the company's sole radio property, WGN (720 AM), a news-talk and sports station. WGN-TV's studios are located on West Bradley Place in Chicago's North Center; it is Chicago's only major commercial television station whose main studio is based outside the Chicago Loop. Its transmitter is located atop Willis Tower in the Loop.

The station began broadcasting in 1948, when it was owned by the newspaper Chicago Tribune. WGN-TV became one of the earliest superstations; on November 9, 1978, it became the second U.S. television station to be made available via satellite transmission to cable and direct-broadcast satellite subscribers nationwide. The superstation, which was later renamed WGN America, was converted into a conventional, basic cable network in December 2014, enabling it to be added to local cable providers. It was soft re-launched as NewsNation in September 2020. WGN-TV was a charter affiliate of The WB and its successor network The CW; it became an independent station in 2016 and returned to the network in 2024.

Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, the company is the second-largest television station operator in the United States by number of stations after Nexstar Media Group, owning or operating 193 stations across the country in over 100 markets, covering 40% of American households.

Sinclair is the largest owner of stations that are affiliated with Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, MyNetworkTV, The CW, and The CW Plus. Sinclair owns four digital multicast networks, Comet, Charge!, The Nest, and Roar, and the sports-oriented cable network Tennis Channel. In June 2021, Sinclair became a Fortune 500 company, having reached 2020 annual revenues of US$5.9 billion, equivalent to $7 billion in 2024.

Paramount Global, also known by its trade name as simply Paramount and formerly ViacomCBS, was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square, Midtown Manhattan that was in operation from December 4, 2019 to August 7, 2025.

Established through the merger of the second incarnations of Viacom and CBS Corporation, which were split from the original Viacom on December 31, 2005, it took its latest name on February 16, 2022. Paramount's main properties include the namesake Paramount Pictures Corporation, the CBS Entertainment Group (consisting of the CBS television network and television stations as well as The CW and other CBS-branded assets), the BET Media Group (which oversees BET and its sister channels), Paramount Media Networks (consisting of locally-based cable television networks including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, CMT, Paramount Network and Showtime) and Paramount Streaming (including Paramount+ and Pluto TV). It also has an international division that manages international versions of its cable networks, as well as region-specific assets including Argentina's Telefe, Chile's Chilevisión, the United Kingdom's 5 and Australia's Network 10. From 2011 to 2023, the division also owned a 30% stake in Rainbow S.p.A. of Italy. As of 2019, the company operates over 170 networks and reaches approximately 700 million subscribers in 180 countries.

The Arrowverse is an American superhero media franchise and shared universe that is centered on various interconnected television series based on DC Comics superhero characters, primarily airing on The CW as well as web series on CW Seed. The series were developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg, Geoff Johns, Ali Adler, Phil Klemmer, Salim Akil, and Caroline Dries. Set in a shared fictional multiverse much like the DC Universe and DC Multiverse in comic books, it was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast and characters that span six live-action television series and two animated series.

The franchise began with Arrow, based on the character Green Arrow, which debuted in October 2012. It was followed by The Flash in 2014, and the animated web series Vixen in 2015. The franchise further expanded in January 2016 with the debut of Legends of Tomorrow, starring characters who previously appeared on both Arrow and The Flash. Later that year, the CBS series Supergirl, having already crossed over with The Flash, moved to The CW for the remainder of its run. A second animated web series, Freedom Fighters: The Ray, was released in 2017, which followed Ray Terrill / The Ray, who would make a live-action appearance during that year's crossover event "Crisis on Earth-X". In addition to the live-action and web-based series, the franchise has spawned three promotional tie-in live-action web series: Blood Rush, Chronicles of Cisco and The Flash: Stretched Scenes; released in 2013, 2016 and 2017 respectively. A fifth series, Batwoman, premiered in 2019. Six ensemble crossover events involving many of the live-action series of the Arrowverse have taken place, beginning with "Flash vs. Arrow" in 2014 and concluding with "Crisis on Infinite Earths" between 2019 and 2020. Additionally, Matt Ryan has reprised his role as John Constantine from the NBC series Constantine, initially in guest appearances in episodes of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, before becoming a series regular for the latter, in addition to continuing storylines from the former series. In 2023, the franchise concluded with the ninth and final season of The Flash.

Supergirl is an American superhero drama television series developed by Ali Adler, Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg that aired on CBS from October 26, 2015 to April 8, 2016, and later The CW from October 10, 2016 to November 9, 2021. Based on the DC Comics character created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, the series follows Kara Zor-El (played by Melissa Benoist), Superman's cousin, and one of the last surviving Kryptonians from the planet Krypton. As Supergirl, Kara uses her powers to protect National City. The series was retroactively incorporated into the Arrowverse beginning with its second season, and became definitively linked with the rest of the franchise in the fifth season.

The series was officially picked up on May 6, 2015, after receiving a full series commitment in September 2014. Following a full season order on November 30, 2015, it transitioned to The CW for its second season going forward.

Mehcad Jason McKinley Brooks (born October 25, 1980) is an American actor and former fashion model. He is known for his roles as Matthew Applewhite in the second season of ABC's series Desperate Housewives (2005–2006), Jerome in The Game, "Eggs" Benedict Talley in the first and second seasons of HBO's series True Blood, his leading role as Terrance "TK" King in the USA series Necessary Roughness (2011–2013) and James Olsen in the CBS/The CW series Supergirl. From 2022 to 2025, he portrayed one of the lead roles, that of NYPD Detective Jalen Shaw, on the NBC police procedural drama Law & Order.

Superman & Lois is an American superhero drama television series developed for The CW by Todd Helbing and Greg Berlanti, based on the DC Comics characters Superman and Lois Lane, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch star as the title characters Clark Kent / Superman and Lois Lane, respectively. Jordan Elsass and Alex Garfin portray the couple's twin sons Jonathan and Jordan Kent, with Michael Bishop replacing the former in the third season. The series also stars Erik Valdez, Inde Navarrette, Wolé Parks, Adam Rayner, Dylan Walsh, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Tayler Buck, Sofia Hasmik, Chad L. Coleman, and Michael Cudlitz.

The series was originally part of the Arrowverse's Earth-Prime in its first season, developed as a spin-off of Supergirl, with Hoechlin and Tulloch respectively reprising their roles from Supergirl and The Flash, and the conclusion of the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover event serving as a backdoor pilot. As the series went on, following the cancellation of planned crossovers with Supergirl and Batwoman due to the COVID-19 pandemic, showrunner Todd Helbing and Warner Bros. decided to keep the show separate, with the series instead set in its own separate continuity; taking place on a different Earth to Earth-Prime, which was confirmed in the second season finale.

CBS News and Stations is a division of the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Skydance Corporation that owns and operates a group of American television stations along with CBS News. As of January 2021, the division owned 28 stations: 15 are the core stations of the CBS television network (Including those in locations such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Miami, Philadelphia, Atlanta, among others), two are affiliates of The CW, ten are independent stations, and one is a primary-channel affiliate of the digital subchannel network Start TV, located in Indianapolis. As of January 2018. it maintained a half-interest in Start TV, which was co-owned with Weigel Broadcasting.

CBS began its television operations on July 1, 1941, with its initial owned-and-operated station, WCBS-TV (then known as WCBW) in New York City. Other owned-and-operated stations were acquired through an ownership stake or outright purchase instead of being built by the network. The Westinghouse Electric Corporation's purchase of CBS in 1995 then merged the network's owned-and-operated stations with those of Westinghouse Broadcasting (Group W). With the subsequent 2000 merger with Viacom, the CBS-owned stations were combined with Viacom's Paramount Stations Group to form the Viacom Television Stations Group. The group was then renamed CBS Television Stations in 2006, and later CBS News and Stations in 2021.

An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast network. As such, it only broadcasts syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered programming, for which a third party pays the station for airtime; and local programs that it produces itself.

In North American and Japanese television, independent stations with general entertainment formats emerged as a distinct class of station because their lack of network affiliation led to unique strategies in program content, scheduling, and promotion, as well as different economics compared to major network affiliates. The Big Three networks in the United States — ABC, CBS, and NBC — traditionally provided a substantial number of program hours per day to their affiliates, whereas later network startups—Fox, UPN, and The WB (the latter two were succeeded by The CW and, to a lesser extent, MyNetworkTV)—provided substantially fewer shows to their affiliates. Through the early 1990s, Fox affiliates were often considered de facto independents.

YouTube TV is an American subscription over-the-top streaming television service operated by Google through its subsidiary YouTube. Launched in 2017, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor offers a selection of live linear channel feeds and on-demand content from more than 100 television networks (including affiliates of the Big Three broadcast networks (such as ABC, NBC and CBS), Fox, The CW and PBS in most markets) and over 30 OTT-originated services, as well as a cloud-based DVR.

The service, which is aimed at cord cutters, is available exclusively in the United States, and can be streamed through its dedicated website and mobile app, smart TVs and digital media players. As of November 7, 2025, YouTube TV has over 10 million subscribers.

MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations division, and distributed via the syndication structure of Fox First Run. Under the ownership structure of Fox Corporation, the service is incorporated as a subsidiary company, Master Distribution Service, Inc. The service's weekly ten hours of programming is currently originated from the library of NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, though NBCUniversal does not hold any stake in the service.

MyNetworkTV began its operations on September 4, 2006, with an initial affiliate lineup covering about 96% of the country, most of which consisted of stations that were former affiliates of The WB and UPN that did not join the successor of those two networks, The CW.

"For the Man Who Has Everything" is a comic book story by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons, first published in Superman Annual #11 (1985). It contains the first appearance of the Black Mercy, a magical, extraterrestrial, plant-like organism which, upon symbiotically attaching itself to its victims, incapacitates them while causing them to hallucinate living out their greatest fantasy.

Nominated for the 1986 Kirby Award for Best Single Issue, "For the Man Who Has Everything" is widely regarded as one of the best Superman stories of all time. As such, it has been adapted for television, most notably the episode of the same name of the animated TV series Justice League Unlimited. It was more loosely adapted into an episode of The CW's live-action Supergirl TV series titled "For the Girl Who Has Everything", and served as inspirations for the episode of Syfy live-action Krypton TV series titled "Mercy" and for two episodes of the second season of Adult Swim's animated My Adventures with Superman.

WCIU-TV (channel 26) is an independent television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is the flagship television property of locally based Weigel Broadcasting, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to two low-power stations: independent outlet WMEU-CD (channel 48) and MeTV/Heroes & Icons flagship WWME-CD (channel 23). The stations share studios on Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood; WCIU-TV's transmitter is located atop the Willis Tower in the Chicago Loop.

WCIU-TV was previously an affiliate of The CW; it was the largest CW affiliate by market size that was not owned or operated by Nexstar Media Group, which owns 75% of the network. This changed on September 1, 2024, when The CW returned to Nexstar-owned WGN-TV. Gray Media–owned WPCH-TV in Atlanta now holds the title.

KRON-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the CW network outlet for the San Francisco Bay Area. Owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, KRON-TV maintains studios at the ABC Broadcast Center on Front Street in the city's historic Northeast Waterfront district, immediately west of The Embarcadero, in the same building as ABC owned-and-operated station KGO-TV, channel 7 (but with completely separate operations from that station). The transmitting antenna is located atop Sutro Tower in San Francisco.