CW Picks Up CARRIE DIARIES, ARROW, CULT, FIRST CUT, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Pilots; GOSSIP GIRL, HART OF DIXIE, NIKITA Renewed

The CW has picked up five pilots to series: CARRIE DIARIES, ARROW, CULT, FIRST CUT and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

The network's upfront presentation is on May 17 and its new president Mark Pedowitz is looking to broaden the CW's appeal.

The five new shows will join the 2012-13 schedule along the renewed scripted series NIKITA, 90210, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, GOSSIP GIRL, HART OF DIXIE and SUPERNATURAL. THE SECRET CIRCLE and RINGER were canceled.

Below is a summary and list of stars for each of the new projects:

NEWS ROUNDUP: Y&R's Maria Bell On Nielsens. Sean Young Sober. Kristina Wagner to GH? Blake Berris' Meth Head.

Y&R exec producer/head writer Maria Arena Bell: More people watching than Nielsen indicates
"There are more people watching than Nielsen would indicate," said Bell in an interview with performance artist and GENERAL HOSPITAL guest star, Kalup Linzy, "because THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS is one of the most popular shows on CBS.com so many are choosing to watch on line and we were the most popular show on SOAPnet. So yes, people are still watching but on many different platforms and of course DVR has a huge impact in this genre. All of the age groups are devised to see who the consumers are in an ad generated genre, but I agree that we don't value some viewers enough, especially older viewers. I think they should look at those age groups.