The CW Announces Premiere Schedule: ‘Vampire Diaries’ Pushed To Mid-October

The CW announced its fall 2012 lineup today, which shows that all of their shows will premiere throughout the month of October — including fan-favorite The Vampire Diaries, which does not premiere until October 11.

With The Vampire Diaries set to premiere so late in the season — and during the same week AMC’s The Walking Dead returns, no less — we may be seeing a shift away from the conventional television schedule. The standard season of television begins around September and runs for 20 to 26 weeks, but the networks seem to be playing with premiere dates by starting their shows over the three month August-October window, much similarly to their cable counterparts. Fox will begin to air its shows as early as September 12, but will still be premiering Touch late on October 26. Likewise, NBC will begin to air shows on August 8, but the Peacock is waiting until October 19 to premiere Whitney and Community.