By: Valerie Milano

Starting this week, the CW begins the new fall line-up with schedule changes for “90210”, “One Tree Hill”, Life Unexpected”, “Supernatural” as well as the final season of “Smallville”, and the debut of 2 new series, “Hellcats” and “Nikita”.

Set to debut just after “America’s Next Top Model” is the teen cheer drama a la “Glee”, “Hellcats”. Executive producer Tom Welling explained to Hollywood Today, “This project was based on a book called “Cheer,” and through that book we were able to sort of understand that there was a whole world here that hadn’t been tapped into.” Set at Lancer University in Memphis, the first episode introduces Marti Perkins, (Aly Michalka), the hip outsider studying law who has just learned her scholarship has been cancelled. Determined to get her degree and escape her irresponsible mother, (Gail O’Grady), she finds herself competing for a spot on the Hellcats cheer squad. After an initial confrontation with chipper cheer captain Savannah, (Ashley Tisdale), Marti manages to wow the judges and earn her spot, only to cause instant jealousy with Alice, (Heather Hemmens).  Marti has clearly had some training in dance and gymnastics, and she and Savannah become roommates and friends, “If she obviously wanted to be the star of the squad, she wouldn’t want to hire Marti to help them out. But I think that she sees that there’s something there in Marti that can help their team and help them get to nationals. And there’s this connection that our two characters have that I love just because I don’t think you would ever imagine these two characters to be friends, but the thing that pulls them together is their passion for what they love to do.” explains Aly, “So there is that common ground that they share together. The stakes are really high for the two of them.”

Thursday, 8pm, “Vampire Diaries” is back for a second season, picking up on the same evening as the season finale with uncle Johnathan’s Founder’s Day plan wreaking havoc in the town square. Vampire brothers Stephan (Paul Wesley) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) continue their love triangle with Elena (Nina Dobrev), when Damon realizes Katherine is back, and now the brothers need to know why she has returned and to what end.

The awaited “sexy, fun” premiere episode of “Nikita” airs at 9pm. Rescued from death row by the Division, Nikita, (Maggie Q), is given a second chance at life. Her execution is faked, her past erased, she is trained by this secret agency as an assasin. After falling in a love with a civilian who was ultimately executed, Nikita realizes she has been betrayed and can trust no one. Now, as the only person to ever escape the organization, she is back for revenge and retribution. Pitted against her former trainers: Michael, (Shane West), who has been training other recruits including Alex, (Lindsay Fonseca), psychological trainer Amanda, (Melinda Clark), Nikita is as hell-bent on bringing the Division down and the Division is on destroying her.

Craig Silverstein, executive producer told me that although the story of Nikita has had many iterations, “I took it upon myself to find a way — could it be done fresh? Could we have a take where you didn’t know how this story was going to end? And that’s when I came upon the idea of following Nikita after she had left the agency which is a chapter that’s never been told, and at the same time doing justice to the origin story of Nikita, that dark fairy tale of taking a girl and changing her life, changing her identity,”

There is some history to be uncovered from their personal pasts, “Michael’s personality – he’s definitely a brooder and definitely conflicted on a lot of things. Nikita is the only one who’s been able to bring anything out of him in the past.” explains West . Silverstein adds, “All of our characters have pretty rich backstories, and we’re going to start exploring those in flashbacks that integrate in with the forward-moving stories. And we have the large kind of tent poles of our season planned out. So it is the kind of show, though, where you’re going to be able to come in on Episode 2 or 6, not having seen the show before, hearing that it’s good, hopefully, and you’re going to be able to come in and be able to follow it.”

The following week “Gossip Girl” begins season 4 on Monday the 13^th   with the cast travelling to Paris for the first 2 episodes. Stephanie Savage explains, “I think we all felt that a trip to Paris kind of was the ultimate expression of the “Gossip Girl” universe… that the way the show and the characters are so in love with fashion and the architecture – music and everything, lingerie, coffee, everything that Paris has to offer. Those elements are all kind of a part of our “Gossip Girl” world. And we’ve been imagining this space for a long time with Blair’s father living in Paris”.

 Lux, (Britt Robertson) visits the Pacific on “Life Unexpected”, back with season 2 on Tuesday, the 14^th. Returning from their Las Vegas honeymoon, Ryan, (Kerr Smith) and Cate, (Shiri Appleby) settle in to marital bliss – well, not yet. Baze, (Kristoffer Polaha) still has unspoken feelings, and in true, episodic drama form, everyone still has a few secrets that may have some serious side effects.