The CW's second year won't include cult fave "Veronica Mars"

NEW YORK — The CW network canceled the cult hit "Veronica Mars" and will try to pick up steam in its second year with series about the snobby rich, transplanted families and a bounty hunter for the devil.

The network, created out of the ashes of the former WB and UPN, had already ended the long-running family dramas "7th Heaven" and "Gilmore Girls." On Thursday the ax fell on "Veronica Mars," which starred Kristen Bell as a wisecracking teenage private eye.

Corporate parents CBS Corp. and Time Warner Inc. had hoped the CW could become a fifth major network by combining the best of its predecessors, but it has often slipped behind Univision in the ratings during a disappointing first year.

The new "Gossip Girl," about a group of prep school teenagers in Manhattan, will be given the biggest push. The CW scheduled it for Wednesdays at 9 p.m. after its top-rated program, "America's Next Top Model."

The CW's only new comedy, "Aliens in America," is about a high school student trying to adjust to a Pakistani exchange student. "Life is Wild" is a drama about a New York City family spending a year at a game reserve in South Africa.

The new drama "Reaper" features one of the CW's oldest new characters: a 21-year-old. His parents sold his soul to the devil and he's assigned to track down evil escapees from hell.

On Sunday nights, the network will debut "The CW Now," an entertainment-oriented newsmagazine for 18-to-34-year-olds. "Online Nation" will talk about what's hot on the Web.

In midseason, the CW will bring on a reality show, "Farmer Wants a Wife," about a country guy choosing among 10 women fed up with big-city prospects.