The CW is showing surprising promise

Here's a sentence I honestly never imagined that I would write: I've seen The CW's four pilots/presentations for next season, and every single one of them is promising.

Shut up!

It sounds like heresy to me, too. The CW hasn't exactly done a great job of creating entertaining TV since UPN and The WB more or less merged in the fall of 2006. What the network wannabe has given us has mostly been, well, not great would be the kindest way to put it.

In terms of quality, most of the good shows were holdovers from one or the other of The CW's two predecessors — shows such as "Gilmore Girls," "Everybody Hates Chris," "Veronica Mars" and "Supernatural."

And when The CW did come up with good shows, it couldn't turn them into hits — shows such as "Reaper" and "Privileged" didn't last long.

That could certainly be the case with The CW's new crop of shows. But that doesn't change the fact that, at first glance, they all look like they could turn out to be good.

At this point, I can't really review the shows because they aren't ready for review. There could be changes in any or all of them before they hit the air in the fall, and one — "The Beautiful Life" — was not a complete pilot; it was a shorter "presentation."

But nobody at The CW is going to mind if I tell you how encouraged I am. And I am very encouraged about:

 "Melrose Place," a sequel to the original series that looks like a fun soap opera. What makes this all the more shocking is that The CW's "Beverly Hills, 90210" remake — titled simply "90210" — is such a bore.

 "The Beautiful Life," another soap about young models in the fashion industry, also looks like trashy fun. Even though the insufferable Misha Barton ("The O.C.") is in the cast.

 "The Vampire Diaries," another teen drama, has a lot in common with "Twilight." Although this one is based on a different (though similar) series of books by L.J. Smith.

At the risk of riling up a legion of devoted fans, "The Vampire Diaries" pilot is better than the "Twilight" film. Hey, it doesn't have any Energizer-bunny vampires.

(And, no, I'm not saying The Vampire Diaries books are better than the Twilight books. I've read the latter, but not the former, so I can't say.)

 And the midseason comedy/drama "Life UneXpected" — about a 16-year-old who ends up in the custody of her parents, who were high-schoolers and gave her up for adoption when she was born — is very promising.