Totally agree about not having to suffer hiatus hell (come on, it was getting ridiculous There's a time and reason for hiatuses, but it just was getting silly!) however, in order to get this lightened hiatus, we have to give up approx 3-5 episodes from the normal season time... given the circumstances though, I'm guessing the best thing is to just be happy we're getting an extra 6 episodes!
OK, so I know the phrases "CW" & "had a good idea" don't normally belong in the same sentence, but I do think it was a good idea for our season to start when it did, that way we still had new episodes to enjoy while all the other shows were going haywire over running out! (bonus points for weathering February sweeps with new episodes!)