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2001-2002
Primetime Schedule For The WB
Written
By Rick Ellis, May 15th, 2001
The WB Network
unveiled its 2001-2002 primetime schedule this morning in front
of 3,000 advertisers and national journalists in a presentation
led by Susanne Daniels and Jordan Levin, Co-Presidents, Entertainment
for The WB.
The WB has renewed
four of its top series: "7th Heaven" and "Sabrina,
The Teenage Witch" for two additional years; "Charmed"
for two more (but without series star Shannen Doherty), and "Dawson's
Creek" for at least one more.
Not Returning:
"Popular," "Roswell," "PJs," "Jack
& Jill," "The Oblongs," "Jamie Foxx,"
"Mission Hill" and "Grosse Point."
The WB is adding
five new comedies, and is launching a new Tuesday lineup of "Gilmore
Girls" (which previously aired on Thursdays), and the new "Smallville."
Kevin Williamson's new "Glory
Days" will share the "Felicity" timeslot and
will launch mid-season.
"The top
priority for the network is to create a break-out comedy that can
lead us to our next level of success while maintaining our advantage
in the young adult and teen drama category, and I believe we have
accomplished our goals with this line-up," said Ms. Daniels.
"This is the best comedy line-up we’ve ever had and it came
by investing in the best level of comedy show runners we’ve ever
attracted, which led to us making a record 17 comedy pilots. In
comedy, it just takes one to break through to build from and we
think this line-up presents us with our best shot at a comedy hit."
"The next
priority going into the scheduling sessions was to ensure that Tuesday
nights on The WB continue to be appointment television for our loyal
fans and I believe we accomplished that in the sleeper hit of this
past season, ‘Gilmore Girls,’ and the new Superman series ‘Smallville,’"
said Mr. Levin. "We also believed that the Wednesday night
wheel with ‘Felicity’ in all originals reignited that series, allowing
it to reach its highest ratings levels ever. This year we are pairing
it with Kevin Williamson’s new drama ‘Glory Days,’ continuing to
make Wednesday night the destination night for 12-34 year-old women."
In addition to the five new comedies on the schedule for fall, The
WB ordered one comedy for midseason: "A
Young Person's Guide To Being A Rock Star." It stars Oliver
Hudson, was created by John Riggi ("The Larry Sanders Show")
and is based on the popular British comedy series of the same name.
"Oliver
Hudson, like his sister Kate, is clearly going to be a big star,"
said Ms. Daniels. "He is an example of casting at its best
and there’s nothing else like ‘Rock Star’ on television."
The WB is bringing
back "For Your Love" as a midseason series.
The network
is also taking an agressive approach to the upcoming summer months.
It plans to launch the new series "Dead Last" on Tuesdays
at 9:00 p.m. and a Wednesday movie night featuring new classics
from the extensive Turner library.
"The WB’s
core audience is looking for something new during the summer, and
launching shows against largely repeat programming makes great sense
for us," said Mr. Levin. "If ‘Dead Last’ attains the level
of success we think it can, we could then order more episodes for
midseason. We have always felt that a movie night would be a perfect
fit with The WB, and now in partnership with Turner we are able
to broadcast movies that will appeal to our target young adult and
teen audience in the summer, while giving our Wednesday night series
line-up a rest for the summer."
The Schedule:
Monday:
8:00 PM "7th Heaven"
9:00 PM "Angel"
The word
from the network:'"7th Heaven" is that rare commodity
in television — it not only improves with age creatively, but also
continues to grow in ratings," said Ms. Daniels. "While
‘Angel’ may not be an obvious lead-out for traditional family fare,
we’ve had the most success following at 9:00 p.m. with action-adventure
series in one of television’s most competitive timeslots."
Tuesday:
8:00 PM "Gilmore Girls"
9:00 PM "Smallville"
The word
from the network: "The fact that ‘Gilmore Girls’ beat ‘Friends’
in female teens this May sweep and is building Emmy buzz has been
extremely gratifying for a freshman series," said Mr. Levin.
"The show’s broad appeal will perfectly platform ‘Smallville,’
a project with three breakout young stars that promises to be another
successful chapter of the evergreen Warner Bros. Superman franchise."
Wednesday:
8:00 PM "Dawson's Creek"
9:00 PM "Felicity"/"Glory
Days" (time sharing the time period as "Felicity"
and "Jack & Jill" did this season)
The word
from the network: "We took a risk last season, dividing
the run of ‘Felicity’ in order to deliver viewers 30 weeks of original
programming after ‘Dawson’s Creek,’" said Mr. Levin. "The
risk paid off. ‘Felicity’ finally took off in the ratings and ’Dawson’s’
laid claim to the 8:00 p.m. hour after the departure of ‘90210’
and saw its 18-34 and 18-49 demos soar over last season."
(speaking about
"Glory Days"):
"We are thrilled to be back in business with Kevin Williamson,"
said Ms. Daniels. "Kevin played an instrumental role in the
early success of The WB when we teamed up on ‘Dawson’s Creek,’ and
it’s only fitting that this next chapter be paired with his first
series. The show’s lead, Eddie Cahill, had star-making turns on
‘Felicity’ and ‘Friends’ last season and is poised to be a break-out
talent."
Thursday:
8:00 PM "Popstars"
8:30 PM "Elimidate
Deluxe"
9:00 PM "Charmed"
The word
from the network: "’Popstars’ was a grand slam across many
divisions within AOL Time Warner," said Ms. Daniels. "The
show set ratings records for The WB, the debut single from Eden’s
Crush topped the music charts and notched record downloads for AOL,
and the album shipped gold, debuting in the top 10. ‘Elimidate Deluxe’
blends the quest for love with exotic locales to create a lighthearted
tone akin to ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’ meets ‘The Dating
Game.’"
Friday:
8:00 PM "Sabrina"
8:30 PM "Maybe
I'm Adopted"
9:00 PM "Reba"
(formerly "Deep In The Heart")
9:30 PM "Raising
Dad"
Sunday:
7:00 PM "Lost
in the USA"/"No Boundaries" (shares timeslot,
"No Boundaries"
will air midseason)
8:00 PM "Steve Harvey Show"
8:30 PM "Men,
Women & Dogs"
9:00 PM "Nikki"
9:30 PM "Off Centre"
The word
from the network: (speaking about the 7:00 PM "Reality
Wheel" block of Sunday programming): "For our audience,
we believe reality shows are a viable form of storytelling as long
as it extends the core themes and values ascribed to our scripted
series," said Mr. Levin. "The elements of empowerment,
fantasy and wish fulfillment — qualities that made ‘Popstars’ a
winner in upscale homes and a hit with advertisers — will be prominent
in all of our reality development."
Midseason:
"A Young
Person's Guide to Becoming a Rock Star"
"Dead Last" premieres this summer
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