Forever young network after a bit older demo

By Kevin Downey

      What a difference a year can make in the back-and-forth between the WB and UPN.
    The WB watched helplessly as UPN reinvented itself and surged in the ratings on the power of WWF wrestling. 
     At the same time, superstation WGN ended its contract with the WB, and in one fell swoop took away 10 percent of its audience.
     But not one to sit quietly in last place, the WB is fast moving ahead to get into development a raft of pilots from top producing teams.
    As it prepares for this May’s upfront season, the network is renewing its focus on its traditional core target of viewers in the 12 to 34 age bracket. But the emphasis this season will be to move toward the higher end of that demo. 
     Shows on tap feature the network’s standard fresh-faced twenty-somethings but add the sensibilities of thirty-somethings.
     Look for lots of laughs.
    "Comedy is our strategy. Comedy, comedy, comedy," says Kate Jurgens, senior vice president of comedy and drama development.
     "It’s crucial to the identity of the network to develop a breakout comedy. We have a definite identity with drama, but nobody’s really breaking out with comedy right now. That’s the way Fox made a name for itself."
       At this time last year the WB was scoring with a slew of teen-oriented dramas like "Dawson’s Creek" and "Angel," but the rest of its scheduled generated little excitement.
    Still, its upfront dollars were growing along with its ratings. The WB pulled in $425 million, minuscule compared to the big nets, but a 42 percent increase from the previous year. The windfall outpaced UPN by 183 percent.
   The WB’s 3.3 household rating was 65 percent above UPN’s, while the adults 18-49 rating of 1.8 was 50 percent better.
   All that changed, though, when UPN introduced WWF wrestling to its schedule. 
    The WB is now down to a 2.7 household rating--tied with UPN-- and a 1.5 among adults 18-49, which places it just below UPN.
     The comedies now in the works take big steps toward breaking the typical sitcom mold. There are stars from former sitcoms for sure, but there is also sketch comedy and an animated series, as well as a documentary/fiction series in the works.
      Nikki Cox, from "Norm," gets her own as-yet untitled sitcom from the team behind "The Drew Carey Show."
   She stars as a Las Vegas showgirl married to a professional wrestler.
    Also from the producers of "Drew" comes "The Oblongs," an animated entry about a father with no limbs, a smoking cat, and Siamese twins.
    In another unnamed pilot, Nick Turturro from "NYPD Blue," plays a Frank Sinatra-style crooner trying to break out of his Queens neighborhood.
    In "Fresh Meat," the streets of Hollywood serve as a backdrop for a group trying to break into show biz. In "Life’s Too Short," the focus is on an upper East Side family with a conservative son and a liberal dad.
    The inner workings of the entertainment industry are at the core of two other sitcoms.
     "Grosse Pointe," from the creator of "Sex in the City," goes behind the scenes of a show within a show, while "Young Person’s Guide to Becoming a Rock Star" follows a fictitious band trying to make it. The show is executive produced by John Riggi of "The Larry Sanders Show."
   Other new shows include "Hype," a half-hour sketch comedy from the team behind Fox’s "MadTV."     
    "American Family" is set in a New York boarding house and follows the lives of boarders covering the full ethnic and sexual orientation spectrum.
   In addition to comedies, the WB plans on marching out  a couple of dramas and two reality shows that take a cue or two from MTV.
   "Doughboy" reworks MTV’s "Real World" like many other network shows in development this year. The show mixes fiction with reality when a twenty-something millionaire hands out money to real people.
    "Whatever You Want," takes real- life people and throws them into something of a game show. From the producers of "Whose Line is it Anyway?," the show follows the lives of people trying to make their dreams come true.
    Redefining the family is at the heart of Aaron Spelling’s drama, "Finally Home," about a family that adopts three kids. It stars Melissa Gilbert and is co-executive produced by Catherine LePard from "7^th Heaven."
    "Gilmore Girls" profiles a thirty-something mom and her 16 year-old daughter who may or may not end up a teenage mom herself.
   Harold Ramis, the creator of movies like "Ghostbusters" and "Analyze This," brings Virginia Madsen to TV in an unnamed pilot in the role of inspector general in the Los Angeles school system.
   "Wall to Wall Records" is a behind-the-scenes look at the recording industry.
    The WB’s sci-fi entry, "Day One," is based on a mini-series from Britain. The show is about a group of young people unfrozen 50 years after an asteroid all but wipes out the planet.
  The WB takes its stab at "The 6^th Sense" with "Dead Last," a series that profiles a rock band that counts the dead among its groupies.
   "Going to California" follows the lives of three twenty-somethings  on a long road trip across the country. Each episode profiles the situations they find themselves in along the way. Abraham Benrubi from "ER" co-stars.
    "The Learning Curve" examines the lives of high school teachers from the team behind the movie "Varsity Blues."
    Rob Estes from "Melrose Place" stars as a New York lawyer taking law students under his wing in "Sullivan Street."

- Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life.