| Last season the
WB seemed to forget what worked for its most successful new shows, namely melding teenage
angst with sexy plotlines while retaining a sweet-but-earnest approach to television.
Moving
away from that approach into a world of cartoonish characters led to the disaster of
“Tarzan” and “Run of the House,” both of which were canceled. The WB
seemed to be struggling to once again find its identity.
That’s why the summer launch of “Summerland” has been so
sweet. It received modest reviews and a not-entirely-favorable spot on the schedule,
airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. opposite summer hits “Big Brother 5” on CBS and
“Last Comic Standing” on NBC.
Yet
“Summerland” did just what the best WB shows have always done, and did not do
last year: narrowly target the teen audience via sex and angst.
The result has been one of the most successful launches of the summer.
“Summerland,” which was picked up for midseason, ends its limited run tonight
with another sexually charged episode, this one involving a love triangle. Despite airing
against NBC’s dominating Olympics, the episode will probably do well for the WB,
perhaps boosting it to its highest teen viewership levels of the season.
It probably will not do as well among women 18-34 and 18-49 as it has earlier
in the season because of tonight's women's team gymnastics final on NBC, though many may
tape it to watch later.
So
far this season, the show has ranked No. 1 in its time slot among teens (2.8 rating) and
female teens (a very impressive 4.8 rating, as good as some regular-season WB shows). It's
No. 2 in its time slot among females 12-34 and women 18-34, averaging a 3.2 and 2.5,
respectively.
The
WB likes to say the show is the No. 1-ranked scripted drama of the season in those demos
as well, though there’s not much competition: Fox’s axed “The Jury”
and ABC’s likely to-be-axed “The Days."
Still,
the network does have something to be proud of. Its dramas don’t repeat all that
well, falling off some 40 percent or more during the summer. So anything that gives a
boost to the summer schedule is a pleasant surprise.
And
the WB has not fared well with summer programming in the past.
Last year “Pepsi Smash” and surfing reality show “Boarding
House: North Shore” both bombed. To make matters more painful, the WB watched as
rival UPN launched the extremely successful “America’s Next Top Model” as
it struggled.
This year “Summerland” has helped the WB answer UPN’s second reality
success, the controversial “Amish in the City.”
That has helped the WB remain ahead of UPN year to date in the two networks’ target
audience of 12-34s, where the WB holds a .2 edge with a 1.6 average rating.
It also means good-sized audiences to advertise its fall lineup to.
“Summerland”
will return at midseason with 13 additional episodes. The WB has not said if it will keep
the same time slot, which belongs to second-year “One Tree Hill” come fall.
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