List of programs broadcast by The WB

The following is a list of programs broadcast by The WB. Some programs carried over into the merged CW Network in September 2006 following the closure of the network. Programs that are listed in bold currently aired on The CW.

Note: This list includes only primetime programs. For children's programming, see List of programs broadcast by Kids' WB.

Sitcom/Comedy

• All About the Andersons (2003–2004) – All About the Andersons originally aired on The WB from September 12, 2003 to February 12, 2004. It lasted one season before being canceled.

• Alright Already (1997–1998) – Carol Leifer starred in, created and executive-produced the WB sitcom Alright Already, called one of the "10 Best New Shows of the New Season" by the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. Despite good reviews, the show only ran one season.

• The Army Show (1998) – The Army Show was first shown on September 13, 1998.

• Blue Collar TV (2004–2006) – The show halted production a few weeks into the 2005 fall season. It was also removed from the lineups of both Comedy Central and the WB. No official statement was given by the WB, though Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy both confirmed the end of Blue Collar TV on their websites. Blue Collar TV returned on May 31, 2006, to finish airing its second season throughout the summer as filler for the final weeks of The WB, which would shut down later that year. The show did not move to The CW.

• Brutally Normal (2000) – The series premiered on January 24, 2000 with two back-to-back episodes later airing along with Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane (which was re-tooled in its second season as Zoe...). A total of eight episodes were produced with only five of those episodes airing with the show being canceled on February 14, 2000.

• Brotherly Love (1996–1997, acquired from NBC) – Brotherly Love ran from September 16, 1995 to April 1, 1996, on NBC, and then moved to The WB, where it aired from September 15, 1996 until May 18, 1997.

• Cleghorne! (1995) – The series was canceled after 12 of the 15 episodes produced were aired.

• Do Over (2002–2003) – It was scheduled on Thursdays at 8:30 EST. Unfortunately, the show was pitted against CBS's Survivor and NBC's Scrubs. Although the show had a devoted fan base, it suffered from low ratings^[1] and was cancelled after showing eleven of fifteen episodes.

• Drew Carey's Green Screen Show (2004) – Drew Carey's Green Screen Show premiered on The WB on October 7, 2004. Coinciding with the show's debut, Carey participated in a number of promotional appearances, such as guest hosting The Late Late Show, and starring in a special episode of Blue Collar TV, Green Screen's lead-in program. On November 8, after having run five episodes, The WB announced that it was temporarily pulling "Drew Carey's Green Screen Show" from its schedule for November sweeps after it averaged 2.7 million viewers per week. It was confirmed as cancelled in May 2005 at their 2005-06 fall presentation. As a result, Drew Carey and executive producer Ron Diamond, took the show to Comedy Central, returning it to the air on September 26, 2005.^[2]

• Family Affair (2002–2003) – A revival of Family Affair by Sid and Marty Krofft aired on The WB from September 12, 2002 to March 13, 2003. This version was produced by Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures, Pariah Films and Turner Television and lasted for 16 episodes (14 of the 16 were aired). It was filmed in the same CBS Studio City lot as was the original series. Although the one-hour pilot had good ratings, the subsequent episodes declined against competition such as Friends.

• First Time Out (1995) – Originally holding the working title Girlfriends and described as a "Latino Living Single",^[3] the series first aired on September 10, 1995 and last aired on December 17, 1995. Only 12 episodes of First Time Out aired on The WB. 4 episodes were still unaired.

• For Your Love (1998–2002, acquired from NBC) – For Your Love premiered on March 17, 1998 on NBC. It was canceled after six episodes, but was picked up by The WB Network. It ran there for four years before its 2002 cancellation.

• Greetings from Tucson (2002–2003)

• Grosse Pointe (2000) – Critics were largely positive towards Grosse Pointe. TIME wrote that it was "nicely cast and smartly paced, it's a sassy, catty riot.".^[4] The New York Daily News wrote that it was "the funniest, smartest comedy" that the WB has ever had.^[5] Despite this, the series struggled with low ratings. In its Friday night timeslot, it typically lost an average of one million viewers from its lead-in, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. It was the only WB comedy to receive an "A" grade from Entertainment Weekly.^[6] Though the network tried to find an audience for it by moving it around the schedule, Grosse Pointe ultimately failed to attract enough viewers to sustain it past one season. Reportedly, Beverly Hills 90210 producer Aaron Spelling called WB executive Jamie Kellner to complain about Lindsay Sloane's character Marcy Sternfeld, who in the original pilot was a thinly veiled parody of Spelling's daughter, actress Tori Spelling.^[4][7] Darren Star asked several actors from Spelling Soaps to appear on the series. Jason Priestly and Joe E. Tata from Beverly Hills, 90210 appeared in separate episodes. Jason Priestly directed the episode that he appeared. Kristin Davis from Melrose Place and Sex in the City also appeared in an episode. Katie Wagner, who hosted a Beverly Hills, 90210 special in 1993, also appeared on the show as herself for one episode. Former Saved by the Bell teen star, Elizabeth Berkley, appeared in the series finale. In addition, several actors from other WB series appeared as themselves on Grosse Pointe, such as Leslie Bibb and Carly Pope of Popular and Sarah Michelle Gellar of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Grosse Pointe was on the WB's Friday line-up in between Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Popular. The show lost much of the lead-in audience, and was moved to Sundays. It was canceled in March 2001 after 17 episodes.

• Grounded for Life (2003–2005, acquired from FOX) – Grounded for Life debuted on January 10, 2001, as a mid-season replacement on the Fox Network. It ran for two seasons on the network until being cancelled only two episodes into its third season. It was immediately picked up for the rest of the third season by The WB, where it aired for two additional seasons until it ended on January 28, 2005.

• The Help (2004) – The Help premiered on The WB on March 5, 2004.^[8] The WB only aired seven episodes, the show ending on April 16, 2004, and canceled it in May 2004. The premiere of The Help was the most watched program in the Friday 9:30-10:00 time slot on The WB in the 2003-04 season.^[9] The premiere was more popular among women than men aged 12–34 (2.0/8 versus 1.3/5).^[9]

• Hype (2000) – It ran for 16 episodes from October 8, 2000 to February 18, 2001.

• The Jamie Foxx Show (1996–2001) – The Jamie Foxx Show aired on the WB Network from August 28, 1996 to January 14, 2001. The series aired in broadcast syndication distributed by Telepictures Distribution and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution from 2000 to 2003. Reruns of the series also aired on BET from 2005 to 2008 and started airing once again September 2009 to present, and as part of The CW's The CW Daytime (along with reruns of The Wayans Bros.) block from September 2008 to September 2009.

• The Jamie Kennedy Experiment (2002–2004) – The show was cancelled in April 2004 after having failing ratings on The WB. It was then picked up by the G4 network for syndication in October 2006.

• Kelly Kelly (1998) – The series premiered April 20, 1998 on The WB.^[10][11][12] After airing two episodes to low ratings, The WB moved the series from Mondays to Sundays.^[13]

• Kirk (1995–1997) – Kirk aired for two seasons on The WB from August 23, 1995 to January 12, 1997. Kirk was one of only two series produced by Bickley-Warren Productions and Jeff Franklin Productions that was not produced by Miller-Boyett Productions (the other being Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, which William Bickley and Michael Warren served as showrunners/executive producers during that series' final three seasons). During the development stage, the series originally went under the working title Life Happens,^[14] and was originally conceived as a series for ABC (who had broadcast other series produced by Bickley and Warren, and their production partners Tom L. Miller and Robert Boyett) before the network's decision to move away from family sitcoms, just prior to the network's 1995 purchase by The Walt Disney Company.^[15]

• Life with Roger (1996–1997) – The series premiered on September 8, 1996, airing twenty episodes before being canceled in March 1997 due to low ratings.^[16]

• Like Family (2003–2004) – The series was cancelled after all but one of the 22 episodes produced were aired.

• Living With Fran (2005–2006) – Living With Fran debuted on The WB network in April 2005 that starred Fran Drescher. The show last aired on March 24, 2006. On October 18, 2005, Living with Fran was removed from The WB's Friday night schedule and was replaced with the new series Twins. The show returned Friday, January 13, 2006, at 8:30pm. The second season finale aired on Friday, March 24, 2006. In the episode, Riley proposed to Fran; the episode was a cliffhanger, and Fran's answer was not revealed. On May 17, 2006, one day before the upfronts, it was announced that Living with Fran would not be returning for a third season. The series was originally titled Shacking Up and was not renamed until very close to its premiere; episodes of television entertainment shows like Extra can be found on the internet discussing the show with the cast and previewing clips while still calling it Shacking Up. It is worth noticing that the series' title is written incorrectly as short prepositions, such as "with," are not capitalized. Therefore, Living With Fran should properly be spelled Living with Fran.^[17]

• Maybe It's Me (2001–2002) – It first aired on October 5, 2001^[18] and ended on May 3, 2002. During the network's upfront presentation that season, the show was originally titled Maybe I'm Adopted,^[19] but following negative feedback, the show was re-titled. The show was unique in that it featured pop-up graphics on the screen.

• Modern Men (2006) – Modern Men premiered March 17, 2006, on The WB.^[20] The show was canceled on May 18, 2006, due to a lack of time slots from the merger of The WB and UPN that created the new network The CW.

• Movie Stars (1999–2000)

• Muscle (1995) – Muscle was one of the four sitcoms that aired as part of the original Wednesday night two-hour WB lineup (with The Wayans Bros., The Parent 'Hood, and Unhappily Ever After); it was the only one of the four that did not make it past the first season.

• Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher (1996–1998) – By the spring of 1998, when Nick's numerous attempts to court Dr. Emerson had failed, his attention switched to that of a voluptuous new manager in his apartment building, Samantha (Donna D'Errico). The two consummated their sexual tension quickly and became an item. The addition of D'Errico to Nick Freno was seen as a last-ditch attempt to save the show from cancellation, but was not picked up for a third season.

• Nikki (2000–2002) – A total of 41 episodes were ordered, produced and filmed, but due to low ratings, Nikki was canceled in January of 2002. Only 35 episodes were aired, the last being "She Was a Job-Jumper", on January 27, 2002.

• Off Centre (2001–2002) – Off Centre aired on The WB network from October 14, 2001 to October 31, 2002. The show aired on The WB network on Sunday nights, and despite dismal ratings, was renewed for a second season. However, the move to Thursday did not help the show, and it was cancelled seven episodes into the second season, leaving two episodes ("Scary Sitcom" and "Chau's Hard Iced Tea") unfilmed.

• The O'Keefes (2003) – It premiered on May 22, 2003 and ended on June 12, 2003.

• The Parent 'Hood (1995–1999) – Originally to have been titled Father Knows Nothing (a parody of the title of the 1950s sitcom Father Knows Best),^[21] the series was one of the four sitcoms that aired as part of the original Wednesday night two-hour lineup that helped launch The WB network (along with The Wayans Bros., Unhappily Ever After and the short-lived Muscle). In September 1999, The Parent 'Hood began in off-network syndication, with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution handling syndication of the series. At that same time, Chicago-based national cable superstation WGN also began airing reruns of the sitcom, with the series airing until 2002 (when its broadcast syndication run also ended); ironically, both the local Chicago feed and the national superstation feed of WGN aired The Wayans Bros. in first-run form from 1995 to 1999, when WGN aired WB programming nationally to make The WB available to markets where a local affiliate did not exist (The Parent 'Hood is one of four WB series to air on WGN in first-run and syndication form; The Wayans Bros., 7th Heaven and Sister, Sister are the others). Hollywood Insider reported that the series was slated to be cancelled by WB in May 1998, leaving another cliffhanger, but the network gave the series a last-minute 13 episode renewal for midseason. In the 1997–98 fourth season finale, T.K. gets into a fight with several thugs (Tyrese Gibson appears), and Robert tries to talk him out the situation. Robert and T.K. leave and the thugs fire the gun, ending the episode on a cliffhanger. The show's final season was placed on hiatus after the cliffhanger episode, and did not return until May 23, 1999, a year after the season finale aired. In the last episode, which was not produced nor written as the last episode, Jerri and Robert renew their wedding vows and the cast is seen dancing in a Soul Train line before the final commercial break.

• Pepper Dennis (2006) – Pepper Dennis aired on The WB from April to July 4, 2006. It was quickly announced on May 17, 2006 that Pepper Dennis would not be one of the WB shows transferred to The CW Television Network. Pepper Dennis was the final show to premiere on The WB before its transition to The CW network.^[22]

• Popular (1999–2001)

• Raising Dad (2001–2002) – Raising Dad aired on The WB from September 2001 until May 2002.

• Reba (2001–2006, also on The CW) – For the show's first five seasons, it ran on The WB, with the show transitioning to The CW in its last year. The show was canceled when The WB and UPN merged into The CW. However, in an 11th hour move on May 17, 2006, The CW renewed Reba with a 13-episode order,^[23] reportedly to fulfill a syndication contract worth $20 million.^[24] In November 2006, The CW announced that the show would be paired with 7th Heaven, Sundays at 7 p.m., beginning later that month.^[25] Reba encores were scheduled for Sundays at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT, with a new episode at 7:30 p.m. Reba became the top-rated sitcom on the CW, also surpassing the dramas Supernatural, One Tree Hill, and Veronica Mars.^[26] The final episode aired on February 18, 2007. Midway through Season 6, word began circulating that the CW had ordered "the back nine," or the remaining episodes that would have given Reba a full-season order. But on January 19, 2007 during the network's TCA Press Tour, it was revealed that the series had been canceled, with no "back nine" on order.^[27] The series finale garnered 4.44 million viewers in its final half hour. Rumors continued to float on the CW's message boards and Reba fan sites that the series might still have a chance at renewal, citing the possible removal of programming chief Dawn Ostroff, or that Lifetime may option to a Van/Cheyenne spinoff series.^[28] It was soon announced that Garcia and Howey had each been signed to new shows for CBS and FOX respectively.^[29] An interview Reba McEntire gave as part of the press coverage of her then upcoming duets album revealed that the show was not being shopped around and that the series was indeed finished. In an interview with Variety on May 29, 2007, 20th Century Fox TV president Gary Newman said that he regretted The WB's handling of the show in later years, saying that he was sure the series would have been a hit for CBS or ABC.^[30] Reba set a new all-time viewership record for any program on the WB's Friday night (best-ever Friday in women 18–49). During its five seasons on the Friday night lineup, it often ranked 4th in its timeslot, with a few episodes bringing in over 5 million viewers. Reba's premiere on The CW Sunday averaged 4.02 million viewers, including 1.64 million viewers and 40 percent among adults 18–49 more than when Everybody Hates Chris and All of Us premiered in the same time slot, thus making Reba the highest rated sitcom on the network. With Reba as a lead in, 7th Heaven saw a season high of 4.51 million viewers. Reba was averaging 3,630,000 viewers since the beginning of its sixth season, making it the seventh most-watched show and the most-watched sitcom on The CW throughout the 2006–07 television season. The new Reba episodes vary as being either sixth or seventh most-watched program on the network, sometimes ranking as high as #3 for the week. Throughout The CW's inaugural season (2006–07), no other program had higher viewer turnout for repeat airings than Reba. As a result of the lackluster ratings for encores of the summer drama Hidden Palms, repeats of Reba returned to the CW's schedule in June 2007 after being absent for three months, and they immediately became the most-watched program of the night. Later in the summer, repeats of Reba were the most-viewed program on the CW network.

• Run of the House (2003–2004) – Run of the House that aired between September 2003 and May 2004. 19 episodes were produced but only 16 were aired before the show was cancelled.^[31]

• Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (2000–2003, acquired from ABC) – Its first four seasons aired on ABC from September 1996 to May 2000; the final three seasons ran on The WB Television Network from September 2000 to April 2003. The unofficial pilot of the series was the 1996 TV movie Sabrina the Teenage Witch.^[32] The movie, produced by Viacom and Hartbreak Films and aired on Showtime, starred Melissa Joan Hart as the title character, Sabrina Sawyer, and Charlene Fernetz and Sherry Miller as Sabrina's aunts Zelda and Hilda respectively. When the television series debuted on ABC later that year, Hart became Sabrina Spellman (the character's original last name in the comics), and Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick replaced Fernetz and Miller. In 2000, the show was dropped by ABC and picked up by The WB. When viewership began to wane, the show was canceled after seven seasons.^[33] When The WB network picked up the series after ABC canceled the series, the show also picked up the rights to air reruns of the series from September 2000 on a weekday basis after the broadcast snydication ended in fall 2005.

• Sister, Sister (1995–1999, acquired from ABC) – The series ran from April 1, 1994 to April 28, 1995 on ABC, and was canceled by the network after two seasons, reportedly due to poor ratings.^[34] The series was picked up by The WB and aired on that network from September 6, 1995, through May 23, 1999. For the first five seasons, the series would often have Tia and Tamera, either together or separately, breaking the fourth wall by talking directly to the viewer. During the ABC run, Tia and Tamera would address the audience on some of the goings on in the storyline involving them and occasionally other main characters, usually Roger. After the series moved to The WB, the breaking of the fourth wall was limited mainly to certain episodes and usually only in the teaser scenes and featured increasingly less often by the fourth season. For some of the episodes in the fifth season, it was included but was dropped by the middle of the fifth season. The sixth season was the only season that did not include it.

• Smart Guy (1997–1999) – The series ran on The WB for three seasons from April 2, 1997 to May 16, 1999. Three months after Smart Guy was canceled on The WB, reruns began airing on the Disney Channel from September 1999 and continued to air until September 2003, and again in a "Back to School" themed marathon of the show in August 2004.

• Steve Harvey's Big Time Challenge (2003–2005)

• The Steve Harvey Show (1996–2002) – The Steve Harvey Show aired for six seasons from August 25, 1996 to February 17, 2002 on The WB Television Network. In 2001, Harvey decided to pursue other projects. He wished to end the show after the fifth season, but at the insistence of the WB network, reluctantly filmed a 13-episode sixth season.^[35] The series was first distributed to syndication to WB and UPN affiliates in the United States by Columbia TriStar Television Distribution in September 2000, and remained airing in broadcast syndication in some U.S. markets on various local stations (such as WCIU in Chicago) as late as 2015.

• The Tom Show (1997–1998) – The Tom Show aired on The WB on Sunday nights from September 7, 1997 to March 15, 1998.^[36]

• Twins (2005–2006) – The show was cancelled on May 18, 2006 due to the merger of the WB and UPN that created the new network The CW.

• Unhappily Ever After (1995–1999) – Unhappily Ever After (often shortened to Unhappily... in promotional advertisements) aired for 100 episodes on The WB network from January 11, 1995, to May 23, 1999, for a total of four and a half seasons. Unhappily Ever After was one of the four sitcoms that aired as part of the original Wednesday night two-hour lineup that helped launch The WB network (along with The Wayans Bros., The Parent 'Hood and the short-lived Muscle).

• The Wayans Bros. (1995–1999) – The Wayans Bros. was the first series to debut on The WB, when it launched on January 11, 1995; it was one of the four sitcoms that aired as part of the original Wednesday night two-hour lineup that helped launch the network (along with Unhappily Ever After, The Parent 'Hood and the short-lived Muscle). While in development, the series' working title was initially supposed to have been Brother to Brother, before the name of the series changed to The Wayans' Bros.^[21] Warner Bros. Television Distribution handles syndication distribution of the series. In September 1999, after the series was cancelled by The WB, the series began airing in off-network syndication to Fox, WB and UPN affiliates nationwide. At that same time, Chicago-based national cable superstation WGN began airing reruns of the series, airing the series until 2002 (when its broadcast syndication run also ended, later resurfacing in 2006 on the cable station BET.); ironically, WGN (both the local Chicago feed and the national superstation feed) aired The Wayans Bros. in first-run form from 1995 to 1999, when WGN (whose local Chicago feed was an affiliate of the network) carried WB programming nationally to make The WB available to markets where a local affiliate did not exist (The Wayans Bros. is one of three WB series to have aired on WGN in both first-run and syndication form; The Parent 'Hood, 7th Heaven and Sister, Sister being the others).

• What I Like About You (2002–2006) – The series ran on The WB from September 20, 2002, to March 24, 2006, with a total of 86 episodes produced. With the exception of a brief period early in the second season, What I Like About You was a headline on The WB's Friday Night Comedy Lineup. From February to September 2006, the series aired as reruns in a new weekday afternoon block called "Daytime WB" on its home network, The WB alongside Reba. After the show was cancelled The WB in September 2006, reruns of the series aired in snydication in most markets until September 2008.

• Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane (also known as Zoe...) (2000) – During development, the show was initially known as Zoe Bean and was later retitled Zoe... during its second season. The series ran for a total of 26 episodes (13 each season). When the show returned for a second season, it had been heavily retooled. The friendship between the four friends remained intact, but now they were adult college students. Gone was Keller as Zoe's mom, while Omar Gooding joined the cast as the foursome's friend Doug Anderson. The title had also been shortened to simply Zoe... (pronounced on-air as Zoe Dot Dot Dot) out of fear that the former title was turning off potential viewers. After the series was cancelled, Michael Rosenbaum expressed disappointment with the fact that the network had cut his character's name out of the title for the second season.^[37]

Drama

• 7th Heaven (1996–2006, also on The CW) – The series premiered on August 26, 1996, on The WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from August 26, 1996 to May 13, 2007. The series finale was scheduled for May 8, 2006; however, the show was renewed by the CW when the intended final episode received high ratings. The final season premiered on Monday, September 25, 2006 and ended on May 13, 2007. 7th Heaven is the longest-running series that has ever aired on The WB and is the longest-running family drama in television history (beating out both Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons).^[38] It is also the longest-running show produced by Aaron Spelling. The show is reliant on the "very special episode" concept, attempting to introduce contemporary social issues to lend greater emotional resonance to episodes. These episodes do in fact lead to high ratings for the show. The January 24, 2005 episode, which featured the birth of Lucy's daughter Savannah, garnered 7.99 million viewers—the highest WB rating since 2003. Another example included the would-be series finale on May 8, 2006—now known as the season ten finale—which scored 7.56 million viewers. Although originally produced for Fox in 1996, the show aired on the WB. It was produced by Spelling Television, and distributed for syndication by (corporate sibling) CBS Television Distribution. Its producers, including Aaron Spelling, considered it wholesome family viewing, incorporating public service announcements into the show. The final season of 7th Heaven was shown on the inaugural season of The CW. The show wrapped production on the final episode March 8, 2007 about one month before most shows film their last episodes of the season. This was due largely to the fact that after ten years of working together, the actors, producers and crew had gotten production down to a steady pace, slashing costs repeatedly and routinely coming in well under budget. This resulted in 7th Heaven filming episodes in shorter time during the final seasons. After much deliberation within the now-defunct WB network, it was made public in November 2005 that the tenth season would be the program's final season because of high costs, which were revealed to be due to a poorly negotiated licensing agreement by the WB network a few years earlier. The program's future was hanging in the balance and it was entirely in the hands of the newly established CW network whether to renew it for an eleventh seasonal run. In March 2006, the main cast of characters were approached about the possibility of returning for an eleventh season.^[39][40] After further consideration by the CW network, it was decided three days after the airing of its "series finale", that 7th Heaven would be picked up for an eleventh season, which would air on their network in the Monday-night slot that had helped make it famous.^[41] Originally the show was renewed for thirteen episodes, but on September 18, 2006, the renewal was extended to a full twenty-two episodes.^[42] Along with the show's unexpected and last-minute, renewal came some changes. The show's already-low budget was moderately trimmed, forcing cuts in the salaries of some cast members and shortened taping schedules (seven days per episode instead of the typical eight). David Gallagher, who played Simon, chose not to return as a regular.^[43] Furthermore, Mackenzie Rosman, who played youngest daughter Ruthie, did not appear in the first six episodes. She had appeared in every episode of the series prior to that. Catherine Hicks missed three episodes in Season 11, as another cost-cutting move. Additionally, for the first time since joining the cast in 2002 as a series regular, George Stults was absent for a few episodes at the beginning of season 11. Also, after airing Monday nights at 8/7c for ten seasons, plus the first two episodes of season 11, the CW unexpectedly moved 7th Heaven to Sunday nights as of October 15, 2006. The Sunday/Monday lineup swap was attributed to mediocre ratings of shows on both nights. While 7th Heaven did improve in numbers over the CW's previous Sunday night programming, it never quite hit its Monday-night momentum again, and the shows that replaced it in its slot on Monday night never matched what it had achieved in that time slot.^[44] 7th Heaven was the most watched TV series ever on the WB. It holds the record for the WB's most watched hour at 12.5 million viewers, on February 8, 1999; 19 of the WB's 20 most watched hours were from 7th Heaven. On May 8, 2006, it was watched by 7.56 million viewers, the highest rating for the WB since January 2005. When the show moved to the CW, ratings dropped. Possible reasons for the decline include an aired "Countdown to Goodbye" ad campaign for the last six months of the 2005–06 season which promoted that season as the final season ever; though the New CW Network announced the series' unexpected renewal, it didn't promote the new season strongly via billboards, bus stops, magazine or on-air commercials. Lastly, the network moved 7th Heaven to Sunday nights; possibly causing the viewers to think that the series was removed from the schedule. The show had a season average of just 3.3 million on the new network, losing 36% of the previous year's audience. It was the third most watched scripted show on the CW. Overall, it was the seventh most watched show.

• The Bedford Diaries (2006) The Bedford Diaries premiered March 29, 2006 on The WB and concluded its first season on May 10, 2006. It was canceled on May 18, 2006. A week prior to its premiere, The WB posted scenes from the pilot, which might have prompted FCC fines, on its website. A version without explicit images was broadcast on television.

• Dawson's Creek (1998–2003) – Dawson's Creek debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The program, part of a new craze for teen-themed movies and television shows in America in the late 1990s, catapulted its leads to stardom and became a defining show for The WB. The series ended on May 14, 2003.^[45] While never a huge ratings success among the general television population, Dawson's Creek did very well with the younger demographic it targeted and became a defining show for the WB Network. The pilot episode was watched by 6.8 million viewers and had a 4.8 rating which was the network's highest rating at the time.^[46] The first season's highest ranked episode was the finale, which was fifty-ninth, while the second highest rated was the second episode (probably scoring so well partially because the other major networks carried President Clinton's State of the Union address in the midst of the Lewinsky scandal rather than their regular programming).^[47] The last episode of the series was watched by 7.8 million U.S. viewers, which was its largest audience ever.

• D.C. (2000) – D.C. premiered and ended in April 2000 on The WB Network.^[48]

• Everwood (2002–2006) – Everwood ran for four seasons from 2002 to 2006. It was not renewed for future production and did not return when The WB and UPN merged to form The CW Television Network.^[49] On October 2, 2006, reruns of Everwood aired weeknights on ABC Family for the duration of the series. Everwood's series finale, which aired on Monday, June 5, 2006, was seen by 4.07 million viewers. The final episode, "Foreverwood," was written as both a season and a series finale. Because of the impending WB/UPN merger into the CW Television Network, the future of the series was uncertain, and the producers wrote two endings: the aired version, as well as additional scenes where Madison showed up to cause some cliffhanger trouble. Originally, the producers had scripted a montage for the "series-finale cut" that went forty years into the future to show a majority of the gang at Andy's funeral — showing the series coming full circle; this was never filmed due to budgetary reasons as well as the producers' hopes that they would receive a fifth season. Everwood was canceled in favor of a new show, Runaway, which Dawn Ostroff then canceled after only three episodes had been shown, and for a new season of 7th Heaven, which had just had its series finale.^[50] The finale of 7th Heaven had seven million viewers. Everwood had an average of four million viewers (which, if it was sustained, would have put it in the top 5 CW ratings for the following year).^[51]

• Felicity (1998–2002) – The series debut garnered 7.1 million viewers.^[52] The show's ratings declined in the 1999–2000 season. The popular press blamed this partly on a new hairstyle by the show's star.^[53] Known for long and curly locks, Russell went along with the producers' idea that she snip her hair short early on in the second year after her character had a rough breakup with Ben. The ratings drop also coincided with the show's move to Sunday night, so it is unclear exactly how much effect the hairstyle change actually had. In 2010, TV Guide Network listed the hairstyle change at No. 19 on their list of "25 Biggest TV Blunders" with several commentators arguing that it was the reason that the ratings of the show dropped.^[54] The haircut incident went on to become a popular-culture reference within other television shows, both comedic and dramatic. In the 30 Rock episode "The Bubble", Jenna discusses how to get her hair cut and says, "But if I make the wrong choice, I could end up like Keri Russell, Felicity, Season 2." When a girl pulls out her hair due to supernatural forces in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Where the Wild Things Are," the character Xander remarks, "People are going all 'Felicity' with their hair," while in the One Tree Hill episode "The Desperate Kingdom Of Love," when Lucas walks up to Keith at the beach, his uncle says, "Nice job, Felicity," referring to his new shorter haircut. Teen-aged Claire of the drama series, Six Feet Under tells her mother that she wants to cut off all her hair like Felicity, to which her mother replies, "Do I know her?" — Claire replies sarcastically, "Yeah, she came over for dinner once." In the 2001 sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch episode "Making the Grade," animosity over an exposé she had written prompts Sabrina to ask, "[W]hy is everyone looking at me like I'm the girl who told Felicity to cut her hair?" In the Gilmore Girls episode "Here comes the son", the character Paris, debating whether to follow her boyfriend to Princeton instead of going to Harvard, says, "Suddenly, I'm Felicity without the hair issues". In the Happy Endings episode "The Code War," Max perms Dave's hair while the latter is sleeping. Upon seeing his new do, Penny quips, "You look like Keri Russell after she ruined Felicity.”^[55]

• Gilmore Girls (2000–2006, also on The CW) – The show was not a ratings success initially, airing in the tough Thursday 8pm/7pm Central time slot dominated by Survivor and Friends in its first season. When Gilmore Girls moved to Tuesday, its rating surpassed its time-slot competitor, popular series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which moved to UPN but retained the same timeslot.. In its fifth season, Gilmore Girls became The WB's second most watched prime time show, with viewer numbers which grew by double digits in all major demographics.^[56] In its syndicated release in the United States, the show airs on the ABC Family Channel, and SOAPnet. Reruns first aired on The WB in the summer of 2002 on Sunday nights when it reaired season 1 episodes under the title Gilmore Girls Beginnings, and is one of two shows on The WB to give the Beginnings in its title for reruns (the other being 7th Heaven). In 2003, the WB planned a spin-off featuring Luke Danes's nephew, Jess Mariano, called Windward Circle, in which he gets to know his estranged father, Jimmy, and is befriended by California skateboarders. However, the network canceled the show before it aired, citing high production costs to shoot on location in Venice Beach.^[57] Gilmore Girls season three episode "Here Comes the Son" was effectively a backdoor pilot for the unaired spin-off. In April 2006, it was announced that Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband Daniel could not come to an agreement with The CW, the new network that resulted from a merge between UPN and The WB. They said in an official statement: "Despite our best efforts to return and ensure the future of Gilmore Girls for years to come, we were unable to reach an agreement with the studio and are therefore leaving when our contracts expire at the end of this season. Our heartfelt thanks go out to our amazing cast, hard-working crew and loyal fans. We know that the story lines from this season will continue into the next, and that the integrity of the show will remain long after we leave Stars Hollow." David S. Rosenthal who had already worked on the show as a writer and producer, replaced them.^[58][59] On May 3, 2007, The CW announced that the series would not be renewed.^[40][60] According to Variety, "Money was a key factor in the decision, with the parties involved not able to reach a deal on salaries for the main cast members. Other issues, such as number of episodes and production dates, may have also played a role".^[61] Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino has expressed an interest in pursuing a Gilmore Girls movie.^[62][63] Lauren Graham has noted that a lot of fans "were disappointed with how it [the series] ended" and commented on the possibility of a follow-up movie.^[64] On September 15, 2010, Lauren Graham told Vanity Fair that a Gilmore Girls movie is a definite possibility: "people with power, people who could actually make it happen, are talking about it."^[65][66]

• Glory Days (2002) – Glory Days broadcast from January to March 2002 on The WB Television Network. The series was created by Kevin Williamson, and stars Eddie Cahill and Poppy Montgomery. Kevin Williamson originally conceived Glory Days as a drama in the same vein as his first series, Dawson's Creek, and a pilot was produced using this format. After picking up the series, The WB asked Williamson to retool the show and turn it into a mystery series instead. The characters and relationships remained the same but a whodunit spin was added.^[67]

• Hyperion Bay (1998–1999) – According to series writer and co-producer Jeffrey Stepakoff, early into Hyperion Bay's run the network told producers to make the show more hip and with a quicker pace. When series producer and creator Joseph Dougherty refused, he was fired by Warner Bros, and former Melrose Place producer Frank South was brought in to retool the series. Carmen Electra was added to the cast as Sarah Hicks, a character modeled after Heather Locklear's character, Amanda Woodward, on Melrose Place.^[68][69] The changes did not improve ratings and The WB canceled Hyperion Bay in February 1999, with the last episodes airing in March 1999.^[70]

• Jack & Bobby (2004–2005) – On May 17, 2005, The WB announced it would not renew Jack & Bobby for a second season.

• Jack & Jill (1999–2001) – Jack & Jill ran from September 1999 to April 2000, due to the average ratings of the first season, the second season was only 13 episodes long and was aired as a midseason show. The final episode detailed the problems during preparations for the couple's wedding. Jack discovered she was pregnant, but before she could tell Jill, he decided that their relationship was moving too fast and he wanted to call the wedding off and move things slower. Despite the rallying of fans, the series was not renewed for a third season, so the series ended in a cliffhanger.

• Just Legal (2005–2006) – The series premiered on The WB on September 19, 2005 and was canceled on October 3, 2005 after only three episodes had been aired. Almost a year later The WB decided burn off 5 unaired episodes following a repeat of the pilot on August 6, 2006. The series concluded on September 10, 2006. The series was canceled in October 2005 after only three episodes of the show aired. On Sunday, August 6, 2006 at 7:00 pm Eastern Standard Time/6:00 pm CST, it returned to The WB with the pilot reairing on August 6, followed by 5 unaired episodes on subsequent Sundays.

• The Mountain (2004–2005) – The show received very low ratings and was canceled after only thirteen episodes.

• One Tree Hill (2003–2006, also on The CW) – One Tree Hill premiered on September 23, 2003, on The WB Television Network.^[71] After the series' third season, The WB merged with UPN to form The CW Television Network, and since September 27, 2006, the network has been the official broadcaster of the series in the United States. The series premiered to 2.5 million viewers and rose to 3.3 million in its second week, becoming one of only three shows to rise in their second episode during the 2003–2004 television season. Season one went on to average 3.5 million viewers, and the second season was the highest rated in the series, averaging 4.3 million viewers weekly and a 1.9 Adults 18–49 rating.^[72] The show is the third longest running series on The CW network, or the networks that came together to make it up (The WB and UPN), only behind Smallville and 7th Heaven. The series concluded on April 4, 2012. The series premiere was watched by 2.5 million viewers and achieved a 1.9 Adults 18–49 rating on September 23, 2003. The following week, it rose to 3.3 million and a 2.4 demo, becoming one of the three shows to rise in its second episode in the 2003–2004 TV season.^[73] The CW only attracts a fraction of the audience its competitors do. "So the strategy is super-serving a young coveted demographics. The network's sweet spot is women 18–34 and with a viewer median age of 33, it boasts the youngest audience among its broadcast competitors by almost a dozen years."^[74] Averaging 4.3 million viewers weekly, season two was One Tree Hill's highest-rated season.^[72] During this season, the show emerged as one of The WB’s hits. "Of all the shows that they’ve launched in the last two years, this one has the most traction," said Stacey Lynn Koerner, at the time an executive vice president at Initiative, a media planning agency. "It does have an audience it’s connecting with – a loyal audience that comes back week in and week out." The show was particularly popular among the young viewership. It became the first choice of prime-time television for teenage girls and was reported in January 2005 to be the program in Tuesday's 9 pm time slot most viewed by women aged 12 to 34. The series finale was the highest rated among women 18-34 (1.4/4) for The CW in more than a year. It was The CW’s best Wednesday night in adults 18-34 since premiere week which took place on September 14, 2011 and best adults 18-49 and women 18-49 ratings since December 7, 2011. Comparing to a year earlier, One Tree Hill‍ '​s last episode was up 50% in adults 18-34, 40% in women 18-34 and 33% in adults 18-49.^[75] The first hour of the finale event, a series of interviews with the cast, garnered approximately 1.37 million viewers, with 1.42 million tuning in for the actual series finale.^[76]

• Popular (1999-2001) - There are total of 43 episodes; the 43rd episode ending in a cliffhanger.

• Related (2005–2006) - Despite heavy promotion, initial ratings did not warrant the show being picked up for a second season when The WB network was folded into The CW.

• Rescue 77 (1999) - The show aired in the spring of 1999 on Monday nights on the WB network.

• Safe Harbor (1999) - Safe Harbor' aired on The WB Television Network from September 20, 1999 to November 28, 1999. The series was created and executive produced by Brenda Hampton, who at the time was best known for work on the fellow WB series 7th Heaven, the series was paired with 7th Heaven on the network's Monday night lineup. Despite 7th Heaven being the No. 1 show on The WB during the 1999-2000 season,^[77] Safe Harbor was unable to hold a solid audience after 7th Heaven and was canceled after ten episodes with the show moving to Sunday nights where the last two episodes aired.

• Savannah (1996–1997) – Savannah‍ '​s first season was broadcast between January 21, 1996 and April 7, 1996. The first two episodes were shown together as a two-hour Saturday "sneak preview" of the upcoming series, with the remaining season one episodes shown on Sunday nights (The WB dubbing the evening "Savannah Sunday"). During its second season, Savannah was moved to Monday nights, the 22 second season episodes broadcast between August 26, 1996 and February 24, 1997.

• Summerland (2004–2005) – Summerland premiered on June 1, 2004 on The WB. The series ran for a total of 26 episodes over two seasons. Its cancellation was announced on May 15, 2005^[78] and the last episode aired on July 18, 2005. On May 15, 2005, The WB released early information on their 2005-06 season. Summerland, along with eight other shows, was canceled.^[78] Jesse McCartney responded to the cancellation in an interview, saying the show was "in a crazy time slot and...the writers were having trouble, and it was just a bad call."^[79]

• Three (1998) – Three aired on The WB from February 2, 1998 to March 23, 1998.^[80]

• Young Americans (2000) – The show debuted on July 12, 2000 on The WB network as a summer replacement for, and spin-off from, another Columbia TriStar Television production, Dawson's Creek. The series was originally ordered for the fall 1999-2000 season but was delayed due to unresolved matters between the ColumbiaTriStar and The WB.^[81] The main character, Will Krudski, was introduced late in season three of Dawson's Creek as a childhood friend of the group who has kept in contact with Pacey Witter. Will goes to Capeside to visit with old friends while on spring break. After briefly dating Andie McPhee he returns to Rawley. Young Americans was originally supposed to be a mid-season show in 2000 but was put on hold until Coca-Cola offered to sponsor the show.^[82] The character of Will Krudski was then written into Dawson's Creek to associate Young Americans with one of The WB's established shows.^[81] When Dawson's Creek went on hiatus in the summer of 2000, Young Americans occupied its timeslot of Wednesdays at 9 P.M. Repeats were shown at 9 P.M. on Fridays.

Supernatural/Sci fi/Action

• Angel (1999–2004) – On February 14, 2004, the WB Network announced that Angel would not be brought back for a sixth season. The one-paragraph statement indicated that the news, which had been reported by an Internet site the previous day, had been leaked well before the network intended to make its announcement.^[83] Joss Whedon posted a message on a popular fan site, The Bronze: Beta, in which he expressed his dismay and surprise, saying he was "heartbroken"^[84] and compared it to a "healthy guy falling dead from a heart attack."^[85] Fan reaction was to organize letter-writing campaigns, online petitions, blood and food drives, advertisements in trade magazines and via mobile billboards, and attempts to lobby other networks (UPN was a favorite target, as it had already picked up Buffy). Outrage for the cancellation focused on Jordan Levin, WB's Head of Entertainment. It was the second highest-rated program to be canceled on the WB.^[86] Head writer David Fury "guarantees" that if Joss Whedon had not requested an early renewal, Angel would have been back for a Season 6: The only reason that Angel didn't come back...it's a very simple thing. Because our ratings were up, because of our critical attention, Joss specifically asked Jordan Levin, who was the head of The WB at the time, to give us an early pick-up because every year they [would] wait so long to give Angel a pick-up [and] a lot of us [would] turn down jobs hoping that Angel will continue– he [Joss] didn't want that to happen. So, he was feeling very confident and he [Joss] just asked Jordan, "Like, make your decision now whether you're going to pick us up or not," and Jordan, sort of with his hands tied, with his back up against the wall, called him the next day and said, "Okay, we're cancelling you." Jordan's no longer there and The WB has since recognized...I believe Garth Ancier at The WB said that it was a big mistake to cancel Angel. There was a power play that happened that just didn't fall out the way they wanted it to. We wanted to get an early pick-up, we didn't. In fact we forced them [the WB] to make a decision, and with his hand forced he [Levin] made the decision to cancel us. I guarantee that, if we waited as we normally did, by the time May had come around they would have picked up Angel. I can guarantee that.^[87] Angel's final episode, "Not Fade Away", aired on the WB on May 19, 2004. The ambiguous final moments left some fans hoping for the continuation of Angel and the Buffyverse in the future, hopes that came to fruition in November 2007 with the publication of the first issue of the comic book series Angel: After the Fall. The series is Joss Whedon's official continuation of the Angel television series and follows in the footsteps of the comic book Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, whose first issue was published in March 2007.

• Birds of Prey (2002) – Despite the series debut garnering ratings of 7.6 million viewers (at the time, the network's largest premier in the 18–34 demographic),^[88] the series was canceled after ratings fell sharply in subsequent weeks. Thirteen episodes were produced in total.

• Black Sash (2003) – It ran from March 30, 2003,^[89][90] to June 1, 2003. Including pilots, a total of eight episodes were made, however only six episodes were aired on The WB.

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2001, also on UPN) – Buffy the Vampire Slayer first aired on March 10, 1997, (as a mid season replacement for the show Savannah) on the WB network, and played a key role in the growth of the Warner Bros. television network in its early years.^[91] After five seasons, it transferred to the United Paramount Network (UPN) for its final two seasons. While the seventh season was still being broadcast, Sarah Michelle Gellar told Entertainment Weekly she was not going to sign on for an eighth year; "When we started to have such a strong year this year, I thought: 'This is how I want to go out, on top, at our best."^[92] Whedon and UPN gave some considerations to production of a spin-off series that would not require Gellar, including a rumored Faith series, but nothing came of those plans.^[93] As previously mentioned, Buffy helped put The WB on the ratings map, but by the time the series landed at UPN in 2001, viewing figures had fallen. Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a series high during the third season with 5.3 million viewers, this probably due to the fact that both Gellar and Hannigan had hit movies out during the season (Cruel Intentions and American Pie respectively) and a series low with 3.6 million during the seventh season. The show's series finale "Chosen" pulled in a season high of 4.9 million viewers on the UPN network. Buffy did not compete with shows on the big four networks (CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox), but The WB was impressed with the young audience that the show was bringing in. Because of this, The WB ordered a full season of 22 episodes for the series' second season. After the episode "Surprise", which was watched by 8.2 million people, Buffy was moved from Monday at 9 pm to launch The WB's new night of programming on Tuesday. Due to its large success in that time slot, it remained on Tuesdays at 8 pm for the remainder of its original run. With its new timeslot on The WB, the show quickly climbed to the top of The WB ratings and became one of their highest-rated shows for the remainder of its time on the network. The show always placed in the top 3, usually only coming in behind 7th Heaven. Between seasons three and five, Buffy flip-flopped with Dawson's Creek and Charmed as the network's second highest-rated show. In the 2001–2002 season, the show had moved to UPN after a negotiation dispute with The WB. While it was still one of their highest rated shows on their network, The WB felt that the show had already peaked and was not worth giving a salary increase to the cast and crew. UPN on the other hand, had strong faith in the series and quickly grabbed it along with Roswell. UPN dedicated a two-hour premiere to the series to help re-launch it.

• Charmed (1998–2006) – Charmed originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the The WB Television Network.^[94] The first episode, "Something Wicca This Way Comes", garnered 7.70 million viewers, breaking the record for the highest rated debut for the Warner Brothers Network.^[95] In January 2006, producer Brad Kern declared that Charmed was the longest running hour-long series featuring all female leads (Murder, She Wrote ran for 12 seasons but only has a single female lead, and The Facts of Life ran for 9 seasons but was a 30-minute sitcom).^[96] However, this has now been surpassed by Desperate Housewives, which also ran for eight seasons but had 2 more episodes. The series finale, "Forever Charmed", ended with a season high of 4.5 million viewers.^[97] In 1998, the Warner Brothers Television Network began searching for a drama series, and looked to Spelling Television, which had produced the network's most successful series 7th Heaven, to create it. Expanding on the popularity of supernatural-themed dramas, the production company explored forms of mythology to find mythological characters they could realize with contemporary storytelling.^[98] In order to create the series, Burge was hired as the creator as she was under contract with 20th Century Fox and Spelling Television after conceiving the drama Savannah.^[98] When the theme of witchcraft was first pitched to her, she was aware of stereotypes of witches (flying brooms, black cats, and warts). After Wicca research, she changed her perspective^[99] and aimed at telling a story of good witches who looked and acted like ordinary people. With this, her initial concept was a series set in Boston, Massachusetts^[99] about three friends and roommates who were all witches.^[98] However, executive producer E. Duke Vincent lacked confidence, asking "Why would anybody want to watch a show about three witches?" He proposed that the series focus on family values and developed the series-long mantra of it being about "three sisters who happen to be witches, not three witches who happen to be sisters." Spelling warmed to Burge's ideas and, after the concept was re-crafted to be a series about three sisters (now living in San Francisco) descended from a line of witches,^[99] it was pitched to the Warner Brothers' Susanne Daniels, who liked it, allowing the series to begin development.^[98] The series was titled Charmed after Spelling's suggestion of House of Sisters was dropped. Burge wrote the pilot's script. They filmed a 28-minute version (the "unaired pilot", never aired on network television) with which the series was picked up by The WB. Upon its debut, Charmed received the largest audience for a series premiere in the network's history.^[95] The first season of twenty-two episodes was picked up by Warner Brothers after two shows aired. Charmed proved to be a success early on, with the series' premiere episode "Something Wicca This Way Comes" pulling in more than 7.9 million viewers. The show was ranked the #2 rated show on The WB network (tied with Dawson's Creek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer) with an average of 6.18 million viewers per episode. The show was also extremely successful during its second season with an average of 5.75 million per episode and again tying with smashing Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the #2 slot; during the show's third season, it again placed first, with an average of 6.3 million viewers per episode.

• Dead Last (2001) – The series ran for one season with 13 episodes produced but only 8 of them aired. All 13 episodes were aired on YTV and all 13 episodes are often shown on the Trouble channel in the UK.

• Roswell (1999–2001, also on UPN) – The series premiered on October 6, 1999 on The WB Television Network in the United States to generally favorable reviews.^[100][101] Although it quickly gained an outspoken fanbase, the series ratings declined on and off which kept the show under constant threat of cancellation.^[40] In response to the problems the series had with ratings during its first season, The WB ordered the relationship-driven standalone episodes of the early first season to be replaced with more science fiction themes and multi-episode plot arcs. Starting with the second season, which was ordered by the network after a fierce fan-driven campaign involving bottles of Tabasco sauce—a favorite condiment of the show's alien characters—being sent to the network's offices, veteran science fiction writer Ronald D. Moore was brought in to join Katims as an executive producer and showrunner and to further develop the science fiction elements of the show.^[102] Not all fans responded favorably to the shift to more science fiction-driven storylines during the second season and the ratings continued to disappoint WB, causing the network to finally cancel the show on May 15, 2001, after the show's second season finale, a move widely anticipated due to the sagging ratings.^[40][103] 20th Century Fox (the studio that produced the show) was able to persuade UPN to pick it up for a third season as a package deal when UPN outbid The WB for one of its popular flagship series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. During the 2001 - 2002 television season, Roswell, in its third season, aired directly after Buffy on Tuesday nights on UPN, though it was unable to hold on to the audience Buffy provided as a lead-in. This eventually resulted in the show's cancellation from UPN as well.^[40] Roswell aired its final episode on May 14, 2002.

• Smallville (2001–2006, also on The CW) – The television series was initially broadcast by The WB Television Network (The WB), premiering on October 16, 2001. After Smallville‍ '​s fifth season, The WB and UPN merged to form The CW Television Network, which became the broadcaster for the show in the United States. It ended its tenth and final season on May 13, 2011. The series was generally positively received when it began broadcasting. Former Superman star Christopher Reeve voiced his approval of the series, and the pilot episode broke the record for highest-rated debut for The WB, with 8.4 million viewers. Over ten seasons, it averaged approximately 4.34 million viewers per episode, with season two averaging the highest ratings, at 6.3 million. By the end of its run, Smallville had become the longest-running comic book-based series and longest-running North American science fiction series in television history.^[104][105] Smallville first premiered at 9:00 pm on Tuesday,^[106] October 16, 2001 on The WB.^[107] For the next five seasons the series was featured on The WB, and was moved from Tuesday nights at 9:00 pm to Wednesday nights at 8:00 pm, and eventually was changed to Thursday nights at 8:00 pm. In 2006, before the start of Smallville‍ '​s sixth season, it was announced The WB and UPN would be merging into a single entity, The CW. Shortly after that, The CW announced Smallville would continue to be part of the television lineup.^[108] On May 21, 2009, it was announced Smallville would be returning to the 2009–2010 fall line-up for its ninth season, airing on Friday nights at 8:00 pm.^[109][110] On March 4, 2010, the CW announced Smallville had been renewed for a tenth season.^[111] Smallville also aired in Canada, and during its seventh season the series aired one day earlier than in the United States.^[112] Additionally, the series aired in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.^[113][114] By the end of its tenth season, Smallville became the longest-running science fiction television show in the United States, breaking the Guinness World Record held by Stargate SG-1.^[115] On August 10, 2011, it was announced that TNT will begin airing the series in syndication on October 3, 2011.^[116] Smallville's first accomplishment was breaking the record for highest rated debut for The WB, with 8.4 million viewers tuning in for its pilot.^[117] The premiere also broke The WB record for adults age 18–34, and finished first with viewers age 12–34, leading Warner Bros. President of Entertainment Jordan Levin to credit the series with invigorating the network's Tuesday night lineup. The series was featured on the cover of Entertainment Weekly as one of five new shows to watch.^[118] After its first season, Smallville placed sixth on the Parents Television Council's list of the "best shows for families".^[119] The WB's CEO Jordan Levin recognized early concerns that the show had become a villain of the week series, and announced season two would introduce "smaller mini-arcs over three to four episodes", to move away from the series becoming a "serialized show".^[120] Gough realized that although each succeeding season relied more on seasonal story arcs, there were occasions where they had to do villain of the week stories. It was clear the villain of the week stories were generally more criticized by fans of the Superman mythology. However, Gough wanted to be able to please both Superman fans and The WB's general audience, which consisted of teenagers who prefer the villain of the week stories over the episodes focusing more heavily on the Superman mythology.^[121]

• Supernatural (2005–2006, also on The CW) – The pilot was viewed by an estimated 5.69 million viewers,^[122] and the ratings of the first four episodes prompted The WB to pick up the series for a full season. Originally, Eric Kripke planned the series for three seasons, but later expanded it to five. The fifth season began airing on September 10, 2009, and concluded the series' main storyline;^[123] however, The CW officially renewed the show for a sixth season on February 16, 2010.^[124] On April 26, 2011, the show was renewed for a seventh season for the 2011–2012 season, which began on September 23, 2011.^[125] On January 12, 2012, the series won the two awards at the People's Choice Awards, which includes Best Sci-Fi TV Series and Best Drama TV Series. On May 3, 2012, Supernatural was renewed for an 8th season by the CW with Jeremy Carver replacing Sera Gamble as co-showrunner with Robert Singer.^[126][127] After the first four episodes of Supernatural aired in 2005, the WB decided to pick up the series for a full season of 22 episodes. During those first episodes, the series was ranked third in males aged 18–34 and 12–34. It also posted an increase of 73% in males aged 18–49 from the year before, although it only gained 4% in total viewers, and retained 91% of viewers from its lead-in, Gilmore Girls.^[128] Supernatural had low ratings during its second season, with viewers consisting mainly of teen girls, and the CW trying to attract more male viewers.^[129] The show's future was in doubt at the end of the second season.^[130] Despite mediocre ratings in the previous year, it was back for a third season.^[131] Although its third season's rating were low, it did well with viewers aged 18–49. In this category, it ranked eighth of all returning series broadcast by a major network.^[132] The show received an early pickup for its fourth season.^[133] The shows ratings increased in its fourth season.^[134] The fourth season premiere aired on September 18, 2008, averaging its highest rating ever since its debut on The CW Network with 3.96 million viewers, a 33% surge over the season three premiere and a 1.7/5 in adults 18–49, up 42% from one year earlier.^[135] On October 16, 2008, the show was watched by 3.06 million viewers, making the lowest rating for the season. On October 30, 2008, the show climbed to its best performance in adults 18–34 (1.4/4), adults 18–49 (1.5/4) and total viewers (3.6mil) since its season premiere on September 18, 2008.^[136] For the fifth season premiere, viewership increased by 6% in women 18-34 (1.7/5) over the fourth season premiere.^[137] However, taking DVR viewings into account with new Live-Plus 7 Day data, total viewership for the premiere increased 38%, with women 18-34 increasing by 35% and adults 18-34 by 47%.^[138]

• Tarzan (2003) – The series premiered on October 5, 2003 and ended on November 23, 2003 with a total of 8 episodes.

• Vampire High (2002) – The series premiered on January 7, 2002 and ended on May 27, 2002 with an hour-long special.

Cartoon

• Baby Blues (2000) – In 2000, Baby Blues was adapted into an animated cartoon, which aired on The WB Television Network, produced by Warner Bros. Television and Warner Bros. Animation, with the overseas animation done by Rough Draft Studios for the first 5 episodes, then Sunwoo Entertainment for the rest of the episodes, for a few weeks in the summer, from July 28, 2000 to August 25, 2000. The animated version featured Darryl and Wanda raising the infant Zoe as their first child, as distinct from the comic strip's storyline at the time which showed Zoe as the older sister to Hammie. Mike O'Malley voiced Darryl, while Julia Sweeney played Wanda. The Baby Blues television series differed from the comic strip by focusing on Darryl and Wanda's relationship with the Bittermans, a neighbor family with three children (Rodney, Megan, and Shelby); Kenny, Darryl's co-worker; and Bizzy, the babysitter for Zoe. Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott had little creative control over the animated version.^[139] The WB typically aired two episodes each week, thus enabling eight different episodes to be shown in the five-week run, but abandoned plans to air additional episodes which had been completed. Previously unaired episodes were later aired on Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim, and on TeleToon in Canada. The show was canceled after 13 episodes. A second season's run of 13 episodes was produced but never aired.^[140]

• Freakazoid (1996) – Freakazoid! premiered on Kids' WB Saturday lineup on September 9, 1995. During its run, Freakazoid! came across problems of appealing to its target demographic, young children. Tom Ruegger said that Freakazoid! had done poorly in ratings because the audience that the series gathered was older than the target audience. Also, Freakazoid! ran into timeslot problems. Writer John McCann said that the timeslot of the series changed frequently: "They put it at eight o' clock in the morning, three-thirty in the afternoon, they shifted it all around; we couldn't even find it, and we wrote the thing". The series ran on Kids' WB until February 14, 1997, when it was canceled due to poor ratings, airing only one complete season and part of a second season. The second season episode "Hero Boy" later won a Daytime Emmy Award.^[141] Rugg said the series' demise was the result of a combination of people not understanding the series, timeslot changes, appealing to the wrong demographics, and that "(...) there aren't a lot of Nielsen boxes in federal prisons. Had there been, I'm telling you, we'd still be on the air today". Bruce Timm said that the series still has a cult following of fans who ask him questions about the series whenever they meet him.

• Invasion America (1998) – Invasion America is an animated science fiction miniseries that aired in the prime time lineup on The WB Television Network and later as a part of the Kids' WB programming block. Produced by DreamWorks Animation (then part of DreamWorks proper, now its own company), the series was created by Steven Spielberg and Harve Bennett, who also served as executive producers.^[142]

• Mission Hill (1999–2000) – Although 18 episodes were planned, only 13 episodes were produced. The show was put on hiatus by the WB Network after two episodes due to poor ratings. It returned to the WB in the summer of 2000 but was canceled after four additional episodes. The show went on to develop a cult following, thanks to repeated airings of all 13 episodes on Teletoon's "Teletoon Unleashed" block, Cartoon Network's popular late night programing block, Adult Swim and Too Funny To Sleep, a late night programing block on TBS.

• The Oblongs (2001) - The show premiered on April 1, 2001, on The WB but failed to find an audience. On May 20, 2001, The WB aired "Disfigured Debbie", the second episode produced, as the season finale, leaving five episodes unaired. A fan of the series who was writing an episode guide at TV Tome informed creator Angus Oblong of the show's cancellation and rallied fans of the series to petition and encourage the network to renew the show. Ultimately, the petition was unsuccessful. In August 2002, the series found a home on Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim, where it received high ratings when many fans discovered the series for the first time.

• Pinky and the Brain (1995–1996, 1997) – Pinky and the Brain first appeared as a recurring segment on the animated series Animaniacs, another show produced by Steven Spielberg. On September 14, 1993, Pinky and the Brain premiered on television in the episode Win Big, which aired on the FOX Kids network. On September 9, 1995, Pinky and the Brain were spun off onto their own half-hour series on Kids' WB, with each episode consisting of one or more segments, including some of the segments from Animaniacs. The first season of the show was scheduled in a prime-time slot from September 10, 1995, through July 21, 1996, as part of the new WB Network lineup, and as a result, tended to have more jokes and humor aimed to adults rather than children. Due to poor ratings, subsequent seasons were moved to Saturday mornings as part of the Kids' WB programming block. Even though they had their own show, they still had several shorts in Animaniacs after they got the show, they still appeared in the shows intro, and often appeared in cameo appearances. Around 1997, the overall structure within the WB Network changed, including the placement of Jamie Kellner as head of the Kids WB programming. Along with this came pressure on the writers of the show to back off on the idea of world domination and to include more characters on the show.^[143] The episode "Pinky and the Brain ... and Larry"^[144] was a response to this pressure, attempting to show the heads that the show was fine as it was and that Pinky and the Brain worked together as a comedy duo- each balancing each other out with their flaws and personalities- and a third character (or any extra characters at all) would be out of place and unnecessary to the plot.^[143] At this point, Peter Hastings, a key writer for the series, decided to quit the show out of anger and protest, with his last script being, "You'll Never Eat Food Pellets In This Town, Again!" directly addressing the issue of networks trying to retool shows that otherwise work already.^[143][145] With increased pressure from the WB network, the series was retooled on September 19, 1998 into Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain, in which Pinky and the Brain were owned by Tiny Toons character Elmyra Duff; the unusual change in format was even sarcastically noted in the altered title song, with lyrics such as "It's what the network wants, why bother to complain?". The show lasted for 13 episodes, 6 of which were shown whole and 7 of which were chopped into segments and aired as part of The Cat&Birdy Warneroonie PinkyBrainy Big Cartoonie Show.

• The PJs (2000-2001, acquired from Fox) – 42 episodes aired during the show's three-year run. Each took over two months to produce, owing to the laborious stop-motion process. After two seasons on Fox, the show moved to The WB in 2000. Its high budget and declining ratings led to its cancellation in 2001; the final three episodes were not aired until 2003.

Game Show/Reality

• Beauty and the Geek (2005–2006, also on The CW) – Following the second season, the American version moved to The CW Television Network, the new network formed when both The WB and UPN ceased operations in September 2006. The two-hour season premiere for the third season aired Wednesday, January 3, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. EST on The CW. The fourth season premiered on September 18, making BATG the first series to premiere for the CW for the 2007-08 television season. Beauty and the Geek was renewed for a fifth season, which premiered on March 12, 2008.

• Boarding House: North Shore (2003)

• High School Reunion (2003–2005) – The program originally aired on The WB for two seasons between 2003 and 2005, and featured reunions of classes after ten years. A new version of the series began airing on TV Land on March 5, 2008, focusing on the 20-year reunion of the 1987 graduating class of J.J. Pearce High School in Richardson, Texas. Filmed in Maui, the series featured documentary-style interviews with the classmates, who are assigned "labels" to describe their high school roles.^[146]

• Pepsi Smash

• Popstars (2001–2003) – Although Popstars had started successfully in most countries during the early 2000s, the shows gradually began to fail and were dropped by many broadcasters due to poor ratings. The last country where Popstars was still popular and successful - beside other casting shows such as The X Factor and Got Talent, as well as Idol - was Germany. In Germany, ProSieben produced the ninth season in 2010 because of the show's massive success in the ratings, but in 2011, Popstars was finally cancelled because of the poor and short success of the bands. In 2007, the show returned to France on M6 for one season. Since August 2008, there has also been a new version of Popstars on TV in the Netherlands. It has now ended its third season.

• The Starlet (2005) – Ten young actresses lived together in a home formerly owned by Marilyn Monroe, while competing in a series of acting challenges for the chance to win a role on the WB drama One Tree Hill and a management contract with 3 Arts Entertainment. The Starlet was cancelled in 2005 after only 1 season of 6 episodes.

• Studio 7 (2004) – The WB originally ordered two seasons of Studio 7, with the second season to air immediately after the first. However, the network cancelled plans for a second season during the initial run, due to low ratings.

• Superstar USA (2004) – One producer, worried that the live audience members would not be able to respectfully compose themselves during the final performances, deceived the audience by falsely informing them that the singers were all terminally ill young people, who were having a wish fulfilled by a charitable organization. The LA Times reported the organization named by the producer was the Make a Wish Foundation, which later received an apology from the WB. In an interview with USA Today, executive producer Mike Fleiss straightened out the details: "First of all, it was me. But I did not say 'Make-A-Wish.' I said, 'Who's heard of the One Wish Foundation?' and people raised their hands. There is no One Wish Foundation. It was a prank on top of a prank. It was the only way to get it to work."

• The Surreal Life (2003–2004, also on VH1) – The first two seasons aired on The WB, and subsequent seasons have been shown on VH1.

• Survival of the Richest (2006) – Survival of the Richest first aired on March 31, 2006, in which seven "rich kids" who had a combined net worth of over $3 billion were forced to work together with 7 "poor kids" who had a combined debt of $150,000, through a series of challenges to win the grand prize of USD $200,000.

See also

Kids' WB, for The WB's Saturday morning cartoon programming.

References

External links

• Official website

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