Something didn't look quite right in the ballroom of the Century Plaza Hotel, where WB was giving its presentation to the Television Critics Association press tour.
It was the posters on the wall touting the network's shows. Usually they show hunky guys and bodacious babes whom those of us out of the 12-to-34 demographic don't recognize (but still enjoy looking at). But this season the Frog Family includes Gerald McRaney, Christine Lahti, Mitch Pileggi, Barbara Hershey, Jeff Foxworthy and Lori Loughlin.
Omigod — it's your father's WB!
Not so fast, says WB chairman Garth Ancier. OK, he did request that the geezers on his network be given as much prominence on the walls as the hotties. "When you have a Christine Lahti or a Drew Carey on your network, you must treat them equal to your younger stars," he said.
But raising the profile of a few botox users who appear on its shows doesn't mean WB is abandoning its pursuit of 18 to 34-year-olds — the audience that advertisers buy from the network. It just means other viewers are welcome, Ancier said. That differs from past proclamations from WB executives who made it clear that they had no use for the decrepit, aged masses who watch the other networks.
"We knew we did well with teenagers," he said. "We knew we did well with 18 to 34-year-olds. We wanted to bring more people into the tent. Having high circulation on your network, even if you're only monetizing a portion of it, is better than having low circulation on your network."
Why the new inclusive attitude? WB's ratings took a nosedive last season, even among its target audience. One symptom may have been that all the shows were beginning to have a been-there-done-that look to those fickle younger viewers. Ancier said the network has tried to remedy that with a wider variety of show genres.
"I'm really happy about the kind of diversity in this schedule — a game show (Studio 7), a sketch show (Blue Collar TV), all these kinds of different comedy and drama," he said. "We were getting a little too derivative, in making shows that were cloning each other. When you're running a television network you can have a diversity of shows. NBC has Fear Factor and West Wing. That's more healthy than shows that all look alike."
Another factor, apparently, is WB's affiliate TV stations. While advertisers buy WB for its laser-like reach of 12 to 34-year-olds, the affiliated TV stations that run their shows sell to other audiences, especially in the 25-to-54 demographic targeted by local newscasts.
"You want more people to watch your shows," he said. "It's good for the TV stations throughout the day."
But the network's brand hasn't changed, Ancier added. "Our business is being an 18-to-34 network," he said. "We don't want to be NBC. We don't want to be CBS."
DEATH OF AN ANGEL
This is going to hurt Angel fans.
Twentieth Television's request for WB to commit early to another season of Angel might have led to its cancellation.
Ancier said had the studio been willing to wait until May — when WB executives set the fall schedule — there was a decent chance Angel might have been back for another season. Angel was a perennial "bubble" show. In the three seasons it was renewed, the decision was made in May after new pilots had been viewed and a fall schedule was set. That might have been the same case this year.
"The mistake that was made between us and Twentieth was that we didn't wait until May, we just made the decision early based upon their request," he said.
Courtesy of: TV Guide |
