|
NO
SUMMER REPEATS?
05.05.2001 - Variety
reports that the WB is likely to repeat 7th Heaven in a Monday
night double-bill from June, thus reducing Roswell's chances of
summer repeats. With the WB also likely to shunt Buffy and Angel
to a less desirable slot over the summer as well as launching a movie
night from early June, the slots available for Roswell repeats are
few and far between. This could be another sign that the WB is
planning to drop Roswell on May 15. The only upside to this
is that E! Online's Wanda claims that UPN will pick up the series
in the event of the WB not renewing it. The obvious caveat here is
that it is Wanda we are talking about here. Back
to the top
ROSWELL
CANCELLED?
02.05.2001 - Thanks to
Ghosty for posting this piece from AICN to the RoswellUK list:
The Good: Roswell
was the "on the bubble" show most USA Today readers voted
to save, according to paper's Tuesday edition (The Geena Davis Show
and The Weber Show, for those keeping track, received the fewest
votes).
The Bad: Media
buyers and ad execs have been e-mailing [AICN] all day, suggesting that
Fox (which produces Roswell) has already gotten unofficial word
that, despite the fan outcry, the WB will definitely not renew Roswell
for next season. Fox, you'll recall, also produces one of the WB's
highest-rated shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is leaving the
WB for UPN at the end of this season. The WB is said to be none too
happy about Fox moving Buffy to UPN. The WB also has another
teen-alien series, Smallville, from sister company Warner Bros.
Television, set to debut this autumn. Official word of Roswell's
cancellation is expected at the WB's New York "upfront"
presentation in two weeks. Back to the top
FOR
TV'S VULNERABLE SHOWS,
IT'S FEAR-AND-LOBBYING SEASON
02.05.2001 - This is the
time of year in television when writers like Paul Attanasio grow nervous.
"The network says
they like our show, they support our show, but it's meaningless if they
don't support us for another year," said Mr. Attanasio, who created
ABC's Gideon's Crossing, a medical drama that has struggled to find
an audience. "I'm really trying to fight for our show."
It's also the time of
year when television executives like Jordan Levin, co-president for
entertainment at the WB network, are not only watching new series pilots
that may be ordered for next season but also receiving phone calls, e-mail
and even gift baskets from talent agents and producers imploring them to
keep series on the air that may be vulnerable.
"The pressure gets
turned up, and everyone tries to leverage their relationship with
you," Mr. Levin said. "And there's so much misinformation
being passed around town that people here could give lessons to the C.I.A."
The new schedules, marked
by more uncertainty than usual this year because of possible strikes by
writers and actors, will be announced for potential advertisers in two
weeks in New York. Television executives are now screening possible
new shows and listening to the plans and pleas of writers of current
series as they decide about the new schedules.
Perhaps as many as a
dozen series are "on the bubble", or vulnerable to
cancellation. The shows are often first- or second-year series that
have floundered in the ratings or proved disappointing to the
networks. But the size of an audience watching a series is only one
factor in the decision making.
Television executives
say, for example, that NBC may have a hard time cancelling the potentially
vulnerable series Third Watch, about firefighters and emergency
rescue workers, because its creator, John Wells, has an entrenched
relationship with the network as an executive producer of hits like E.R.
and The West Wing.
Similarly, ABC executives
are weighing the cancellation of Once and Again, the critically
acclaimed series starring Sela Ward and Billy Campbell about two divorced
people trying to forge a relationship.
That show's ratings have
been modest. But working to its advantage is ABC's interest in
maintaining a strong tie to the show's creators, Edward Zwick and Marshall
Herskovitz, who also developed Thirtysomething and are top
television writer-producers. The show is produced by Touchstone
Television, a unit of the Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC and would
benefit if Once and Again generates enough episodes to make it
viable for syndication, where profits mushroom.
"I love the
show," said Stuart Bloomberg, co-chairman of the ABC Television
Group. "And I would get such grief in my house if this show
weren't on ABC, I can't imagine it going anywhere else." Yet
Mr. Bloomberg said no decision had been made on Once and Again.
"You can't look at any show in a vacuum," he said.
The shows on the bubble
this year include CBS offerings with heavily female audiences like Family
Law and Kate Brasher as well as Nash Bridges, That's
Life and The Fugitive; NBC's Fighting Fitzgeralds, Three
Sisters and Weber Show; the ABC shows The Job, Two Guys and
a Girl, Norm, The Geena Davis Show and What About Joan; and
Fox's Lone Gunmen. On the smaller WB, Angel, Jack and
Jill, Popular and Roswell are among the shows that may not be
renewed.
Internal politics have
always stamped renewal decisions. CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond,
one of television's most successful comedies, floundered in its first
season, 1996-97, and was saved from cancellation not only because network
executives found it appealing but also because David Letterman's company,
Worldwide Pants, was one of the producers. By all accounts, CBS
executives did not want to offend the network's late-night star if
possible.
Similarly, in 1997 NBC
struggled mightily to placate the creators of the hugely successful sitcom
Friends by placing their new show, Veronica's Closet, in the
choice time slot at 9.30 on Thursday nights. Veronica's Closet,
with Kristie Alley as a successful businesswoman, failed to stir audiences
but lingered until 1999 largely because of the clout of its creators.
Jeff Zucker, the recently
appointed president of NBC West Coast, said: "Ratings are only one
factor in making these decisions. There's also the question of
whether the show has potential, where you think the show can go and how it
stacks up to what we have."
Sandy Grushow, chairman
of the Fox TV Entertainment Group, said the phone calls often come from
executives at studios who are producing multiple shows on a network.
"They can certainly
make life more painful," he said. Studios sometime use their
contracted writers as bargaining chips and say, essentially, "This is
what you what we're prepared to do for you with these writers," he
said.
The network decision
making is often intense. As many as two dozen executives view each
new pilot and discuss the bubble shows.
"You look at the
competition, you look at the lead-in, you ask yourself if this show is
going in the right direction," said Leslie Moonves, president of CBS
Television. He said he had been listening to executives who work for
him before making up his mind on the current shows.
"I keep my mouth
shut, I do," he said. "The worst thing you can do as
network president is to speak first."
Especially active in
applying pressure are top talent agencies, which, like studios, can use
potent leverage: their strong client lists.
For the creators of the
vulnerable series, the waiting if often marked by quiet desperation.
Mr. Attansio, who has written films like Donnie Brasco and was one
of the creators of NBC's Homicide - Life on the Streets, said that
although ABC had been supportive of Gideon's Crossing, the
experience on the show had been frustrating. The show has an average
of 8.7 million viewers, which leaves it trailing CBS's Family Law
and NBC's Third Watch. (None of those three shows have
performed well.)
By contrast, a top-rated
dramatic series like NBC's Law and Order has an audience of nearly
18 million each week.
Mr. Attanasio said his
show was initially pitted against Law and Order on Wednesday nights
at 10, which proved extremely difficult, and then was moved to Monday at
10. But that also turned sour because, he said, movies like These
Old Broads were often placed on the schedule right before his series,
offerings that appealed to a comedy crowd not interested in staying on to
watch the serious, often dour Gideon's Crossing.
But Mr. Attanasio
acknowledged that his show had inherent problems, too. Some critics
have found the star, André Braugher, a bit humourless and
self-righteous. Mr. Attanasio has told ABC that if the show is
retained, the Braugher character, who is a doctor, will evolve into a
slightly different personality. He will become a widower recovering
from a heart attack who will be dating women and will, Mr. Attanasio
hopes, generally be more accessible to audiences.
But Mr. Attanasio is not
sure the show will survive. He said that over the years hits as
varied as Seinfeld, Law and Order and Hill Street Blues had
begun modestly, but their networks had allowed them to grow.
"Because of shows
now like Millionaire and Survivor, the networks realise they
can make so much money quickly, they can catch lightning in a bottle, and
they don't have to be patient and nurturing of shows," he said.
In their offices in Santa
Monica, the writing-directing team of Mr. Zwick and Mr. Herskovitz are in
a similar state of uneasy limbo. They are waiting to see if the
network will cancel Once and Again as it completes its second
season. The hour-long show, with about 8.4 million viewers, has
earned its strongest ratings in recent weeks, especially among adults 18
to 49, but has hardly reached the hit category.
"We feel vulnerable,
and in our case it's not a particularly happy experience, and neither is
it a new one," said Mr. Zwick, whose shows with Mr. Herskovitz,
including Thirtysomething and My So-Called Life, were
perenially on the bubble. Mr. Zwick said with a laugh, "We've
grown accustomed to the state of constant anxiety and dread."
Source: New York Times.
Back to the top
WANDA
SAYS THE WB WILL KEEP YOUNGER-SKEWING SHOWS BUT...
01.05.2001 - Yesterday's
Wanda column on E! Online featured a round-up of which shows will
be renewed and which shows will be cancelled for next season:
Popular and Roswell:
Only a week ago, my sources were calling both dead in the water [although
the week before she said that Roswell was 60/40 for a third
season]. But now that UPN has snatched Buffy, they're saying
the Frog net might not want to lose any other younger-skewing cult
shows. Still, Brendan Fehr seems to think his Tabasco-chugging days
are over - he hinted that Roswell had been cancelled earlier this
week.
Against this is the fact
that Roswell is one of, if not the, least younger-skewing
shows on the WB.
In an article in USA
Today on 19 April, ad-buying firm TN Media's latest study of viewers
showed a wide youth gap among shows and networks. CBS perennially
reached the oldest viewers (median 51.2 years), and the WB (28.9 years)
the younger. (ABC's median is 46.5, NBC's 45.2, Fox 36.3 and UPN
33.8 years.)
Of the WB's shows, Roswell
has an average audience age of 30.2 years, ahead of Buffy (28.5), The
PJs (28.4) and Felicity (27.7). (Although Angel
and Charmed weren't listed in the extracts posted to rec.arts.tv.)
Popular, which Wanda thinks could share a slot with Roswell
next season (ŕ la Felicity and Jack and Jill this season)
has the youngest average audience on the WB - just 22.1 years.
Perhaps UPN wouldn't be
such a bad move after all? Back to the top
UPN
INTERESTED IN PICKING UP ROSWELL?
26.04.2001 - It's
likely the WB will dump Roswell, but there's still hope for a third
season, according to Tuesday's San Jose Mercury News (24 April).
Buffy the Vampire
Slayer was never the WB's highest-rated show but it was the network's
linchpin series: a critically acclaimed programme with a tremendously
loyal following that defined the WB's commitment to strong dramas.
But starting this fall, Buffy
will move from the network that it has called home for five seasons to the
WB's testosterone-driven rival, UPN. In addition, there's a good
chance that its spinoff, Angel, will shift to UPN come September
and some possibility that cult favourite Roswell will also join the
move from WB.
The deal sending Buffy
to UPN, announced late Friday, marks the first time a modern hit TV series
has jumped from one network to another. Shows have changed networks
in the past - CBS's JAG, for example, started out on NBC - but only
after they had been cancelled.
Buffy is a
different matter entirely.
The WB wanted to keep the
series - which draws 4.4 million viewers weekly and has a pop culture
impact far beyond those numbers - but was unwilling to pay more than $1.8
million per episode to renew its contract. 20th Century Fox, which
produces Buffy, wanted no less than $2.1 million. The result
was a war of words and press releases.
Instant credibility
That's when UPN - which
currently has only one high-profile show, WWF Smackdown! - leaped
in with a bid of $2.3 million per installment, $1 million more than Buffy
is currently getting. That price ensures the network will never
make a profit on the series.
But it gives UPN a show
that provides instant credibility to the much-maligned network and a
cornerstone to build the kind of schedule that might actually draw an
audience. Dean Valentine, UPN president and CEO, said Friday that
the network was getting "one of the best shows on the air" and
that the deal "marks a new era in UPN's life and direction."
The loss of Buffy
didn not, of course, sit too well with the WB, which, in a surprisingly
testy statement released over the weekend, accused 20th Century Fox of
"self dealing" - essentially selling a top product to a network
in which it has a vested interest. (20th Century is owned by media
giant News Corp., which does not have a direct financial interest in UPN
but does have a vested interest because it owns a number of UPN affiliate
stations, including the local KBHK.)
For viewers, the deal has
other ramifications beyond Buffy changing channels.
It is now likely that the
WB will cancel Angel and allow it to move to UPN, which has already
agreed to pick it up as part of the Buffy agreement.
In addition, 20th Century
Fox produces Roswell, which was on the bubble for renewal at the WB
and now will almost certainly be dropped. UPN is said to be
interested in picking up that show as well.
New Enterprise
UPN is also expected to
announce this week that it has acquired the newest series in the Star
Trek franchise - Enterprise - for next season. (Star
Trek: Voyager - now on UPN - ends its series run next month.) In
combination with the WB pickups, that gives the network a fairly solid
base on which to build a fall schedule.
The WB, meanwhile, will
have large chunks of time to fill come September with its entire Tuesday
lineup gone; Roswell off on Mondays; and the possibility that both Popular
and Grosse Pointe will be dumped from the Friday lineup. Back
to the top
WANDA
- 60/40 FOR A THIRD SEASON
24.04.2001 - Obviously
written before the news of Buffy's move to UPN broke, but in last
week's (16 April) column E! Online's Wanda said she was "60/40
in favour of it coming back, but it really depends on how the show does
this week and next, when we finally get to see some ratings for new
episodes." Back to the top
BUFFY
MOVE REPERCUSSIONS?
24.04.2001 - A couple of
snippets about how Buffy's move to UPN could affect Roswell's
chances of a third season.
From a Variety
piece entitled "Buffy loss takes a bite out of WB":
In addition to its
Tuesday problem, the WB will have other holes to plug next season.
On Monday's Roswell
was all but dead before the Buffy move. It's now buried.
Crashdown
cites a news report on the WB and quotes Brendan Fehr as saying "I
think we're out of here." Back to the
top
SHOWS
ON THE BUBBLE
21.04.2001 - An extract
from the Chicago Sun-Times of 12 April:
It's the mean season in
TV land.
With only a month to go
until the networks announce their fall schedules, the next few weeks will
determine which shows survive and which do not.
Ratings play a big role,
but they are hardly the only factor.
ABC, for example, must
decide whether it can afford to carry one, two or no low-rated,
high-prestige shows. Once and Again might have to contend
with Gideon's Crossing for a single hour of schedule space, and
neither will be back if the network feels it has come up with something
new that holds more promises.
Contract negotiations
again this year will determine the fate of Fox's The X Files and
uncertainty over whether Buffy the Vampire Slayer will remain on
the WB could affect other networks and other shows.
Little is written in
stone at this point, and it's hardly an exact science.
NBC just last year axed
the steady but unspectacular dramas Prtender and Profiler to
make room on Saturday nights for a TV treat called the XFL.
We all know how well that
has worked out.
The article then lists
the shows than have been confirmed as, or are pretty much dead certs to,
return in 2001-02, before looking at each network in turn.
Roswell: This show
dodged a bullet last year. This year it has struggled. The
thinking here is that the only way it comes back is if Twentieth ties its
renewal to the WB getting to keep Buffy. Back
to the top
WB
"TO LOOK AT THE NUMBERS"
16.04.2001 - A snippet
from a feature entitled "Networks make preliminary moves to tune up
fall lineup" from the Chicago Tribunal of 11 April:
Roswell...the WB
hasn't hinted if the fan favourite series will return in the fall but said
it will look at the numbers for the next several episiodes between it
makes a determination, [Ronald D.] Moore said. Back
to the top
THURSDAY
NIGHT SWITCH?
13.04.2001 - According to
E! Online's Wanda column of 9 April, Gilmore Girls is likely to
occupy the 9pm Monday slot next season, and "it's starting to look
like [Roswell] may end up on Thursdays next season."
Hopefully this will be after Charmed - which currently occupies the
9pm slot - rather than before it, which would also give the series a
sizeable audience to hold onto. Although 7th Heaven pulls in
the WB's audience, Gilmore Girls stands a far better chance of
retaining that show's audience than Roswell does. Back
to the top
SAVE
OUR SHOWS
10.04.2001 - USA Today
is running its fourth annual "Save Our Shows" survey.
Roswell won in the
voting last year, garnering 42% of the vote and is up again this year's
survey. Other WB shows on "the bubble" are Jack &
Jill, Popular and Grosse Pointe.
Voting closes next Monday
(16th). Back
to the top
WB
SHUFFLES EPISODES
09.04.2001 - The WB has
pushed Off The Menu, the episode that was scheduled to air next
Monday, to later in the season (apparently it will now be shown as the
penultimate episode of season two), with Heart of Mine and Cry
Your Name the next episodes to air when the series returns from its
hiatus on April 16. Back to the top
RONALD
D. MOORE ON SEASON 3
06.04.2001 - In an
interview with Sci-Fi Wire, co-executive producer Ronald D. Moore said
that The WB will wait to see how the remaining episodes perform in the
ratings during the crucial May sweeps period. "They'll want to
see how those episodes do before they make a decision" about renewing
Roswell for a third season, Moore said.
He added, "I really
hope that Roswell comes back. It really deserves to get
picked up, and it has a loyal fan following." Back
to the top
ENDANGERED
SHOWS
30.03.2001 - The Detroit
Free Press carried a feature on Wednesday 28 on endangered TV
shows. Although concentrating on Gideon's Crossing, That's
Life, Once and Again and Grosse Pointe, Roswell
was mentioned in the 'Four more worth saving' part:
Roswell (WB) -
Both a rockateen romance and sci-fi adventure, the offbeat odyssey of
space-alien adolescents hiding in plain sight has an enchanting spirit.
Back to the top
SEASON
3 NEWS?
24.03.2001 - With the
deadline for Roswell's renewal or cancellation fast approaching,
and hot on the news that Gilmore Girls has apparently been renewed,
Crashdown is carrying this from a
fan:
"Just talked to the
program manager at the WB affiliate in Dallas. I asked about the
renewal or cancellation of Roswell. She said that there is no
way that it will be cancelled in fact she remembers seeing a memo that it
is renewed."
Thanks to Chris B for
posting this to the RoswellUK list.
Sci-Fi Wire currently has
a poll asking visitors which
endangered series should be renewed. Roswell is currently in
the lead with over 50% of the votes so far. Back
to the top
WB
POLL
10.03.2001 - The WB's
website currently has a poll
where you can vote for which series out of Felicity, Hype!, Roswell
and Grosse Pointe you're missing the most. Unsurprisingly, Roswell
is currently the clear the leader. Back to
the top
WANDA
ON SEASON 3'S CHANCES
08.03.2001 - Monday's
column featured the following snippet:
Will there be a
season three for Roswell?
It's looking very likely,
but still, it certainly can't hurt to send a few support letters to the WB
- and of course, some Tabasco. Back to the
top
ROSWELL
FANS PETITION THE WB
03.03.2001 - With the
deadline to the WB deciding whether to renew Roswell for next
season less than a couple of months away, fans hoping to persuade them
have launched an online
petition which currently has almost 8000 signatures. This
follows last year's Tabasco sauce campaign in which fans sent bottles of
the sauce into the WB. Back to the top
WB
PUTS ROSWELL ON HIATUS
28.02.2001 - The WB has
decided to pull Roswell until mid-April. Despite helping the
9pm Monday timeslot to ratings 21% higher than last season, the series is
being replaced by repeats of Gilmore Girls, which the WB hopes will
appeal to the WB's Monday night audience.
"We are very excited
about this new strategy of airing encore episodes of [Gilmore Girls]
after our highest-rated show, 7th Heaven," said Jordan Levin,
Co-President, Entertainment. "Not only are we providing the
best night of family-friendly programming on television, we also think
this is an excellent way to tap into the larger audience that Gilmore
Girls deserves."
New episodes of Roswell
will air when the show returns in mid-April and into the May sweeps.
Back to the top
ROSWELL
TEAMS UP WITH FANS, PCF
01.02.2001 - Roswell Fans
and Pediatric Cancer Foundation Join Forces
From zap2it.com:
Fans of the hit WB
television drama Roswell are trying to show the world that they can
do much more than ship Tabasco Sauce. Roswell fans across the
[U.S.] are now helping make a young cancer patient's dream come
true. They have joined forces with the Pediatric Cancer Foundation
(showcased on the episode A Roswell Christmas Carol which aired on
December 18th on the WB at 9pm EST). The organisation is very
touched by the many responses they have received from Roswell fans
everywhere in the way of e-mails, letters, donations and toys arriving
just in time for the holidays.
The child is scheduled to
fly with his/her family to California for a 2 day visit to
Disneyland. The trip will also include a very special invitation
from the cast to visit the set of Roswell at Paramount Studios
during filming. The total expense for the trip will cost several
thousand dollars, to be funded by the generous donations of dedicated Roswell
fans everywhere. Donations in excess of the cost of granting the
wish will be directed toward paediatric cancer research.
If you would like to
help, donations should be made payable to Pediatric Cancer
Foundation. Roswell should be written on the check.
Please mail to:
Pediatric Cancer
Foundation 405 Tarrytown Road, PMB 572 White Plains, NY 10607-1313.
If you are not able to
make a monetary donation, please know that there are many other things you
can do to help. If you would like more information about PCF or this
campaign, please direct any questions to PCF@SaveRoswell.com.
Questions and e-mails
will be promptly forwarded. For additional information, please visit
http://www.saveroswell.com/pcf.html.
Back to the top
KATIMS
ON FANS, HEIGL AND MOORE ON SEASON 3
29.01.2001 - The New
York Daily News carried a feature entitled "Fans Plea to The
WB" on Friday and despite being ostensibly about fans attempts to get
The WB to renew Gilmore Girls and to keep Buffy on the
network, Roswell featured highly.
"I'm a huge fan of
our fans," Roswell creator Jason Katims said, adding that this
wasn't just because they watch the show closely, but because they also
have helped keep it alive.
After an obligatory
mention for last year's Tabasco sauce campaign, Katims is quoted as
saying, "I believe they really were a major feature in helping to
ensure the show came back for a second season this years. They kind
of pooled their efforts ... and really demonstrated their passion and love
of the show, and that really spoke to the network.
"The network is very
sensitive and aware and sort of honours and listens to those kinds of
writing campaigns and Internet campaigns," says Katims.
"There's something very specific and particular about the WB, and
that's why it's attracted the dedicated fan base."
Roswell web sites
offer business-sized cards that say "Watch Roswell on the
WB," which fans leave in restaurants and on bulletin boards.
"It's the only
network that seems really plugged into teens," says Michele Shapiro,
entertainment director of Seventeen magazine. "We do a
lot of WB stars on our covers and a lot of stories inside," she says.
"The WB have made it
clear they are servicing a particular audience, and that audience responds
to that and appreciates that," says Katims, "it empowers
them. I do think [teens] think of it as a place to go," says
Shapiro. "They can turn on their TV at prime time and see a
show that they know is going to have teen stars and be geared toward
them."
However, Shapiro says,
it's not just teens who are somewhat obsessive. "A couple of
people on our staff will not miss an episode of Roswell," she
says.
On the subject of whether Roswell
will be back next season, co-executive producer Ron Moore told Sci-Fi
Wire, "Everything is just an open question. It's not a sure
thing. We hope we get a third season. The ratings are strong,
the network is happy with the show, the fan reaction has been great. ...
It depends on whether there's a strike or not. ... There are just a lot of
open questions."
On the same subject, here's
what Katherine Heigl told Fandom's Smilin' Jack Ruby: "I don't
know. I really don't know what will happen. I think we'll see
another season. I hope to see another season. It's pretty much
up in the air until then." Back to the
top
"NO
DECISION YET" SAYS KELLNER
11.01.2001 - At the
Television Critics Association press tour last weekend, WB chief exec
Jamie Kellner had this to say about Roswell:
"It's doing
well. We haven't made a decision on it. It's definitely grown
above what it was last year." Back to
the top
DANIELS
"CONFIDENT" ROSWELL WILL BE BACK
09.01.2001 - From the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, 8 January 2001:
Roswell (9pm
Mondays) has improved dramatically - and I mean that in every sense of the
word - as it morphed from an angsty teen drama about aliens to a sci-fi
adventure.
"Creatively it's at
its strongest yet," said Susanne Daniels, The WB entertainment
president. "That [change] was a network note to try and give
the show more of a science-fiction angle. I feel good about the
creative growth and the time period [ratings] growth and I am confident
about the show coming back." Back to
the top
MUSTA
BEEN THE TABASCO
04.01.2001
- From the New York Times, 8 November 2000:
 At
the end of the last television season it seemed as if Roswell, the
WB dramatic series about alien teenagers on the run from the government,
was set to crash like the U.F.O. that allegedly stranded its protagonists
on Earth.
Its episodes were watched
by an average of 3.6 million people, far fewer than WB had hoped
for. Cancellation seemed a near-certainty.
But one thing Roswell
did have was a loyal fan base, which set about a grass-roots campaign to
persuade the network to keep the programme on its prime-time
schedule. The fans deluged WB with thousands of letters and bottles
of Tabasco sauce, a favourite of the alien characters (who apparently find
Earth food too bland).
When WB relented and
agreed to keep Roswell around at least into the beginning of this
season, ordering 13 new episodes, the campaign was hailed as the likely
beginning of a new movement, the start of an aggressive new sort of fan
activism.
In the end, the fans
might have just taught the network executives a new lesson in
patience. Roswell is averaging nearly one million more
viewers per episode this season than last and has moved to 89th place in
the overall programme ratings, from 134th at the end of last season.
WB executives said
yesterday that they had ordered enough episodes to fill out the rest of
this season, for a total of 22. In an impatient world, sometimes a
show just needs a little time to grow.
"That was a 'bubble'
show," said Brad Turell, a network spokesman. "It was a
show we may not have picked up, and we're certainly thrilled that we
did." Back to the top
ROSWELL
BRIGHTENS FUTURE FOR KIDS WITH CANCER
19.12.2000
- The producers, cast and crew of Roswell have made a donation to
the Pediatric Cancer Foundation in the spirit of A Roswell Christmas
Carol, which airs Dec. 18 and again on Dec. 29 on The WB network.
"The Christmas
story was very much about reaching out and trying to help," Roswell
creator said in an article on TheWB.com website. "The spirit of
the episode inspired me and the cast and crew to want to help in whatever
small way we could."
The Pediatric Cancer
Foundation has been raising funds to aid children with cancer and their
families for over 30 years. In addition, the Pediatric Cancer
Foundation makes substantial contributions to research hospitals and
institutions towards finding a cure.
Source: zap2it.com.
Back to the top
WB
UNCOVERS MORE ROSWELL EPISODES
07.11.2000
- Further to the previous story comes confirmation from Variety of
the full season order for Roswell:
The WB believes in
aliens.
The network has
ordered nine additional episodes of its sophomore sci-fi drama Roswell,
giving the show a full season run of 22 episodes.
Roswell
garnered solid reviews last season and decent ratings but still barely
managed to get renewed for a second year. The WB ultimately ordered
13 episodes, spurred in part by a strong fan-based campaign to save the
show and a decision to emphasize more of the show's sci-fi elements.
Jason Behr, Katherine Heigl and Brendan Fehr star.
So far this fall, Roswell
has given the WB its best 9pm Mondy Nielsen numbers since Buffy the
Vampire Slayer moved out of the slot in January 1998. The show's
core strength lies with young femmes: It averages a 5.4 rating/18 share in
female teens and a 3.6/10 in females 12-34.
Among adults 18-49, Roswell
has been averaging a 2.0/5 - an 82% increase over the network's slot
average last season. It has posted similar gains in other key demos.
Not surprisingly, Roswell
creator-executive producer Jason Katims said he is "extremely
excited" about the full-season order.
"This is just a
great feeling, a great boost of confidence for all of us at the
show," Katims told Daily Variety. "We've just
gotten a lot of great support from the WB and (producer) 20th Century
Fox." Back to the top
WB
PICKS UP REMAINING EPISODES
05.11.2000
- According to Crashdown, citing
the Official William Sadler website, the WB has now picked up the series
for the remainder of season two. Back to the
top
EW's
KEN TUCKER ON ROSWELL
01.11.2000
- According to Ken Tucker, TV reviewer for Entertainment Weekly,
The WB should keep Grosse Point, Gilmore Girls and Felicity
but cancel Popular, Dawson's Creek and Roswell, about
which he said the following:
"I was willing to
give this teens from outer space show the benefit of a first season doubt;
the acting was good, the concept intriguing. But after being
inundated with "Save Roswell" mail this summer even
though the damn thing had been renewed, I've watched the new season
closely, and have come up unimpressed. In their zeal to bolster the
sci-fi elements of the show (hey, the X Files crowd is too old and
too smart for Roswell) they've sacrificed the one thing that made Roswell
compelling - the interaction between the aliens and human teens, as
friends, lovers and enemies." Back to
the top
FOUR
MORE FOR ROSWELL
24.10.2000 - According
to www.brendan-fehr.com, the WB
has ordered four episodes for Roswell's second second, making 17 so
far. Back to the top
WB'S
DANIELS ON ROSWELL
27.07.2000 - The fans do
have a voice; at least they did in the case of saving Roswell.
WB entertainment president Susanne Daniels and network CEO Jamie Kellner
admitted this week that the fan campaign of sending in bottles of Tabasco
sauce to show support for the show was very effective. But not all
messages were friendly.
"Its not all very
nice," said Kellner of some of the fan mail he received. "SOme
of those messages are 'You idiots, you don't know anything about what we
like.'"
Daniels said she had to
change her email address three times because of hte amount of mail she
received. However, Kellner noted, the extra step of sending the
sauce bottles stood out.
"I've gotten a lot
of emails and letters," he said. "I've never gotten
anybody to send me stuff that costs money, and it was remarkable."
"The Internet is a
viral medium," Kellner said, of how the campaign spread.
While Roswell's
future is still dependent on what happens next season, the two execs were
much more upbeat about Dawson's Creek.
"I think the show
really hit its stride [at the end of last season]," Kellner
said. "With 90210 out of the time period this fall, Dawson's
Creek will be the show to watch."
Source: zap2it.com.
Back to the top
SEASON
2 START DATE
09.07.2000 - Roswell's
will air on the WB from Monday 2 October at 9pm. Back
to the top
WB
RENEWS ROSWELL
16.05.2000 - As the
WB's second most popular show behind the already renewed 7th Heaven,
Charmed was always likely to get renewed for the 2000/01 season,
but Roswell's fate was in more doubt.
Earlier reports that
the network would renew only one more new series following Angel's
earlier renewal proved unfounded with Roswell returning along with Popular
and Jack & Jill.
Roswell has
been given at least a further thirteen episodes, and the series will be
continuing in the Monday 9pm slot which it has occupied in recent weeks,
again following the WB's top programme, 7th Heaven. Charmed
will be airing at 9pm on Thursdays, with the Buffy and Angel
double on Tuesdays.
Although it found
itself up against stiff competition on Wednesday nights (from Star
Trek: Voyager on UPN and The West Wing on NBC), Roswell
has certainly benefited from its shift to Monday nights and has been
pulling in some of the WB's best ratings in the 9pm slot since the network
began. It currently ranks 125th for all shows, with an average 2.6/4
rating. Of the WB's other shows that debuted in 1999/2000, only Angel
has produced better ratings than Roswell.
The WB's schedule was
announced today (16 May) by Susanne Daniels, President, Entertainment and
Jordan Levin, Executive Vice President, Programming.
"Stability in
scheduling is always something that you strive for and we have
accomplished that this season by keeping every one of our anchor dramas in
their season-ending timeslots," said Ms. Daniels. "Roswell
and Felicity came into their own creatively and ratings-wise the
last eight episodes of the year and they both earned their way onto the
schedule. The Tabasco sauce, e-mail campaigns and demonstrations
also got our attention."
Buffy is one of
four WB series that will reach the 100 episode mark this season, making it
one of seven series to have reached the magic figure in the WB's short
history (this season will be its seventh). "We have believed
from the beginning that a new network needs stability in its programmes
from year to year, which advantages our audience, advertisers, and studio
suppliers," said Ms. Daniels. "Our schedule this season
reflects our emphasis on stability. Not only with the four series
that will reach 100 episodes, but also by returning to the schedule every
one of our quality dramas." Back
to the top
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