BROADCAST NEWS - US

"TIME HASN'T BEEN KIND TO ROSWELL"
ADDED: 17.05.02. SOURCE: AZ CENTRAL

Two dramas from The WB network made the leap this season to UPN, notable previously mostly as the home of professional wrasslin'. It's been almost a year now, and time hasn't been particularly kind to either hsow.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the big-ticket item, adored by fans and critics alike. It hasn't been bad this year, just unceasingly dark, to the point where you're better off taking a pre-emptive aspirin to ward off the inevitable headache afterwards.

Following in Buffy's footsteps was Roswell, another alienation drama about actual aliens, the ones who supposedly crashed in Roswell, N.M., in 1947. They must age slowly; the three of them don't get around to graduating from high school until tonight. But like any show worth its weight in WB heritage, these would-be geezers are handsome and beautiful and so full of angst (albeit interplanetary) that it's practically leaking out of their ears.

I liked this show a lot the first season. Yes, the metaphor of alienated hihg-school student as genuine alien was heavy-handed, but Roswell was fun - kind of a starter X Files kit for kids.

Some people loved it. When The WB threatened to cnacel it, thousands of viewers sent in tiny bottles of Tabasco sauce (the aliens' favourite snack) to try to save it. And it worked. But in Roswell's second season, it became less fun, a trend that continued this year at UPN.

Which brings us to tonight's series finale. It's meant to tie up loose ends, and it does, but in such insipid ways that you might want a return on your Tabasco. To lay out the plot would be both unfair and agonising. But Liz and Max resolve their relationship, as do Michael and Maria and ... oh, who cares.

At one point, Max must distract bad guys with a graduation speech - apparently by boring them into submission (worked on me). What happens next proves that rescue by motorcycle is always an iffy proposition in a high-school graduation scene.

Cult hits ask a lot of viewers. You've got to look past a lot of ludicrous nonsense. Despite the darkness, Buffy is still good enough to make you want to.

Roswell isn't.

Not that it matters what I think. Fans devoted to the show will swoon over every word tonight, even as they box their bottles of hot sauce and prepare them for shipping.

Save the stamps, gang. The spice is gone. And after tonight, so is Roswell. BACK TO THE TOP

RELUCTANTLY, WE BID FAREWELL TO ROSWELL
ADDED: 16.05.02. SOUCE: DALLAS-FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM

You have to wonder if the creators of Roswell, which exits Tuesday after three quiet seasons, view the out-of-the-gate success of Smallville with a sense of longing and envy, or even downright dread. Smallville is the series that creators David Nutter and Jason Katims wanted to make, and did, for a handful of episodes while on The WB.

Like Smallville and its focus on Clark Kent as a teen trying to make sense of the world, Roswell slyly used a similar escapist fantasy - the space ship that reputedly crashed in Roswell, N.M., in 1947. But it still gave the network's young audience what it really craved: stories of love, lust, identity and teen angst.

Sharp writing elevated the series above the strained concept. Max (Jason Behr), his sister ISabel (Katherine Heigl) and best bud Michael (Brendand Fehr) survived the crash in a suspended state, awakening in 1983 [sic] and looking like normal children. All three were adopted and hid (up until now) their true identities from their adopted parents, who have cameos in Tuesday's finale. (The parents were never much of a factor, but the fact that Max and Isabel landed in a stable, middle-class home while Michael contended with life in a trailer with an abusive father gave the series a simmering realistic edge).

But the strength of those early episodes rested on the oh-so-sweet courtship of Max and Liz (Shiri Appleby), whose lives intertwined when Liz was shot and Max brought her back to life by placing his hand over the gunshot wound. From there Max and Liz tiptoed through love, fear and misunderstanding, trying to figure out what Max was and who Liz was when she was with him.

The two nursed their mutual crush while scheming to prevent a suspicious sheriff and later a host of villains from discovering the truth: a love forbidden by extreme circumstances. (Think Angel and Buffy on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Max and Logan on Drk Angel.)

Audiences can be notoriously fickle, but based on the early episodes, Roswell looked like a winner; it seemed to have the potential to build as viewers caught on to what the producers were trying to do.

But they never did. My theory is that Roswell suffered the cruel blow of network re-creation by committee. The WB panicked too early and insisted on drastic changes in tone and story, opting out of the romantic aspects of the series for more sci-fi. (Nutter, a former X Files producer, and Katims, whose background included the terrific My So-Called Life, probably conceded just to keep the series on the air.)

Roswell's core audience became frustrated and bolted, and just as The WB was to cut its losses after a low-rated second season, in rode UPN, which figured that by packaging the series with its acqusition of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it could reach a larger audience. It didn't.

This isn't to say that Roswell didn't have its built-in problems. Writers never quite knew what to do with Heigl's character and seemed compelled to pair everyone up, with no relation to story progression. Behr played MAx with such restraint, he looked as if his face was frozen. I often wanted someone to slap him out of it.

Fans of the series will find solace in a finale that ties up loose ends, even though the episode is something of a mess. The premise surrounds Liz and her newfound premonitions (lifted from Charisma Carpenter's Cordelia on Angel). She can "see" all their deaths, and it seems the bad guys are closing in.

As they do, the characters bicker about what to do and how to do it, deciding eventually to simply high-tail it out of Roswell.

I have to admit that I checked out of this series long ago, catching up with it shortly after hearing that UPN was scrapping it. That I was able to tune in and pick it right up says something about both the simple-mindedness and stagnation of the scripts.

Longtime fans are bound to feel a sense of loss Tuesday, and not just because they're saying farewell to these characters. The door will officially close on a promising series that should have been truly great but never was. BACK TO THE TOP

ROSWELL THAT ENDS WELL
ADDED: 16.05.02. SOURCE: NEWSDAY

The teen aliens who had a world of chacnes are taking off tonight.

In the brutal world of prime-time television, first chances are won at the cost of many therapy sessions, while second chances are about as common as fur coats at a PETA convention.

In any realistic scenario, Roswell never should have gotten on the air, and never should have been renewed, let alone snagged from the jaws of death by a different network. As described by its stars and producers, it's "the little show that could."

But all dreams, especially the Hollywood kind, eventually must end, and Roswell, having run out of chances - if not devoted fans - bids farewell tonight at 9 (WWOR/9), at least until it pops up in reruns on Sci-Fi Channel this fall, but that's another story.

Based on a series of young-adult novels by Melinda Metz, who later joined the show as a staff writer, Roswell was shepherded to the screen by Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: The Next Generation), an occasional guest star, his producing partner Lisa Olin and My So-Called Life producer Jason Katims.

The show began life as Roswell High, a pilot for Fox, which passed. With the title trimmed to Roswell, it found a home on The WB, which liked the idea of orphaned aliens passing as ordinary high-schoolers in the New Mexico town made famous by reports of a UFO crash in 1947.

Also attractive was the show's romantic element, in which lead teen alien Max, played by the broody, dark-eyed Jason Behr, risked exposure to save the life of fellow student Liz, played by the perky, dark-eyed Shiri Appleby, because he was totally in love with her.

This led to Liz and her best pal, Maria (Majandra Delfino), finding out about the aliens, which in turn led to lots of romantic complications, including Maria falling for Michael (Brendan Fehr), an alien, and previously clueless Alex (Colin Hanks), his [sic] human pal who finally got a clue and a serious crush on Max's sister, Isabel (Katherine Heigl).

Then there was scheming alien temptress Tess (Emilie de Ravin) and Isabel's eventual husband, lawyer Jesse (Adam Rodriguez).

The potboiling blend of science-fiction, romance, teen angst and action-adventure hooked fans of all ages. They were loyal and true, and even staged massive campaigns to keep the show alive, but they never showed up in large enough numbers to make The WB happy. The show hopped time slots and suffered long hiatuses during its two seasons there, and at the end of its second season, the end seemed seriously nigh.

But, just as the bell began to toll, in swept UPN, which had just shelled out major bucks to liberate Buffy the Vampire Slayer from The WB, and had high hopes that Angel, Buffy's spinoff, would follow. This hope dashed, UPN put out a hand to Roswell, in hopes of recreating the young-adault-oriented Tuesday night that Buffy and Angel long had provided for The WB.

Little did anyone know that the slot chosen for Roswell - Tuesday at 9pm - would become the biggest traffic jam in recent TV history, with The WB's Smallville, ABC's NYPD Blue, CBS' The Guardian, Fox's 24 and NBC's Frasier and Scrubs elbowing for viewship. Even with Buffy as a lead-in, Roswell got nailed.

"Honestly," Katims says, "the biggest disappointment to me is that we didn't do better in this Tuesday time slot on UPN, because I felt it was a chance for us to really resurrect the show. We really just got crushed."

When the formal cancellation announcement came in April, no one really was surprised. Katims and fellow producer Ronald D. Moore, who recently was hired to write Sci-Fi Channel's Battlestar Galactica miniseries, collaborated on a finale, Graduation, that they hope will leave the faithful with a warm feeling inside, especially those pulling ofr Max and Liz, the ultimate star-crossed lovers.

"There's definitely closure for Max and Liz," Katims says. "At the end of the episode, our charaters essentially are - I'm not suire, I'm just thinking as I say this whether I should say this - at the end, there's a sense of them going off together as a group, leaving Roswell, but being together."

"I like the image of that ending, because it gives you the sense that these characters are still out there somewhere." BACK TO THE TOP

SAY FAREWELL TO ROSWELL
ADDED: 15.05.02. SOURCE: TV GUIDE

With UPN's Roswell signing off tonight (at 9pm ET), TV Guide Online called creator Jason Katims to do a postmortem on his teen sci-fi sudser. Or is it more of an alien autopsy? Either way, find out what went wrong - and whether space stud Max and Earth girl Liz still have a future.

TVGO: We're so sure Liz's dire premonition - that her aliens pals will be killed by the Feds - comes true. What really happens? And why is Liz suddenly psychic?

Katims:Are all these couples going to stay together or not? That's what the meat of this episode is. The finale nostalgically hearkens back to the show's beginning - so Liz has certain powers she's not in control of, as a result of Max having healed her [gunshot wound] in the pilot. Max and Liz fell in love then, and now, they essentially decide to be together in a permanent way.

TVGO: Which we won't spoil by giving away. So, Roswell spent two seasons on WB, then was axed after just one on UPN. Why?

Katims: Personally, the toughest blow for me is that from day one on UPN, our numbers were way too low. The writing was on the wall even then, although the network lilked the show and, frankly, gave it their best shot. We just wound up in a highly competitive timeslot. Unfortunately, for us, Smallville did incredibly well. Plus, other unexpected [sucesses] like The Guardian took some of our audience. We just did not hold enough of our lead-in audience [from Buffy the Vampire Slayer] - that was a great disappointment for me.

TVGO: The show has had trouble balancing its sci-fi and soapy aspects. Looking back, what might you have done differently?

KAtims: I would've stayed with the Skins as antagonists - and not gone off on things like the whole storyline about alien DNA. And in the second season, the mythology of the show became very complicated and the audience started to get lost. I think that's what people got frustrated with more than the soap-opera element of the show. It is a soap opera!

TVGO: Is there any truth to fansite buzz about Roswell coming back as a TV movie or feature film?

Katims: Over the last few months, there have been murmurings, but there is nothing planned. First, you'd have to establish enough [public] interest to do it. Then, you'd have to assemble all the actors at the same time, which could prove difficult - it's an extremly appealing cast, and they're all going on to other things. It's unlikely, but not impossible. BACK TO THE TOP

ROSWELL BLASTS OFF FOR THE LAST TIME
ADDED: 11.05.02. SOURCE: ZAP2IT

First and foremost, Roswell has always been a love story.

Setting aside aliens in human form, evil FBI agents, evil Air Force personnel, befuddled parents (only Buffy's mom was denser than these folks), vicious foes in borrowed skins and even all that blither-blather about everybody feeling alienated in high school, the beating heart of Roswell is the beating hearts of its teen lovers, especially the doe-eyed duo of alien Max and perky Liz.

So when contemplating the big finale, which airs May 14 on UPN, writer/producers Jason Katims and Ronald D. Moore decided to feel the love - big time.

Oh, there's plenty of danger in the closer - with secrets popping out and the government hot on the trail of the teen aliens - but who cares? The important questions are:

Does Max propose to Liz? (Oh, yes, but as for the answer, you'll have to tune in.)

Does Maria hear the "l"-word from her beloved "space boy" Michael? (Yep, but then he rides away.)

Does Jesse reconcile with his alien bride Isabel? (More or less, kinda sorta, but there's lots of hugging.)

And, does ex-sheriff-turned-country-music-wannabe Valenti finally get a job, for heaven's sake? (Fear not, bills will be paid.)

By the way, if you thought slayer Buffy's pals were the Scooby Gang, wait'll you catch the van in this one.

Featuring a return to Liz's voice-over narration (missed that when it went away), Graduation is a big, warm, green alien fuzzy with an ending that could spark a whole new series of teen novels, like the ones the show is based on.

Nothing is assured, nothing is resolved completely, but a good time is had by all and the ending brims with hope. Not a bad way to close a show that beat the odds to ven survive for three seasons.

Farewell, Roswell. See you this fall in reruns on Sci Fi. BACK TO THE TOP

DEATH BECOMES ROSWELL
ADDED: 06.05.02. SOURCE: THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER, 30.04.02

The San Francisco Examiner recently took a look at how four series which are ending this season should end, and how they will end. Roswell was one of them (the others were Ally McBeal, Felicity and The X Files):

In memoriam: The drama about the trials and tribulations of teenage aliens living in Roswell, New Mexico was just not made for this world. Roswell was always weak in the ratings, and no one expected it to make it through its first season. But thanks to strong support from hardcore fans who never gave up on it, Roswell managed to survive a second season on The WB. And after the frog network killed the show, it was resuscitated by UPN. But the show's remission was not for long, and its low ratings finally caught up with it. Maybe UPN did the humane thing by pulling the plug.

The end: In the series finale for Roswell - airing at 9pm May 14 - Max pops the question and Liz develops the ability to see the future just in time to see that the government plans on killing the teenage aliens at their high-school graduation. (How convenient.) This leads to some very difficult decisions for the gang. Should they stay or should they go?

But wouldn't it be cool if ... All the teen aliens of Roswell moved to Sunnydale to help Buffy and the scoobies on Buffy the Vampire Slayer in their never-ending fight against evil. Or better yet, maybe Roswell could move to the Sci-Fi Channel. I mean it wouldn't be the first time the cult fave switched networks. BACK TO THE TOP

KATIMS REFLECTS ON ROSWELL
ADDED: 03.05.02. SOURCE: SCI-FI WIRE

Jason Katims, executive producer of UPN's teen alien series, Roswell, revealed to Sci Fi Wire the regrets he has about the show, which ends its three-year run this year, with just two more episodes to go. "We were always trying to find the right balance between the science fiction and relationship aspects of the show," Katms said in a frank interview. "And ... it's very much a show that sort of skewed one way or the other in different episodes, and I was sort of fine with that. But sometimes I felt like the show got off too much into too complicated of a sort of mythology ... and became too serialised, particularly in the second season. ... It just got out of hand."

Katims added, "At the beginning of that season, we introduced the Skins as [Max's] adversary. And looking back at it, I wish that we had just stayed with the Skins and used that as the running adversary throughout that season. If we had, they might have even stayed in for the third season. But we dropped it and just moved on, and I think that I would have done that differently. I think ... we went on to other things, and I think ... things became so complicated that it was hard to keep up with it. So that was what I would have done differently, definitely."

But Katims added that he remains proud of the series, though it struggled to find an audience through its first two years on The WB and its last on UPN. "The things that I'm happy with about the way that it's turned out is I feel that we have used the metaphor of the show - of these aliens hiding in plain sight and living as humans, but being outsiders - and ... we've used it as a metaphor for growing up and coming of age. And by this third season we were dealing with much more adult themes. ... One of these aliens was entering into a marriage, another one had a child, and the other one was trying to figure out what he was going to do for work and deal with the neurotic relationship that he was in. So they have grown up a lot. But I think that ... we did stay with the basic theme of what this show always was, which is about how in a way we're all outsiders, and we're all living as outsiders with secrets, and I think that that was always the strength of the show."

Roswell airs its final two episodes at 9pm ET/PT May 7 and May 14. BACK TO THE TOP

FINALE ALL FOR THE FANS
ADDED 16.04.02. SOURCE: ZAP2IT.COM

Jason Katims, executive producer of UPN's Roswell, has never let fan likes and dislikes dictate his writing, but the show's third-season - and series - finale on Tuesday, May 14 may be an exception.

"Normally, when I write," he says, "I try not to think too much about how the audience is going to respond. You just try to write the best story and hope that people are going to respond to it, because you'd drive yourself crazy [otherwise]."

"In writing this episode, I had very much the audience in mind, particularly the loyal fans of the show. I wanted to write something that I felt would be a satisfying ending for people who have been with the show since the beginning."

"I feel it certainly has a lot of story and twists and turns and all that, but what's more important to me, it has a lot of heart. We go back to what I think has been the central relationship of the series, which is Max and Liz."

For three seasons (two on The WB, one of UPN), Roswell has centered on the dangerous liaison between two teens - alien Max (Jason Behr) and human Liz (Shiri Appleby). Also in the mix since the beginning have been Max's sister, Isabel (Katherine Heigl), their alien friend Michael (Brendar Fehr) and Liz's best pal, Maria (Majandra Delfino).

"There's definitely closure for Max and Liz," says Katims. "At the end of the episode, our characters essentially are - I'm not sure, I'm just thinking as I say this whether I should say this, at the end, there's a sense of them going off together as a group, leaving Roswell, but being together."

"I like the image of that ending, because it gives you the sense that these characters are still out there somewhere."

Since its premiere, Roswell has lived on borrowed time, much of it bought and paid for by the dedication of the show's fans. Subjet to time-slot shifting and frequent hiatuses while on The WB, Roswell lasted through two season there, in part, because fans deluged the network with letters, e-mails and bottles of the aliens' beloved Tabasco sauce.

While the most loyal fans followed Roswell to UPN, the show still fell short. Even putting it after fellow WB expatriate Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Tuesday nights didn't keep ratings up in the competitive slot, ho,e to several top dramas, including freshman hits 24 on Fox, and Smallville on The WB.

"We just got crushed," says Katims, who cites the ratings drop as his biggest disappointment.

But the fans make him proud. "They are responsible for keeping the show on the air, which is amazing," says Katims. "Their campaigns for the show had a real effect. The other thing that I'm very moved by is they have joined together not only to be fans of the show, but also to do things. They've raised money for different charities."

"It makes you feel great. You feel like, in some way, you created this thing, and now it's doing some good out there. That's the thing I go to as the thing that's most meaningful to me, how these fans have responded to the show and how much it means to them. That really is humbling." Back to the top

GO HOME, UPN TELLS ROSWELL ETs
Added 12.04.02. Source: The New York Daily News, 11.04.02

Fans of the sci-fi drama Roswell will soon bid the cult favourite farewell.

UPN programmers have cancelled the three-year-old series, which has spent the season in the Nielsen cellar, averaging 3 million viewers each week.

Though the show was critically acclaimed, it had a difficult time attracting an audience.

UPN acquired Roswell last May from The WB, which shifted the show from Thursday to Monday after its first season in an attempt to generate better ratings.

When that failed, The WB ditched the series. UPN, which also picked up Buffy the Vampire Slayer from The WB, launched Roswell last October, airing it Tuesdays at 9pm.

The show revolves around a group of teenage aliens living in New Mexico.

It was created by Jason Katims and Ronald D. Moore, the executive producers, and is based on a popular book series, Roswell High, by Melinda Metz.

Yesterday, Katims promised a finale with unexpected twists.

"Ronald D. Moore and I had the fans very much on our minds when we were writing this final episode," Katims said. "We felt they deserved a great ending."

Indeed, Roswell fans have proved to be among the most loyal - and quirky - and viewers of a prime-time drama in years.

Two years ago, when Roswell devotees heard of The WB's plans to dump the drama, they peppered executives with e-mails and shipped bottles of Tabasco - the alien's drink [sic] of choice - to the network as a show of support.

The response was enough for WB executive to give the series another shot.

That campaign has continued, though not as fervently, among fans who have sent not only Tabasco but litres of peach Snapple - a favourite of series star Brendan Fehr - to UPN programmers.

But it seems no amount of Tabasco or Snapple could help float Roswell for another season. Back to the top

IT'S THE END: ROSWELL CANCELLED
Added 11.04.02

The news will hardly come as a surprise, but now it's been confirmed - Roswell has been cancelled.

According to a UPN affiliate, the finale episode, which airs on 14 May, will "present shocking plot twists and resolve many of the distinct romantic - and emotionally moving - storylines that have been the trademark of the fan-obsessed series."

"I would like to thank Twentieth Century Fox Television, UPN and especially our fans whose combined efforts helped get us a third season for Roswell," said executive producer Jason Katims. "[Executive Producer] Ronald D. Moore and I had the fans very much on our minds when we were writing this final episode. We felt they deserved a great ending."

Writing to the "Producers, Cast and Crew of Roswell," Jason Katims had this to say:

"I have been informed that tomorrow morning UPN will be putting out a press release announcing that our final episode of the season will be the UPN 'Series Finale.' Obviously, this means that barring the unlikely event of another network change, Roswell will not be returning for a fourth season.

"I am writing to let you know that this is about to happen and to once again thank you all for your invaluable contributions to the show. I am very proud of the work we have done on Roswell and am honored to have had the opportunity to work with, and get to know, all of you."

I wish you all the best of luck in the future and sincerely hope we get the chance to work together again soon.

Although there is a fan-campaign to get the US Sci-Fi Channel to pick up the series for season four, with most of the cast keen to move on, this is almost certainly doomed to failure from the outset. Back to the top

SCI-FI ACQUIRES ROSWELL RERUNS
Added 06.04.02. Source: Sci-Fi Wire

The (US) Sci-Fi Channel has announced that it has acquired the rights to air reruns of all nine seasons of The X Files and all three seasons of Roswell.

Sci-Fi's Roswell deal is an exclusive five-year deal, which will see the series debut on the channel this autumn. Back to the top

ROSWELL CANCELLED?
Added 06.04.02. Source: Teenmag.com

While there has been no official announcement yet, the rumours of Roswell's cancellation seem to be growing daily.

Teenmag.com had this to say:

...Might as well get the bad news out of the way upfront: the demise of Roswell is official. Sources at UPN say the production company gave up its space where the show was filmed, and that - along with the news we got a couple of weeks ago about the fact that the show's sets had been torn down - means it's definitely over. Now, I've gotten a couple of e-mails from you all, asking about the rumours that the show might move to another network. I've heard those rumors, too, and the most persistent one is that the show would like to move to the Sci-Fi Channel on cable. Here's what I can tell you about that: it's true that Roswell's producer, Jonathan Frakes, has confirmed that he and the other show producers have tried shopping it around to other networks. But what everyone seems to want to ignore is the fact that the cast members - as I've been telling you for months now - just don't want the show to continue. As for whether that will ultimately be a fatal glitch in the plan to move it to yet another network (remember, before UPN cancelled it, it had been cut loose by The WB at the end of last season), remains to be seen. As it stands right now, however, the series finale on UPN is scheduled for May 14 and will find the Roswell pals contemplating their future as they prepare for their high school graduation. New episodes of the show, by the way, are set to return to UPN on April 23. Back to the top

FRAKES DOWNBEAT ABOUT FUTURE

27.03.2002 - While speaking about the forthcoming Star Trek movie, Nemesis, Jonathan Frakes had some less than hopeful news about Roswell.

Appearing to confirm that UPN will not be renewing the series, Frakes said that the show's creators are looking for another broadcaster to take it on:

"There is no official word and we're trying to find a home for it on another network."

Frakes confirmed that the network in question was the Sci-Fi Channel. Back to the top

UPN BINS ROSWELL REPLACEMENTS

23.03.2002 - Although the chances of Roswell returning for next season look remote, its replacements during its March/April hiatus have fared even worse.

The ratings for Random Years and As If have been so bad that the two shows have been replaced by a repeat of UPN's new reality series, Under One Roof. Roswell's return has also been brought forward by a week so it will now return when Buffy reverts to new episodes on 23 April.

E! Online's Wanda still says that the chances of a reprive are almost non-existence, especially since most of the cast don't want the series to return. Back to the top

SADLER: NO CANCELLATION - YET

28.02.2002 - Despite Majandra Delfino's comments that UPN has ordered Roswell's sets to be dismantled, William Sadler announced on his official website that "Roswell has not been cancelled."

Instead, Sadler claims that the series is getting an overhaul, but suggests that viewers keep writing to UPN so that the axe doesn't fall.  Sadler is also directing a forthcoming episode of the series. Back to the top

WANDA: "ROSWELL WILL BE CANCELLED"

12.02.2002 - Asked whether Roswell will be cancelled, E! Online's Wanda said this week, "barring all miracles, yes.  UPN seems to have a lot of faith in Roswell's replacements (As If and Random Years).  I have yet to see Random Years, but As If actually looks pretty good - most likely because the actors actually want to be there."  Back to the top

KATIMS ON NETWORK SWITCH AND MORE

09.02.2002 - "I think [the new direction is] good and bad," Jason Katims tells Cinescape Online.  "This is a show that's grown and evolved over three years, and I'm very proud of that.  I think that we've been through a whole lifetime of these characters, and they've gone through a lot.  They've changed and they've grown up... There have been moments when I feel that we've gone a little bit too far in certain directions at certain times.  For example, in the middle of the second season, I felt that the show got too drenched in mythology - too complicated.  I think we've lost a little bit of the heart of the show."

That confusion may have promoted The WB to let the show slip to UPN, notes the site.

And while Katims did not have an official announcement about whether the show will be back next year, he did promise, "We're planning a two-hour finale this year, and we definitely know what we want to do.  We believe that it will be both a satisfying conclusion to the series, and will also serve as almost a pilot to launch the show into a new direction, which we think well play well with UPN.  Hopefully, we'll be able to move in a new and improved version of the show.  There has been a little talk of one or two two-hour movies subsequent to that.  But, I'm hoping we'll get another season on UPN."  Back to the top

WE COME IN PEACE

04.02.2002 - The midterm "check-up" can't be easy for any producer to live through, especially if the series in question is fighting for a return season.  For a time, Roswell seemed to be as homeless as the aliens on its show, but ever since it was given a new life on UPN the programme continues to steadily build an audience.  And while the show has made the move to a new network, creator and executive producer Jason Katims insists that audiences don't start counting them down for the count.

"Things have been going really well," says Katims.  "UPN has been great with us.  They really have been happy with the direction of the show creatively, and are very enthusiastic and remain that way."

Viewers shouldn't be daunted by the fact that the show is on a new network and they definitely shouldn't feel as if they've walked right into the middle of something they can't understand.

"That was one of the intentions when we started on UPN, to make it welcoming to a viewer that wasn't familiar with the show," says Katims.  "Not make you feel like, 'I don't know what the hell's going on."

While UPN has been excited about the creative direction of the show, the numbers have been a little slow to develop.  This is something that Katims can't help but be a little frustrated with.

"You know, we're all a little disappointed with the numbers," says Katims.  "The number are not what we had hoped for.  And I think that's partially due to a very, very competitive timeslot.  We knew it was going to be competitive, but it turns out that it's even tougher than we thought.  So, that's the one challenge.  And we're continuing to hope that we build on that, and things have been going very well."

Even if the numbers aren't where Katims and the network would like them to be, the show continues to move ahead in new directions.

"We're doing a total of 20 episodes this season," says Katims.  "In terms of next year, we don't know yet.  We're in the same position we always happen to be in around this time in the year, which is a wait and see position."

But Katims isn't as nervous about being in this "wait and see position" as one might think.  Remember, this is familiar territory for him.  He is very aware of the importance of past experiences and the enthusiastic fan base that the show has, and he considers them both assets.

"I have some experience with that now, and I know that the only thing that I can do about that is make these stories and these episodes the best we can possibly make them," says Katims.  "We have a wonderful cast on the show.  We have a small but passionate audience.  We have a great crew and team of producers behind the show.  So we have a lot going for us.  When push comes to shove that means a lot, it really does.  I hope we have a chance to come back because I think we have a great idea of where we could take the show next year." Source: Cinescape.  Back to the top

ROSWELL NOT CANCELLED - YET

30.01.2002 - It would appear that rumours of Roswell's death have been exaggerated, at least for now.

According to the show's publicist, its final fate will not be known until May, but as things stand for now, Roswell has not officially been cancelled. Source: Crashdown.  Back to the top

ROSWELL CANCELLED?

29.01.2002 - Citing an unnamed source close to the show, Crashdown claims that UPN has reduced its season three order to 18 episodes and that there will be no season four.

The site reports that the cast were informed of the decision on 28 January, with a public announcement due soon.  Production is expected to wrap in mid-March.

UPN had previously announced that the series would be going on hiatus for the February sweeps, but would return later in the season.  The next new episode is due to air in the US tonight at 9pm ET/PT.

If true, the cancellation can hardly be described as unexpected as Roswell has been consistently placed last in the highly competitive 9pm Tuesday slot, even lagging way behind The WB's Smallville.

The chances of any other network picking up Roswell must be virtually non-existent, with the best fans can realistically hope for that the production team are able to provide some sort of closure to the series.  Back to the top

MORE ROSWELL ORDERED

16.01.2002 - Jason Katims told Sci-Fi Wire that UPN has picked up seven more episodes of the current season, taking the total for the year to 20.

"They picked up another seven, so we're doing 20 episodes this year, a total of 20," Katims said in an interview at UPN's winter press tour in Pasadena.  "Which is good.  We're shooting now the 14th episode. ... We're more than halfway into shooting."  The season finale, which will count as two episodes, will be aired in a two-hour block.

The show, which has faced stiff competition from The WB's Smallville this year, has been in danger of disappearing altogether, as it has for most of its life.  As for whether UPN will pick up the series for a fourth season, Katims said, "For next year, we're essentially where we always are around this time of year, which is we don't know.  This is where we were the first season and the second season, which is we're kind of at this point not sure about whether the show is going to come back."  Back to the top

FRAKES TALKS ROSWELL

29.12.2001 - We all know that Roswell's been getting a thrashing in the ratings Stateside.  Speaking to Cinescape Online, co-executive producer Jonathan Frakes has given his opinion on the subject.

"I think we've suffered for being in what the L.A. Times calls the most competitive hour on television.  9 o'clock on Tuesdays is wicked and because we were partnered with Buffy it wasn't realistic to move Roswell to another slot.  So I'll be curious to see how we survive."

He adds, "But somehow the show from the beginning when the pilot was made has managed to have a very interesting life, cause it was made for Fox and at the last minute it was sold to The WB where it ran for two years and then after The WB lost Buffy, UPN decided to buy Roswell as well.  So it's really been on three networks.  [But] I like going over there.  I like those kids.  I think they're all really talented and I like to keep my hand in it."  Back to the top

IS IT THE END? (AND IS THE MOMENT BEING PREPARED FOR?)

03.12.2001 - UPN appears to have ordered six additional episodes of Roswell, taking the season three total to nineteen.

Crashdown, citing Brendan Fehr's manager, reports that this is the case, although according to Variety, the network may be looking to get out of the series earlier than planned.

When UPN picked up the series earlier this year, it said that it had ordered 22 episodes for 2001-02.  But on Thursday, CEO Dean Valentine said that the network has the right to cut that order back to only 13 episodes based on ratings.

It now appears that season three will comprise 19 episodes, but Variety claims that there's an outside chance it will simply stick with the thirteen already guaranteed.  (This could be cutting it fine as episode 10 is due to air on New Year's Day.)

Whatever happens, UPN may air midseason replacements As If (based on the Channel 4 series) and Leap Years in the 9pm Tuesday slot during March or April - displacing Roswell repeats.

Assuming that season three is only nineteen episodes, the outlook for Roswell must be bleak.  No doubt a fan campaign will be launched in an attempt to save the series again, but the chances of UPN or another network renewing the series for a fourth season must be slim.  

(If this is the final season of Roswell, at least the six additional episodes could allow the production team to wrap up ongoing storylines and bring the series to some sort of conclusion.)   Back to the top

UPN REPEATS

03.12.2001 - In an attempt to boost Roswell's flagging ratings, UPN will broadcast a couple of repeats over the next two weeks.

Tomorrow sees another chance to see the Pilot, followed by The End of the World on 11 December.  UPN describes this episode as follows:

As Max and Liz begin to rekindle their relationship, a future version of Max comes to Liz and asks for her help.  Liz learns that she must push present-day Max into the arms of another in order to save the earth from future destruction.  Back to the top

ROSWELL STILL ALIVE

23.11.2001 - Jason Katims told Sci-Fi Wire that he's still waiting to hear, but it hopeful that UPN will order the nine final episodes of season three.

The show is currently showing episode 10, A Tale of Two Parties, which is the first script from fledgling staff writers Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz, the editor and author who created the Roswell High young adult novels on which the series is based.  Parties, dealing with New Year's Eve celebrations, will air on 1 January.

"We're waiting to hear about our back order right now, and my understanding is they will give us a back order, yes," Katims said.  "It should be imminent.  I'm waiting to hear.  I'm not sure whether we'll get the full nine episodes. ... I have not heard from anybody directly about this, so I can't say for certain.  But my understanding is that we will be getting a back order."

Roswell has been "on the bubble" since it moved to UPN this season.  Averaging a 1.4 rating/3 share among adults 18-49 and 3.2 million total viewers, compared with 2.7/7 and 5.6 million viewers for lead-in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Roswell faces stiff competition from The WB's Smallville, as well as ABC's NYPD Blue. Source: Sci-Fi Wire.  Back to the top

UPN TO REPEAT ROSWELL PILOT

18.11.2001 - In an unexpected but nevertheless welcome move, UPN is to repeat the Roswell pilot episode on Tuesday, 4 December, providing a chance for anyone who missed it on The WB to see how it all began.  Back to the top

TOO FEW VCRS FOR TUESDAY - PART 2

04.11.2001 - Further to the story below, Fox is doing its bit to help out viewers faced with too much choice at 9pm on Tuesday.  Fox's cable channel FX will be re-broadcasting 24 on the Sunday and Monday following the original Tuesday night transmission.  Back to the top

TOO FEW VCRS FOR TUESDAY

31.10.2001 - Anyone following Roswell's ratings this season will know that it's been struggling so far, but according to Mark McGuire of the Albany Times Union, its Tuesday 9pm timeslot just has too many good shows to choose from:

With the critical November television sweeps slated to start Thursday, I have only one question:

Has the fall season started yet?

Friends is up, Survivor is slipping and CSI is avoiding the sophomore jinx - but I'm not watching.  Instead, I'm surfing the cable stations.  I can tell you more about Ashley Banfield's glasses than Rachel's pregnancy.  If I want to see a curmudgeon, I'm tuning in to Bill O'Reilly on Fox News Channel, not Becker.

That's not even mentioning my recent heavy consumption of postseason baseball, football, hockey and, of course, reruns of Get Smart.

That's not to say there are no dramas or comedies worth watching on network television.  The West Wing is still one of my regular stops, and so is ER, if only to track who's coming and going.  In fact, there are a host of other new and returning shows I like.

Of course, almost all of them are on the same night.  At the same time.

Welcome to 9pm Tuesdays.

Across the dial, from CBS to UPN, that's the hour when almost every network offers shows that range from very good to excellent.  Couldn't they be spread out over the course of the week?  Of course not - that would be too easy, make too much sense.

Look at this lineup:

* The Guardian on CBS (WRGB Ch. 6): The freshman drama about a high-rolling finance lawyer forced to perform community service as a child law guardian has gotten better in recent weeks, even as it tries to skirt the traps of mawkish sentimentality.  In the lead role, Aussie Simon Baker is wonderfully restrained.

* NYPD Blue on ABC (WTEN Ch. 10): The venerable cop drama returns in a new time slot on Nov. 6.  Yes, the series is on its last legs, but Dennis Franz would be compelling while reading the New York City Yellow Pages.

* Frasier and Scrubs on NBC (WNYT Ch. 13): Frasier, which premieres Tuesday, can still provide some of the best laughs on television.  Scrubs manages to mix in some serious issues among the hilarity.  (No, don't think Ally McBeal.)

* 24 on Fox (WXXA Ch. 23): "Kiefer Sutherland" and "great" can at last be used in the same sentence.  Debuting Nov. 6, this thriller about domestic terrorism and domestic (as in family) strife is set in real time - 24 episodes, each covering one hour of the same day.  If the rest of the series lives up to the inventive pilot, it could be a hit.

* Smallville on the WB (WEWB Ch. 45): This was maybe my third favorite new show of the season - right behind Scrubs and 24.

* Roswell on UPN (WEDG Ch. 4): This WEB import has gone back to some of the interplanetary romantic elements that made it so satisfying in the first season.

This is sad: I'm a television critic with not enough VCRs to cover it all.

If they wanted, networks could move solid shows into voids; one additional new episode of Scrubs will air next month in the 8.30pm Thursday time slot vacated by the benched Inside Schwartz.  But the nets want to use solid shows to weaken the other guy's contenders, turning it into a giant game of "you go first."

Nothing to watch on TV?  At least at 9pm on Tuesdays, there's simply too much. Source: Albany Times Union, 29 October.  Back to the top

ROSWELL HAPPY WITH UPN

26.08.2001 - Ronald D. Moore, Roswell's co-executive producer told Sci-Fi Wire that he's pleased with the direction the show is taking on its new network.

"We feel very good about the show creatively," Moore said.  "It seemed like by the end of the second season and the last, like, half-dozen episodes, we had sort of found what we thought was the best and most comfortable mix of science fiction and the relationship aspects of the show, and we were really happy with where we ended up last season."

Moore added, "So this year what we tried to do was sort of stay in that groove and maintain that kind of feeling to the show and the mix of stories. ... The opportunity to introduce the show to a whole new crop of viewers also meant that we could also re-launch the show in a certain sense.  So we looked at the first episode as almost like a new pilot, to sort of say, 'Here's the show, here's the characters.  And here's where they are in the world, and what you've kind of missed.'  And then to sort of look at the rest of the episodes a little more episodically than we had previously."

Moore is referring to the show's shift away from long, multi-episode story arcs.  "On The WB, the network really wanted long, continuing complicated storylines, making it heavily serialised, which also kind of put new viewers at a distance to a certain extent.  And at UPN, it's sort of the opposite.  We want it to be more episodic.  We want you to be able to tune in and not feel like you've missed everything.  But it's a delicate balance, because at the same time, we need to maintain the continuity of the show to the people who are already our fans and who expect a certain follow-up.  But we don't want it to be so burdensome to the new viewer that they turn it off and go, 'Oh, God, I don't know what's going on.'  But we feel pretty good about it, and we think we've sort of struck that balance."

One of the main threats to Roswell this season has been The WB's Smallville, which has enjoyed impressive ratings for its first two episodes.  "We knew going in that it was going to premiere very big.  It's the new Superman show.  I mean, it's like, I'm curious.  There's a given curiosity that is going to bring people over to that show to just see it.  'Yeah, what's this new Superman thing they're doing?'  So we knew that, and so we were prepared to let them have a big premiere and a solid follow-up rating or two. ... But after the bloom is off the rose, and they have to do it every week, then it's going to be a fair fight, and we'll just see what happens."

Roswell might be happy with UPN, but is UPN happy with Roswell.  Let's hope that they're not as quick to make scheduling changes as the BBC are these days.   Back to the top

KEY MATCH-UPS: ROSWELL VS. SMALLVILLE

26.08.2001 - Mediaweek has taken a look at some of the interesting schedule clashes of the 2001-02 season, including Roswell vs. The WB's Smallville:

Although there is plenty of talk of UPN acquiring Buffy, NBC cooking up Emeril, ABC hoping Bob Patterson is not just a show about nothing and The WB's Gilmore Girls moving to Tuesday, here is a look at what could be quite a battle, UPN's Roswell vs. The WB's Smallville, Tuesdays at 9pm.

Strategically, quite a few people (including myself) have questioned why The WB didn't leave Angel in the hour and schedule the young Superman saga Mondays at 9pm out of 7th Heaven.  Buffy viewers accustomed to Angel could have easily used their remote, right?  Regardless, this is one of the more interesting programme match-ups this season.

The potentially good news for Roswell is core viewer familiarity and a stronger and more compatible lead-in, Buffy.  And the positive news for The WB could be interest (at least initially) in a known TV hero.  If Fox's highly touted 24 doesn't take off (hype doesn't always mean tune-in) both weblets will obviously benefit.

According to UPN, who just conducted two separate focus groups on Roswell ads here are some interesting findings.  Note that these groups consisted of adults 18-34, one with 10 Roswell viewers and the other with 11 Buffy viewers.

Roswell Group:
- Of the 4 people who had heard of Smallville, only one was familiar enough to recall a promo.  Based on the promo that person said she would check it out.

- After hearing a description of the promo half the group said they would give Smallville a shot over Roswell.

- After learning the show was about Superman as a teenager before he discovered he was Superman, those would be Smallville viewers said they would now watch Roswell.

Buffy Group
- Similar to the Roswell group, more than half of the respondents said they would check out Smallville after hearing a description of the promo.

- After describing the show and mentioning that it was with Superman as a teenager before he discovered he was Superman, only one person said they would watch.

Although two focus groups is not necessarily ample representation of the potential success of any new series, don't be too surprised if Smallville opens big and potentially peters out.  Time will tell. You can read the complete article here.  Back to the top 

ROSWELL IN CROSS-PROMOTIONAL DEAL

26.08.2001 - From the Wall Street Journal:

"Omnicom Group's media-buying arm is negotiating a deal with Viacom's UPN that could result in show sponsorship, special cross-promotions and even product placements for six of its most important clients.

"The media shop, OMD, has tentatively agreed to buy an estimated $30 million of television time on UPN during the coming season.  But it wants a little extra for having made such a big commitment.

"The deal is tentatively expected to involve McDonald's, Cingular Wireless, Gillette, Sony's PlayStation, State Farm Mutal Automobile Insurance and Vivendi Universal's Universal Pictures, according to those familiar with the situation.

"State Farm, which has bought airtime on UPN for the first time, is negotiating a product placement within The Hughleys, a sitcom about an African-American suburban family starring comic D.L. Hughley.  The show formerly aired on Walt Disney's ABC Network.

"A spokesman at Sony PlayStation says the video-game maker will team up with UPN's sci-fi drama Roswell in an undetermined cross-promotional deal.

"The network and the studio recently teamed up on a promotional effort involving the theatrical release of the studio's American Pie 2, which stars a Roswell cast member [sic]."

So could we see Max and Michael indulging in a bit of gaming, while the Crashdown starts selling Big Macs?  Back to the top 

UPN TO SELL ADS DURING PROGRAMMES?

22.08.2001 - Regular visitors to this and other sites in the network may have noticed the occasional dig at current TV presentation, but now it looks like sinking to a new low, and Roswell could be one of the shows affected.

Previously on-screen graffiti has been mostly confined to a station bug in the corner of the screen, although many US stations also run other information during programmes.  Now,  UPN plans to over the space occupied by its station bug to advertisers during programmes.  Fortunately, this sort of thing is prohibited in the UK, at least for now, because if it wasn't, you could probably put money on Sky or MTV doing it.  Back to the top 

NEW SEASON THREE PREMIERE DATE

03.08.2001 - UPN have pulled the start dates of both Roswell and Buffy forward by a week, probably to capitalise on the debut of Enterprise on 26 September.

The two-hour Buffy season six premiere will now air at 8pm on 2 October, with Roswell's third season kicking off at 9pm the following week (Tuesday 9th).  Back to the top 

WHY THE WB LET ROSWELL GO

19.07.2001 - While appearing at the Television Critics Association press gathering in Los Angeles, The WB explained why they finally let Roswell go, even after they had lost Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Talking to the press, The WB's Jordan Levin explained, saying, "I think you have to evaluate how many time slots are available.  It came down to, in some cases, whether not you wanted to pick up Angel and/or Roswell or both.  And we tried to do what we felt was in the best interest of The WB.  We try not to make fear-based decisions.  I think trying to keep something from another network would have been a fear-based decision, and we need to do what's right for us and bet on ourselves, which we've always had success doing."  Back to the top 

SPACED OUT: ROSWELL BEAMS TO UPN WITH BUFFY

04.07.2001 - The Roush Review by Matt Roush

Note: this contains spoilers for season 2 finale The Departure.

A year ago I argued for WB to save Roswell.  Now I'm wondering why anyone would want to spare it.

Having watched this teen-alien romantic thriller deteriorate in year 2 from guilty pleasure to pleasure-free embarrassment, I was shocked when UPN rescued it from arch rival WB's cancellation heap.  (UPN outbidding WB for Buffy the Vampire Slayer is another cutthroat matter entirely.)

In the fall, Buffy will no longer be teamed with its spin-off Angel on Tuesday, thanks to the game of corporate chicken between companies.  (Angel stays behind on WB, now airing Mondays at 9pm ET.)  Instead, Buffy will be followed on UPN at 9pm ET by Roswell, which in theory makes sense but in reality is like displaying a Picasso alongside an Archie comic.

Buffy layers its violent allegories with emotional empathy, nimble wit and barbed humour, all of which is beyond Roswell's muddled reach.

"You aliens are the most pathetic group of people I've ever met," muttered the sheriff's son, Kyle (Nick Wechsler), in a May episode that had me chuckling in agreement as he mocked the E.T.'s "boring and brooding" nature.

By then the show had become so convoluted, comic-relief human Maria (Majandra Delfino) was opening each episode with a recap on a chalkboard.  As if we still cared, especially after that "alien summit" episode in New York City, a laughably self-important low point.

Truth is, Roswell did improve in its last weeks, spinning a mystery around the death of good-guy Alex (Colin Hanks) that was revealed to be the handiwork of alien series Tess (Emilie de Ravin), who seduced fellow alien Max (Jason Behr) into impregnating her with, yes, an alien baby.

Playing Nancy Drew with ridiculous earnestness was Max's strident soul mate, Liz (the robotic Shiri Appleby), who as the season ended was reunited with her pensive beau while Tess soared into the cosmos alone.

When Max and Liz gaze at each other, it's possible to recall the show's early irresistibility.  Alas, that spaceship has sailed.

And with WB fighting back in the same time period this fall with the promising Smallville, about a teen Clark Kent who's just learning how super he is, I figure my alienation from Roswell will only intensify.

While Roswell needs every viewer it can get, it would help if they actually watched the show before criticising it.  At least two of Maria's blackboard introduction are necessary because of The WB's scheduling of Roswell - the month and a half of pre-emption after Viva Las Vegas and the shifting of Off The Menu to the penultimate episode of the season.  And surely it's stretching a point to claim that Buffy these days has the "nimble wit" of old.

Smallville promising?  Don't make me laugh...  Back to the top 

SEASON 3 START DATE

14.06.2001 - Despite initial reports that Roswell season 3 and Buffy season 6 would start on UPN in August, both series will in fact debut in October.

With the official start date of the season not until the week of 24 September, the expected large viewing figures - especially for Enterprise and Buffy - wouldn't be counted for the season overall had the series started in August.

Roswell's third season kicks off at 9pm ET/PT on October 16, a week after the sixth season of Buffy debuts on UPN with a two-hour episode.  Thanks to Kevin Taphouse.  Back to the top

EMMY CONSIDERATION WEBSITE

10.06.2001 - Fox TV has put up a site full of critics' quotes about its Emmy consideration shows, including Buffy and Angel.  Back to the top

ROSWELL ROLLS ON

09.06.2001 - "The decision wasn't made until the night before they announced their schedule," says Roswell producer Ronald D. Moore about his show's jump from The WB to UPN.  "There were many phone calls back and forth between me and [executive producer Jason Katims] and both of our agents, who were talking to the networks."

"I got the phone call the night before the upfronts, and that was it.  Then I left for vacation two days later."

Moore and his fellow producers are now back at work on their third season, which begins this fall on Tuesday nights at 9pm EST, right after fellow WB expatriate Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

"We're in a good place," says Moore.  "Buffy's a tremendous lead-in for us, that's for certain.  We're in the perfect slot in the schedule at the moment."

One dark cloud is that the slot pits Roswell, a show about aliens teens, against The WB's Smallville, centered on the teen years of alien Superman/Clark Kent.

"Hey," says Moore, "we're on the air.  That's all that matters."

Spoilers for the season two finale follow.

In the Roswell season finale, the aliens (Jason Behr, Brendan Fehr, Katherine Heigl, Emilie de Ravin) were preparing to abandon Earth for their home planet.  In the end, only the duplicitous Tess (de Ravin) left, carrying Max's (Behr) child.  This launched a new story arc and opened the door for the reunion of Max and human love Liz (Shiri Appleby).

With the future of the show so uncertain, it would have been understandable if producers had yielded to the temptation to wrap up the story, just in case.

"Jason set the tone for the rest of us," says Moore.  "Early on, he said, 'I just believe this is the show you can't kill.'  They've tried, and they've tried, ever since the pilot was made, and it went from Fox to The WB."

"It's been down so many times, and this time he just believed, somehow, some way, it was all going to work out.  He said, 'Let's just proceed on the assumption that we're going to have a third season.'"

"We sat down and plotted out the opening episodes for season three before the season was over.  We just proceeded as if he was right.  Until they tell us to go home, we're just going to keep doing it."

At this point, Moore doesn't anticipate any cast changes beyond the departures of Colin Hanks (whose character, Alex, was killed off to allow Hanks to pursue film opportunities) and de Ravin.  As for plot, Moore promises more of the same.

"The template for what we want to do is where we ended up in the last six episodes of season two.  That's the groove where we want to be.  The character relationships were up front.  The mystery was there, but it wasn't too complicated."

Next season, the human and alien teens will be seniors in high school, except for alien Isabel (Heigl), whose brainy character has graduated early.  Where she would attend college became a question toward the end of season two.

"We're talking about that," says Moore.  "She'll hang around.  The show is Roswell, so she's going to be in Roswell, by hook or by crook." Source: zap2it.com.  Back to the top

BUFFY, ROSWELL LEAD UPN'S FALL LINEUP

21.05.2001 - Joking that their passion is to develop innovative original programming or obtain shows from the WB network, UPN executives unveiled a fall lineup Thursday anchored by its acquisitions of two WB drams: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Roswell.

Tom Nunan, UPN's entertainment president, said Roswell, about a group of alien teens who look like humans, would be the perfect complement to Buffy, adding that the series - which premiered on the WB last season and was dropped by the WB this week - will help form a potent Tuesday night block to attract young audiences.

Like Buffy, Roswell is produced by 20th Century Fox Television, whose parent company, News Corp., is in the process of acquiring eight key UPN affiliates, including KCOP in Los Angeles.  UPN agreed to pay about $2.3 million an episode for Buffy, a deal worth more than $100 million over two seasons, or roughly $22 million more than the WB's final offer of $1.8 million an episode.

Buffy creator and executive producer Joss Whedon told media buyers at UPN's lineup presentation that he was invigorated and felt "so, so, so good" about the move, adding that the shift will mark a new life for the series, which will be entering its sixth season.

Buffy will make its UPN debut this fall with a two-hour episode that will introduce viewers to the Buffy legend while establishing new story arcs for loyal fans.

As for Roswell, Nunan said the show suffered from being moved around the WB schedule and playing behind incompatible lead-ins, such as the softer family drama 7th Heaven. Source: The LA Times, 18 May.  Back to the top

MORE ON THE UPN MOVE

18.05.2001 - Speaking of their new Tuesday night schedule, UPN's president and CEO, Dean Valentine, said, "Anytime someone gives us fabulous programmes with connections to an audience, we're happy to take it."

With the addition of Buffy and Roswell, UPN hopes its new roster will lure more female viewers to the network, which has become known for WWF wrestling and Star Trek: Voyager.  "We have to attract younger women to the network, which is critical to our future," said Valentine.  "It will change, deepen and widen the advertising base that can be on UPN."

UPN intends to steal a march on other networks by launching its new season in August, well in advance of the late September start elsewhere.  Back to the top

11TH HOUR DEAL SEES UPN SNAP UP ROSWELL

17.05.2001 - Roswell has joined the select band of shows that have been saved from cancellation not once, but twice, with the news that UPN has swooped to pick up the series with a full order for next season.

According to Variety, UPN sealed an 11th-hour deal on Wednesday afternoon to pick up 22 episodes of Roswell from the show's producers, 20th Century Fox TV and Regency TV.  Both sides had been hammering out an agreement all week, but UPN had hoped to order fewer episodes, before ultimately agreeing to sign up for a full season.

"We were fortunate that a show that had been growing on the WB became available," said UPN CEO Dean Valentine.  "We realised that it's a terrific show and that it's got a fanatical audience."

The Buffy and Roswell move marks the first time two network series have jumped in unison to another network since Family Matters and Step by Step left ABC for CBS in 1997.

UPN's fall schedule sees it pairing its two former WB shows on Tuesday nights.  Buffy will retain its usual 8pm timeslot, with Roswell following at 9pm, up against the WB's new Superman series Smallville.

Meanwhile, the WB's posting board has bombarded with Roswell fans (as well as a few of other cancelled WB series such as Popular and Grosse Point) complaining about the decision and/or congratulating UPN on picking up the series.  Back to the top

ROSWELL HOPES FOR SAME FATE AS BUFFY

15.05.2001 - Bad news and good news for Roswell, the cult-favourite show about teen aliens.

The two-year-old series has been axed by The WB - but it may mean the sci-fi drama will hook up with Buffy the Vampire Slayer at UPN and air right after the super-popular vampire show.

"I know that UPN has been seriously interested in Roswell for several weeks," Roswell executive poroducer Kevin Brown told the (New York) Post.

"We very much appreciate that UPN is interested in the show.  We think now that UPN has taken this step in enlarging their audience with Buffy, I don't think anyone can imagine a more killer night than putting Buffy and Roswell together.  To me that [has] got homerun written all over it," he said.

This week will see the end of a months-long game of musical chairs that began last year when the WB and 20th Century Fox Television - the studio that produces Roswell, Buffy and its spinoff, Angel - locked horns over the price-tag for keeping Buffy on the network.

Some have suggested that WB execs were looking to axe either Roswell or Angel to get even with 20th for taking Buffy to UPN - a charge WB officials have denied.

WB officials wanted to retain Buffy but have said Roswell never achieved the kind of ratings WB officials were hoping for.

But it's been Roswell fans, motivated by reports of its shaky status, who have embarked on several drives to keep it on the air.

One major effort included a campaign in which thousands of bottles of Tabasco sauce - a favourite allien treat - were mailed to WB officials and the press.

About a month ago, the fans added UPN and Fox to their Tabasco deluge.

"I belive they've sent something like 10,000 bottles to UPN at this point," Brown said.

Last week, Roswell execs also went to the networks and dropped off an online petition to save the show that was signed by about 30,000 fans.

"Aren't these the kind of fans that networks pray for?" he said.

Picking up Roswell would likely give UPN a powerful companion show to air with Buffy and automatically means ratings for the audience-starved UPN.

Sources have said that UPN was also hoping that Angel would also get the boot - and had already negotiated a lucrative deal with the studio to snag the show if WB officials pulled the plug.

"But we could not have been happier with these past two years at the WB," Brown said.  "People tend to forget that the WB rescued us when Fox Broadcasting passed on Roswell.  Were it not for them, we would not exist."

Studio officials were unavailable yesterday. Source: New York Post, 15.05.01.  Back to the top

WANDA: UPN MOVE IS "96 PERCENT ON"

15.05.2001 - As predicted yesterday, Roswell does not appear in The WB's 2001-02 schedule, with its slot being handed over to Angel - quite probably even less of a fit with 7th Heaven's demographic than Roswell was.

However, yesterday's Wanda column on E! Online offered fans a glimmer of hope:

Will Roswell be on UPN in the fall?  Please say yes!

Nothing will be officially decided or announced until Thursday, but my sources are saying all systems are go.  Right now, I'm about 96 percent sure the Tabasco-chuggers will end up shackin' up with the Buffster on UPN turf.  Back to the top

WB RELEASES ROSWELL

14.05.2001 - Although official confirmation won't be made until tomorrow, it's now almost certain that the WB has not renewed Roswell.

According to Variety, the WB has sealed multiple-year deals with four of its top-rated series, as well as ordering eight new shows.  The shows renewed include 7th Heaven, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (which gets at least another two years), Charmed (likely to be renewed through to 2003-04) and Angel.

"We're picking up our three highest rated shows and our most important sitcom and we were able to do it in a way that wasn't public and wasn't acrimonious," the WB's co-entertainment president Jordan Levin said.

Levin and co-president Susanne Daniels said the network had been in talks to renew the quartet of series even before 20th Century Fox moved Buffy to UPN late last month.

A surprise switch sees Angel switch to Roswell's former slot of 9pm Monday, following the WB's top-rated 7th Heaven.  Variety also reports that UPN is now seriously considering picking up Roswell, though a deal is not yet in place.

The executives said that they ultimately opted to hold on to Angel in the hopes that it will recruit its own audience in the tough post-7th Heaven timeslot (opposite Ally McBeal and Monday Night Football).  WB execs were also reluctant to give up Angel which would have then been paired with Buffy on UPN, giving their rival a strong night.

"[But] we suspected that [UPN] would put Roswell behind Buffy, so either way we're handing them a night," Daniels said, conveniently forgetting that if the WB had renewed both Angel and Roswell, this wouldn't even be an issue.  "It's also important for us to keep and grow our male audience, and Angel ranks high with men."  Back to the top

ROSWELL FACES DEPARTURE

12.05.2001 - With the finale of Roswell's second season on the horizon, the teen science fiction show is once again finding itself on the brink of cancellation.  Although it has a loyal following, it's fairly small, averaging about 4 million total viewers per episode.

Last year, fans organised a Tabasco campaign to save the show, sending in over 6,000 bottles of the spicy sauce, and were credited for saving the series.  This year the Tabasco is being sent to UPN.

Following UPN's shelling out the money to steal Buffy the Vampire Slayer away from The WB, the network has become the place for fans looking for a second (or in this case, third) chance to go.  Not that they have completely given up on its renewal at The WB - six boxes of letters have already arrived asking that it be saved, again, from cancellation.

Jason Katims, Roswell's co-creator and executive producer, says he wouldn't rule out the show moving to UPN, but "it's too early to know whether that's a real possibility yet.  We now know, because of Buffy, that those kind of things are possible."

Not that the Buffy move was a good thing for his show, which is also produced by Twentieth Century Fox, despite The WB's need to make sure that its lineup doesn't completely crumble.

"The fact that [Buffy] went to UPN could negatively affect the way The WB looks at Roswell," he says.  "It was hard to predict what was going to happen to Roswell before the Buffy move, it's even harder to predict now.  I'll just have to wait and see."

Fellow executive producer Ronald D. Moore agrees.

"All we know is that we don't know," he says, reminding one of The X Files' proverb "The truth is out there."  "The ratings for the last two shows were good; we came back pretty strong."

"Taking us off the air for six weeks was definitely not a good sign," Moore adds, referring to the show's six-week hiatus off The WB schedule, while the network shored up new show Gilmore Girls with repeat airings.  "There was no way to spin that in our heads as a positive thing, so we knew that was a bad omen of things to come."

Moore says he's heard the rumour that UPN is interested in the show, but "it's nothing we've heard from anybody real," he says.  As to whether fans of the show would mind the move, both he and Katims sound confident that fans would follow the series, wherever it ends up.

"I think our fans would go anywhere to see the show," says Katims, adding, "They get on a plane and fly to Los Angeles to go to a party for Roswell, so they'll definitely be able to change the channel."

Roswell's season ends on Monday, May 21.  The WB is expected to announce its decision regarding the show's renewal at its upfront presentation, when it announces its fall lineup to advertisers, on May 15.

Source: zap2it.com.  Back to the top

ROSWELL D-DAY

12.05.2001 - The WB says word on whether or not its teen alien series Roswell will be cancelled should come on or shortly after May 15, although the lack of summer repeats is probably a good indication.

"We won't have any definite answers or commitments for shows coming back until May 15," a spokesman said.  That's when The WB will make its pitch to advertisers for the fall season.  Back to the top

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: WB TO KEEP ANGEL, UPN AFTER ROSWELL

11.05.2001 - Will The X Files be back on the case in the fall?  How many times a week will Who Wants to Be a Millionaire run?  Will Three Sisters see a sophomore season?

Those a only a few of the questions being mulled in TV circles this week as network executives hunker down in pilot screening rooms in preparation for next week's fall schedule unveilings in New York.

Now that the threat of a writers strike has passed, network brass are moving full speed ahead on picking pilots and setting their fall schedules.  The buzz on fall scheduling moves is starting to build, but, as ever network executives caution that it's too early to make any definitive calls.

The Hollywood Reporter then analyses each network's likely line-up in turn, including The WB and UPN:

After losing Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the word is that the WB network will probably keep the show's spin-off, Angel.

Riding high on the recent Buffy acquisition, UPN is eyeing another potential WB drama import, Roswell, in case the frog network passes on the 20th Century Fox TV alien series.  Back to the top

SITTING ON THE BUBBLE

09.05.2001 - May is the month when nature springs back to life and shaky TV shows await their fate.

In the next few weeks the broadcast networks will announce their new fall schedules.  But before then, they'll pack up the latest crop of under-performers and send them to TV's version of the lost luggage office.

The annual housecleaning is necessary because, "if you're a network, you want to keep advertisers and viewers happy," says TV industry analyst Marc Berman.

Obviously, hits like Survivor or ER will be back next fall, but there's an in-between ground - that gray, fuzzy territory between ratings dog and primetime champion - that's not so clear.

These are the shows whose fate could go either way - the ones sitting "on the bubble," as the programmers put it.

Here then is our short list of shows that face an uncertain future.  By this time next year, they could be the surprising new hits of the 2001-2 TV season - or the answer to a trivia question.

Roswell (WB) - Teen aliens descended from the 1940s UFO crash in New Mexico fight for survival.

Why it might stay: Likeable aliens, rabid cult fan base could help the show end up on another network if the WB pulls the plug.

Why it might go: Its ratings never left Earth.

Read about the other shows featured here. Source: New York Post, 7 May.  Back to the top

WANDA STILL SAYS UPN MOVE IS ON

08.05.2001 - Despite reports elsewhere that UPN is unlikely to pick up Roswell, E! Online's Wanda is still pretty certain that it's going to happen, so prepare for a lynching if she's wrong.

From yesterday's chat:

If UPN gets Roswell, will there still be new episodes?

Absolutely.  And the more I've heard in the past few days, the more sure I am that's what's going down.  Roswell's office has moved to the Paramount lot, making it closer to other UPN shows.  Hmmm.  Also, if you've seen what the WB is planning for summer lineup, you'll know Roswell's future isn't so bright on the Frog net.  They're planning back-to-back eps of 7th Heaven on Mondays.  But on the upside, it looks like the WB my hold on to Buffy reruns for the summer.

It should be pointed out that some Roswell fans have questioned the accuracy of Wanda's comment about that Roswell's office has moved to the Paramount lot, claiming that that is where it's been all along.  We should know for certain one way or the other next week (The WB announces its schedule on May 15, UPN on May 17).  Back to the top

TO CANCEL, OR NOT TO CANCEL: NOT THAT SIMPLE

07.05.2001 - On paper, it seems to simple: If a television series draws a big audience, it gets renewed.  If it doesn't, it's hasta la vista, baby.

But within the TV industry, the decision-making machinery deciding which series will be renewed for next season doesn't operate on that simple equation.  Sure, viewership numbers count, but so does who makes the series, whether the show is perceived as a prestige production and having growth potential, what kind of an audience it's attracting and what else the network is considering for its schedule.

To a fair number of series - NBC's The Weber Show - the networks have said: "You are a weak link.  Goodbye."  But the futures of about 20 shows will be decided sometime between now and next Monday, when the networks start announcing their fall schedules:

The status of the WB's Angel and Roswell is very much up in the air.  Both shows are produced by the company that makes Buffy - which just moved from the WB to UPN.  The network is not happy, and that could mean axing the other series.  UPN would love having Angel, but word is that the network is only lukewarm about Roswell.

Prognosis: Angel changes channels; Roswell has a 50-50 shot at moving to UPN. Source: The San Jose Mercury News, 7 May.  Back to the top

WANDA: "UPN TO PICK UP ROSWELL"

06.05.2001 - There's no love greater than that of a Tabasco chugger

From E! Online:

Last week, when I asked you all to vote for one show to save, I had no idea what I was in for.  I've been bombarded with so much email - thousands every day - my computer's ready to internally combust.

Of course, I should have known better.  I mean, Roswell's at stake.

Never have I witnessed such an outpouring of fan support.  In addition to email, I received e-cards, greeting cards, some kind of blue alien rock candy (I haven't been brave enough to try it) and, of course, plenty of Tabasco sauce to wash it all down.

The biggest thing I learned (other than that I should've asked for a dollar per vote): There is no fan more dedicated than a Roswellian.

That's exactly why, if what my sources are saying it true, UPN is one lucky duck.  A little birdie close to the net told me UPN has already picked up the sci-fi teen drama, in addition to the kick-ass vamp show that created such a stir last week.  Of course, no one at the WB is allowed to talk, saying only that Roswell's future "has not been decided."

So, just in case Roswell's fate isn't as concrete as it seems, I'm keeping my promise to write a support column and send it off to the powers-that-be at UPN, Fox and the WB, so they can see how truly devoted Roswell's fans are and why the show deserves to stick around for a third season.

It's rather unbelievable that the WB would give up on Roswell, which arguably has the most devoted following of any of their shows, especially now that Slayer peeps have jumped ship.  With two cult series out of the picture, the Frog net may have a major viewership crisis on its webbed hands.

Sure, Roswell doesn't pull in numbers like 7th Heaven or Charmed, but its low ratings really shouldn't be attributed to low quality or low interest (as evidenced by my inbox).

If you ask me, Roswell's biggest ratings hurdles are actually the WB's own fault.  The show gets very little promotion compared with other Froggy series, and it suffered from far too many reruns this season to gain any kind of momentum in viewership.

It also has one of the worst time slots - Mondays at 9, right after 7th Heaven.  The latter may be the WB's highest-rated show, but it pulls in a completely different demographic (ahem, goody-goodies) than the dark, angst-filled Roswell.  Did they really expect those viewers to stick around?

As for the quality of Roswell, I'll turn it over to the people who can say it best - the diehards who voted to keep it:

"Roswell has inspired the largest and most impressive 'Save our show' campaign that the Industry has ever seen.  To let go of this gem of a show, with its intoxicating mix of humor, drama and sci-fi, the WB would have to be insane." - Alyssa

"A show like Roswell is hard to find.  I would not waste 40 minutes and gas every Monday night to haul my VCR to the next town to record the show if I didn't feel it was a winner.  Please give this show another season." - Tinkerbell

"I'm a 50-year-old, inner-city junior high special-education teacher.  I was hooked on Roswell the first time I watched it.  I honestly don't know what I'll do if it is cancelled!" - Elaine

"It's hard to believe a show with so very many devoted fans could be on the verge of cancellation.  It's absolutely my favorite show.  Survivor be damned!" - Bobby

One last word of advice to you network execs: Get the Tabasco chuggers on board, give 'em a good time slot, a little promotional TLC, and I promise, they won't let you down.  Back to the top