• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, September 12, 2005

America Online said it will make the pilot episode of Fox's new series "Reunion" available today and tomorrow for on-demand streaming. The show--a Warner Bros. Television and Class IV production about six high school friends who reunite after 20 years, when one of them is murdered--debuted on Fox last Thursday night.

The strategy, according to Lisa Gregorian, senior vice president of marketing for Warner Bros.' TV division, is partly promotion, and partly intended to help viewers who missed the TV debut catch up before the next show airs. New episodes air every Thursday at 9:00 p.m. on Fox.

The collaboration will extend to future "Reunion" episodes, with elements from the show appearing on AOL.com each week throughout the season at www.aol.com/reunion.

AOL is also padding the dedicated "Reunion" site with music featured on the show, as well as popular songs of the last 20 years. The site includes links to AOL Music, where users can go to listen and buy the songs.

"From the WB's 'Jack & Bobby' to Bravo's 'Queer Eye For The Straight Girl,' we've tested many different ways to bring television content to AOL to find what's best for us, our partners, and our viewers," said Patricia Karpas, vice president and general manager at AOL Television. "With 'The Reunion,' we're continuing that experiment."

AOL's rivals are also experimenting.

Earlier last week, Yahoo! debuted the WB's premiere fall series, "Supernatural"--what the WB's Chairman Garth Ancier called "The number one priority for us this fall"--a full week before it was scheduled to air on The WB Television Network. Plus, Yahoo! users were able to stream the pilot episode of "Supernatural" on-demand for a whole week, compared to the two days that "The Reunion" will be available from streaming on AOL.

Ancier said upon last week's announcement that his network tapped Yahoo! rather than fellow Time Warner company AOL to stream the show, because Yahoo! promised better exposure for the new program. "We naturally went with the partner who showed the most interest in this project and the partner who promised us the greatest exposure, and that happened to be Yahoo!," he told OnlineMediaDaily at the time.

AOL's Karpas, for her part, insisted that ties between AOL and Warner Bros. are very strong, and pointed to "The Reunion" deal as proof.

AOL has worked together with FOX in the past to promote a number of its shows, including "The O.C.," but has never featured a FOX full-length show.

Fox will not be promoting its partnership with AOL on the air, Gregorian confirmed.

Along with featured content like the "Reunion" deal, AOL Television offers a daily recap of the best TV moments of the previous day, called "TV's Top 5!," sneak peeks, polls, and message boards for viewers.