• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 11, 2008

Few departing TV networks ever get a second chance - but sometimes their names do.  

Warner Bros. hopes that'll change, as it looks to have The WB name return as an Internet TV network soon, according to reports.

Warner Bros. isn't confirming anything except to say: "We are in the process of developing several Warner Bros. branded web destinations and will announce all the details in the coming weeks."

Starting up new Internet destinations is hard. But harder still is coming up with cool-sounding monikers -- or at least one with some brand appeal.

One can only imagine Warner Bros.  business executives sitting around a table and thinking, "Wait! We already have one. The WB!" The WB obviously still has brand identity and those executives wanted to latch onto it before it disappeared from young people's (now middle-aged) minds.

The WB, as well as its partner in crime, UPN, was killed at the end of the 2005-2006 season when the owners of the two networks merged to form the CW.  But the name always had brand resonance. At the time, some wondered whether the WB name should continue under the single entity.

The WB wasn't always the best-rated of the two networks. But with such iconic TV shows -- "Dawson's Creek," "Buffy," and "Angel" -- it had a well-entrenched identity.

The WB targeted young women. But to its credit, it never spelled out that target -- all in the hopes of achieving a broader audience, sometimes extending to young men and older women.  That's the best sort of marketing for a television -- saying little but getting a lot more.

The WB on the Web will mostly be a home for the studios' former hits -- all Warner Bros.-produced series airing on the WB throughout its ten-year run, including "Gilmore Girls," "Everwood" and "What I Like About You."  Warner Bros. will also add new original short-episode material as well. The only downside is that it won't include well-known shows that were non-Warner Bros-produced, including "Buffy," "Felicity," and "Dawson's Creek".

Should CBS look to do the same with UPN, which was originally called the United Paramount Network? It probably doesn't carry the same marketing weight.

It's rare to keep a former network name's going. We can only guess names like The Nashville Network, Outdoor Life Network, Odyssey, America's Talking, and the Satellite Network Channel, won't be making a return anytime soon.