• by Paul Gough , May 29, 2003

The 2002-03 season is history but The WB is riding high again with another year of ratings gains.

The network had year-to-year gains in many demographics, including some - total viewers and 18-49s - where the network doesn't compete. The network earned double-digit increases in adults 18-34 (2.1/6, up 17%), men 18-34 (1.5/5, up 15%) and women 18-34 (2.6/7, up 13%). During the May sweeps, The WB had two of the top five and seven of the top 20 dramas in the 12-34 demographic and four of the top 20 in adults 18-34.

Jordan Levin, the network's president of entertainment, told reporters last week that The WB's season was strong across the board and didn't rely on stunts to get ratings. "It gives us the sense of comfort about stability and our ongoing strength," said Levin.

The WB has seen success with its several shows, including sophomore drama Smallville, as well as Gilmore Girls, Charmed, Seventh Heaven and a drama new this past year, Everwood. All those shows will return along with Angel, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, What I Like About You, Reba and Grounded For Life (which moved from Fox to The WB earlier this year). This season spelled the last for one of The WB's highest-rated and long-running dramas, Dawson's Creek. Its May 14 performance broke several records at The WB, including adults 18-34 (6.6/18) and women 18-34 (9.1/21). It was The WB's highest ratings on Wednesdays in other demographics, too.

Levin said that he's encouraged by the development of the eight-year-old network and hopes the momentum continues. "It shows what The WB is capable of," he said.

At the upfront earlier this month, The WB unveiled several new comedies and dramas and shifted Smallville to Wednesdays to replace Dawson Creek. Smallville, which has been a runaway hit this season, will be replaced by Gilmore Girls, which is moving again. New dramas are Fearless and Tarzan and Jane. New comedies are Run of the House, Like Family, All About the Andersons and an unscripted series, Steve Harvey's Big Time.

The WB is also going to continue its so-called Easyview showings of two series between 5-7 p.m., a two-hour extra block on Sunday that the network got last year in trade for Saturdays with its affiliates. The network used that extra time Sunday to run repeats of Smallville and Everwood, which executives have credited with helping boost sampling and ratings on the Mondays and Tuesdays that those shows first ran. In the fall, the shows highlighted will be Everwood and Fearless.

The summer will include a mix of new shows and repeats for The WB, including a sitcom called The O'Keefes that began last week. An unscripted series, Boarding House: North Shore, will begin June 18. And the network will shortly kick off a summerlong promotion with Pepsi that will result in two WB shows, including a weekly music series called Pepsi Smash. That show, being run by the producer of the MTV Video and Movie Awards, is being billed as a reinvention of the music chart show that will feature some of today's hottest acts.

The other program, a two-hour special called Pepsi Play for a Billion, will be the culmination of a summerlong campaign that began in stores this month. Hosted by Drew Carey, the show will feature people competing for the chance to win a billion dollars and one out of 1,000 consumers playing will win $1 million.

Levin said the summer is a good time for the sampling of its scripted assets and because The WB does so many scripted shows, it's got to run them as repeats in the summer.

"We do a couple of things, we look at the schedule and are able to move the pieces into place so that we can train an audience so hopefully by fall" they'll start watching it regularly, Levin said. He said The WB picks a series or two to get behind to gain more eyeballs, and it's worked last year with The Jamie Kennedy Experiment and in the past with Smallville and Seventh Heaven.