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Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise & Fall of the WB and UPN Kindle Edition
In the mid-1990s, Hollywood studios Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures each launched their own broadcast television network, hoping to become the fifth player in an industry dominated by ABC, CBS, NBC, and, more recently, Fox. Against all odds, the WB and UPN altered primetime television’s landscape, only to merge as the CW in 2006—casualties of conflicting personalities, relentless competition, and a failure to anticipate the business’s future.
Following the money, egos, and risks of network television, former WB executive Susanne Daniels and Variety television reporter Cynthia Littleton expose the difficulties of trying to launch two traditional broadcast networks just as cable and the Internet were ending their dominance. Through in-depth reportage and firsthand accounts, Daniels and Littleton re-create the creative and business climate that birthed the WB and UPN, illustrating how the race to find programming spawned their heated rivalry and created shows that became icons of youth culture.
Offering insider stories about shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawson’s Creek, 7th Heaven, Gilmore Girls, Smallville, Felicity, Girlfriends, Everybody Hates Chris, and America’s Next Top Model, the authors present the creative environment that ushered these groundbreaking programs into living rooms across America.
Despite success, the WB and UPN unraveled due to corporate miscalculations, management missteps, and industry upheaval that led to their decline—and rebirth as the CW. This is a cautionary and compelling entertainment saga about a precarious moment in television history, when the transformation of the broadcast networks signaled an inevitable shift for all pop culture.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarperCollins e-books
- Publication dateOctober 13, 2009
- File size1662 KB
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Susanne Daniels is the president of entertainment for Lifetime Networks; she was formerly president of entertainment at the WB Network.
Product details
- ASIN : B000W939BQ
- Publisher : HarperCollins e-books (October 13, 2009)
- Publication date : October 13, 2009
- Language : English
- File size : 1662 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 404 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #570,287 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Cynthia Littleton grew up in Pasadena, California dreaming of being a foreign correspondent in war-torn regions. She fell into covering the TV business right out of college (Occidental, poli sci major) and never looked back. Her husband and daughter are the only things she loves more than Betty White, "The Rockford Files," "The Prisoner," "Barney Miller," Stephen Colbert, "Lost," "Mad Men" and few dozen other TV shows.
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This is a fascinating story for anyone with an interest in television, tv history or the media in general. Would give this one 6 stars if it were allowed.
I only found two things that really bug me about this book. The first is nothing the author could have gotten around: it's a lot more about the WB than UPN, since she worked at the WB. The second is that the book ended a little bit early. It could have stood to go into just a little bit about the first couple of months for the CW. It also completely glosses over MyNetworkTV, but that network is so much different than the others that it could be a book of its own.
Finally, I believe I can answer one question that might really stick out near the end of the book: why one Acme Communications station didn't go with the CW. The answer is quite simple: all but one of those stations was a WB affiliate, including one in Albuquerque. The other station, Acme's UPN affiliate, is also in Albuquerque, so it would have made no sense to make two Albuquerque CW affiliates. That UPN affiliate went with MyNetworkTV instead.
The authors strike just the right balance between 'breezy' and 'hard facts' to make this a fascinating and fun read.
The story of UPN's launch party in New York alone is worth the time! Highly recommended!
I can see a lot of television executives, or would-be examples of the same, finding it valuable. But as someone who's just a fan of good television drama and comedy, I found it a quick yet staid read.
It's worth a skim, especially for those with a keen interest in the whys and wherefores of deals and deal breakers like the severing of Buffy from the WB.
Still, you'll get better entertainment from an episode of your favorite UPN or WB series.