By FRANK SWERTLOW
Staff Reporter
It’s becoming a battle between old and young in the war for “netlet” supremacy between UPN and The WB network.
The median age for WB’s viewers is 24.3, versus 31.7 for UPN. Little wonder, then, that The WB is tying its star to programs about teenage angst, while UPN plans to revive “The Love Boat” this spring for at least six episodes.
UPN officials don’t like to say they’re going after older viewers, however, preferring to speak of targeting a “broad-based” audience.
“They are the American middle class,” UPN President Dean Valentine said at the bi-annual TV critics convention at the Ritz Carlton Huntington Hotel in Pasadena last week. “Nobody wants to program for this group anymore. Everybody wants to program for a sort of psycho yuppie in Manhattan. We don’t want to.”
Valentine took control of UPN last September after leaving the presidency of Walt Disney Co.’s TV division. Among the hits he developed there were ABC’s “Home Improvement,” starring Tim Allen.
Advertisers prefer younger audiences, despite their fickle nature, because they spend more money than the more sedentary older but more loyal viewer.
To extend the network’s appeal, which had been dominated by urban comedies with African American casts like “Malcolm & Eddie” and “Moesha,” Valentine is even planning to bring Ed Sullivan back from the dead.
The network has a mid-season special called “Virtual Ed’s Variety Hour,” in which a computer-generated image of the late variety-show host will introduce current artists, including singers, dancers and comedians. The special is expected to air in May and has the cooperation of the Sullivan estate.
Valentine acknowledged that much of the network’s new programming is stopgap until he can develop additional series for the fall. UPN, which is a joint venture of Viacom Inc. and Chris-Craft Industries Inc., originally began programming for male viewers but shifted its emphasis to urban programming with comedies like “Homeboys from Outer Space.”
Both UPN and Time Warner Inc.’s The WB got their start with a strong orientation toward African American audiences a strategy stemming in part from the success of the Fox Network, where many UPN and WB executives got their start.
Like UPN, The WB is moving to shed its reputation as a “black” network. Instead, it is increasing its focus on younger viewers especially the 18-49 audience cherished by advertisers.
The plan, typified by such shows as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and the new teen drama “Dawson’s Creek,” shows some success. In the season-to-date ratings for adults 18-49, WB has jumped 14 percent, while UPN has dropped 14 percent.
“We have a niche,” said WB President Garth Ancier. “We know who we are trying to talk to.”
“Dawson’s Creek” typifies the hunt for the young audience. The series is being produced by Kevin Williamson, whose screenplays include the highly successful teen hits, “Scream” and “Scream 2.”
The series, a drama about teenage angst, is set in a Boston suburb and has raised some concern about its sexual content. One of its earliest story lines features a romance between a male high school student and his female teacher.
Another upcoming series for mid-season that fits The WB’s youth-oriented strategy is “Invasion America,” an animated sci-fi yarn from Steven Spielberg and Harve Bennett, who has worked on the “Star Trek” films and the ABC mini-series “Rich Man, Poor Man.” The series, which has no airdate as yet, centers on the saga of a 17-year-old boy who is destined to lead the Earth’s defense in an interplanetary war. The new program is the first animated dramatic science-fiction series.
The only show out of synch with the youth campaign is “Kelly Kelly,” a comedy starring former “Cheers” star Shelley Long in a love story about a career woman who marries a widowed blue-collar worker from New Jersey with four children.
With UPN and WB moving ahead with their separate strategies, the future of these two networks comes into question, especially because both are losing tens of millions of dollars.
WB executives go so far as to privately speculate that UPN will eventually shut down because of its losses.
“That’s silly,” said Valentine. “It’s a regrettable comment.”
Neither company will release the exact amount of its shortfall, but WB executives did say they are losing less than $100 million a year. They speculated that UPN is losing $150 million, a figured denied by Valentine. The UPN president did admit that he expects to continue losing money this year.
“WB is really coming on as the result of its programming,” said Paul Schulman, president of the New York-based Paul Schulman Co., which buys network advertising time. ” ‘Dawson’s Creek’ is the best show they’ve ever done. They have done very well with ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and every client talks in loving terms about ‘Seventh Heaven.’ They have a lot of strong programs.”
