Does teen angst just not seem as, um, angsty as it used to? Do you pine for the days when a bowl of mac ‘n’ cheese and the dramas of Dawson, Rory, and Seth were all you needed to feel satiated? Well, the media gods have heard your prayers and are bringing back the much-missed WB — on the web. According to Variety, TheWB.com will feature the channel’s oldies-but-goodies like Dawson’s Creek, Veronica Mars, and The OC, in addition to NBC’s Friends. The site will also stream original, web-exclusive programming from Gossip Girl producer Josh Schwartz and Laguna Beach producer Gary Auerbach.
"It is our belief we are in the multiplatform storytelling business — no longer simply in the television business," says Bruce Rosenblum, prexy of the Warner Bros. TV Group.
Is it just me, or is Warner Bros. sending mixed signals? Earlier this month, the media company (which co-owns The CW with CBS) quit streaming episodes of cult-favorite Gossip Girl in the hopes more Gen-Yers would watch it the old-fashioned way — on TV. The show is one of the most downloaded on iTunes, but usually averages only 2.5 million television viewers. Warner Bros. is hoping to boost the show’s ratings (and as a result, its ad revenue) by forcing its young viewers to watch the way their parents do. So it seems Warner Bros. hasn’t been able to successfully monetize its current CW programming online, but hopes it can do so with its old WB hits.
What do you think, PopWatchers? Are you going to watch all your old favorites at TheWB.com? Or are you still sore Gossip Girl isn’t online anymore?
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I probably won’t, but when I was down in Mexico last November, I kept watching the WB network. Birds of Prey, Smallville, Angel, Grosse Point, they also showed Fastlane and dark Angel which ere fox but had all the earmarks of WB shows (hot guys who can barely act and deeply stupid plots) it was like the old glory days.
Nothing beats Gilmore Girls, and Veronica comes darn close. I can never get enough ‘Pacey’ either… So this is cool, but with so many great shows on Monday nights it is ridiculous GG isn’t online. I don’t want to see the show get canceled because of poor ‘old-fashioned’ ratings; teens and young people watch in new-fangled non-Neilsen ways.
I think that pulling Gossip Girl from online viewing shows how out of touch network execs are. Nobody sets their social schedule by when things air anymore; if fans want to watch the show online, they will find a means of doing so. Why not keep it on your own site that you control and earn the ad revenue? Dumb.
I think that’s a great idea – I now have a place to go for my Dawson’s Creek fix since TBS stopped airing them a long time ago (and I’m too cheap to buy it on DVD).
I’m excited that Everwood will be on the website. Maybe with the amount of hits it gets, they will finally release the remaining seasons on DVD!
“The O.C.” wasn’t on the WB, it was on Fox. I saw no one had made that correction yet. But yeah, I’m still sore about “Gossip Girl,” especially since my roommate TiVos “How I Met Your Mother” at the same time and because its his TiVo, I let him have priority… so I either have to watch it live or wait until it repeats on Sunday.
Yeah, neither The OC nor Veronica Mars were on the original WB; Veronica Mars was on UPN. Thanks, Devin, for pointing out the former.
I really hope Felicity is on the site!
As for the shows that are currently available on teh CW website as streaming video, I don’t really understand how they decide which shows to put on and which shows to keep off. There doesn’t seem to be any particular logic to it, and this new decision to take a show off the website that gets most of its views through the site rather than over the old-fashioned airwaves, seems like another example of that lack of forethough on the CW’s part.
I might think about watching if Felicity is on there.
Dawson’s Creek still plays on some stations. Why bother logging on to watch it, unless you want to see a specific episode?
I was really irritated with the cw for pulling the Gossip Girl streams. I can’t understand why they would want to take a ratings-challenged, fledgling show of good quality out of the running altogether in that way. It just floors me that the head of programming over there thought it was a good idea to put it up against Bones and Dancing with the Stars.
They should stream Buffy episodes!!!
ugh i was so angry when they took GG offline!! i have no time to schedule my tv/ im in college with no DVR or tivo, so i stuck waiting for some lower quality illegal recording of it on some foreign site!!
since i live in a state that does not have the CW (hawaii) i am very sad there are no more streaming gg’s
Dawson got an aluminum Powerbook? When did Creek end anyway? I thought it was a 90s show?
Um, neither “The OC” nor “Veronica Mars” was on The WB. It’s not that hard to fact-check.
I’m extremely upset that Gossip Girl isn’t online anymore. I watched on tv every week when it was on Wednesday but the switch to Monday means I have to work during it’s time slot. I’d hoped I could watch online only to find out I couldn’t. I think that not having it online is stabbing a really loyal fanbase in the back.
The O.C. and Veronica Mars were both on channels other than the WB. While I can let the Veronica Mars mistake slide-since it was on the CW for a year, which is co-owned by the WB-the reference to The O.C. is not so forgivable, since it was on FOX.
I have highly disliked the WB ever since they cancelled Roswell, Buffy, and Angel. I’m glad it’s dead, and I kinda hope it stays that way.
Thanks to several sharp-eyed readers who pointed out that neither Veronica Mars nor The OC were broadcast on The WB. Veronica Mars was broadcast on UPN and The OC was broadcast on Fox. We stand corrected.
Um, The OC was produced by Warner Bros. That’s probably why they’re airing it.
Good thing I have Felicity on DVD otherwise, I would be waving my fists in the air. Taking GG offline was just dumb.
You can watch The WB in http://www.BbPcTv.com/Channel-The-WB.aspx in high definition online. You can also find other channels online on demand anytime… and it is free!