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The Unexpected Rise and Fall of the WB and UPN
Harper
October 2007
On Sale: October 1, 2007
400 pages
ISBN: 0061340995
EAN: 9780061340994
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
In the mid-1990s, two major Hollywood studios, Warner
Bros. and Paramount Pictures, each launched their own
broadcast television network with the hope of becoming the
fifth major player in an industry long dominated by ABC,
CBS, NBC, and, more recently, Fox. Despite the odds against
them, the WB and UPN went on to alter the landscape of
primetime television, only to then merge as the CW network
in 2006—each a casualty of conflicting personalities,
relentless competition, and a basic failure to anticipate
the future of the entertainment business. Unfolding
amid this backdrop of high-stakes business ventures,
fanatical creative struggles, and corporate power plays,
Season Finale traces the parallel stories of the WB
and UPN from their prosperous beginnings to their
precipitous demise. Following the big money, big egos, and
big risks of network television, Susanne Daniels, a
television executive with the WB for most of its life, and
Cynthia Littleton, a longtime television reporter for
Variety, expose the difficult reality of trying to
launch not one but two traditional broadcast networks at the
moment when cable television and the Internet were ending
the dominance of network television. Through
in-depth reportage and firsthand accounts, Daniels and
Littleton expertly re-create the creative and business
climate that gave birth to the WB and UPN, illustrating how
the race to find suitable programming spawned a heated
rivalry between the two but also created shows that became
icons of American youth culture. Offering insider stories
and never-before-published details 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, Daniels and
Littleton provide an exhaustive account of the two creative
teams that ushered these groundbreaking programs into the
hearts, minds, and living rooms of Americans across the
country. But in spite of these successes, the WB
and UPN unraveled, and here the authors elucidate the
corporate miscalculations that led to their undoing,
examining the management missteps and industry upheaval that
brought about their rapid decline and the surprising
teamwork that united them as the CW. The result is a
cautionary and compelling entertainment saga that skillfully
captures a precarious moment in television history, when the
dramatic transformation of the broadcast networks signaled
an inevitable shift for all pop culture.
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