TheWB Update: 'Angel' to replace 'Birds of Prey' on Wednesdays & More!

[James Harvey]

www.zap2it.com reported the following news:

A different kind of hero is moving to Wednesday nights on The WB.

Starting in January, "Angel" will move from Sunday nights to 9 p.m. ET Wednesdays, replacing the cancelled "Birds of Prey." The reality show "High School Reunion," from "Bachelor" producer Mike Fleiss, will take 9 p.m. Sunday spot for January and February.

After debuting to an audience of more than 7 million, female-superhero series "Birds of Prey" has steadily lost viewers since then, falling to an average of about 5 million for the season. However, the network was encouraged by the young male viewers the show was able to draw in the face of competition from "The Bachelor" and "Fastlane."

"We believe 'Birds of Prey' proved there's a fantasy audience there and a male audience there," WB Entertainment president Jordan Levin says.

The problem, Levin says, was that they failed to find a "strong writing showrunner" who worked well with creator Laeta Kalogridis, a feature-film writer ("Tomb Raider" ) making her first foray into television.

"We think we can attribute the erosion of 'Birds of Prey,' quite frankly, to a failure of execution," he says. "We think we had a very strong concept and just failed to execute it, and audiences abandoned the show as a result."

"High School Reunion" brings together 17 people from a suburban Chicago high school's class of 1992. Ensconced in an estate on Maui, they'll be able to re-establish old friendships, pursue a high-school crush or exact revenge on a bully. Repeats of each episode will air at 8 p.m. Thursdays.

The Thursday repeats of "Reunion" will bump "Family Affair" and "Do Over," which are going on hiatus until spring. Another new series, "The Surreal Life" -- a "Real World" -style series featuring B-list celebrities -- will join "JKX: The Jamie Kennedy Experiment" to create an all-unscripted night.

The WB also has plans to unveil the family comedy "The O'Keefes" an improvised comedy called "On the Spot," and action drama "The Black Sash" later in the season. "The Black Sash" could fill the 9 p.m. Sunday spot if "Angel" does well on Wednesdays.

Comments?

[Barb Gordon]

Well at least they knew some of what they were doing wrong. Don't seem to realize that the concept itself needed work. But, if they knew what they were doing wrong, why the heck weren't they making obvious efforts to improve it?!Like they wanted to fail at it...

~Barb

[czyznyck99]

Yeah, I still don't get it. The show, as bad as it looked was still putting in some ratings. Instead of just killing the project, they should have tried to fix it. It would be funny if this Wednesday's ep got some high ratings...

Oh well, guess it's Twlight Zone from now on...

Later.

[zarius]

One washed-up show replaces another...

[hyprlynx]

yet another reason to abandon network tv.. a tired old show replacing a show that had potential. :/

And yet more really bad reality programming..when are people going to get tired of these types of shows?

[Mattashell]

Originally posted by Jim Harvey
"We believe 'Birds of Prey' proved there's a fantasy audience there and a male audience there," WB Entertainment president Jordan Levin says.

We are still trying to learn if water is wet and we have nearly determined the religion of The Pope.

Originally posted by Jim Harvey
The problem, Levin says, was that they failed to find a "strong writing showrunner" who worked well with creator Laeta Kalogridis, a feature-film writer ("Tomb Raider" ) making her first foray into television.

"We think we can attribute the erosion of 'Birds of Prey,' quite frankly, to a failure of execution," he says. "We think we had a very strong concept and just failed to execute it, and audiences abandoned the show as a result."

We're so ashamed of our failure that rather than take responsibiliy for it and hiring better writers, we're punishing the viewers by pretending the show never happened at all.

Originally posted by Jim Harvey
"High School Reunion" brings together 17 people from a suburban Chicago high school's class of 1992. Ensconced in an estate on Maui, they'll be able to re-establish old friendships, pursue a high-school crush or exact revenge on a bully. Repeats of each episode will air at 8 p.m. Thursdays.

We have to show it twice a week. Otherwise there might be room for BoP.

[GoufCustom]

It will be akward seeing Angel on Wednesday, IMO. Seeing as I have gotten comfortable viewing it on Sundays. Eh, I'm still getting my Angel fix either way.

[Chibi Kageboshi]

Atleast i get to watch Angel now.

[Robin2099]

Kinda stinks that Angel's on Wedensday now. I was hoping to start watching the Twilight Zone again. I can't believe someone said that Angel is a washed up show though, as each consecutive season keeps getting better and better.

[Jedigreedo]

Originally posted by Barb Gordon
But, if they knew what they were doing wrong, why the heck weren't they making obvious efforts to improve it?!Like they wanted to fail at it...

That may have been why they put:

Originally posted by Jim Harvey
"We think we had a very strong concept and just failed to execute it, and audiences abandoned the show as a result."

Instead of "failed to pull it off."

I know the "professional" term is execute but some of the stuff they did for BoP didn't seem very professional.

[ShadowWolf]

WHAT???
They are moving Angel again.
Can't they leave that show alone?
It's finally doing very well in it's Sunday slot and they move it again....and this time in mid-season. I always had some doubts that the WB was trying to kill off Angel and now I'm more sure than before. Changing Angel again is a very bad mistake. I just hope the show can survive another move.

[Mister Intensity]

At least, WB had an idea that it was the writing and the execution of the series that was at fault, not the concept which was strong. This is an interesting schedule change. Viewers will now get a chance to see a dark action adventure series done right. I always maintained that the biggest problem with Birds of Prey was that it was a Buffy/Angel wannabe, now it is getting replaced by one of the shows that it spent so much time copying (the whole metahuman concept is better done on Angel with demons).

Mister Intensity

[JohnCrichton]

Originally posted by zarius
One washed-up show replaces another...

You sound like a Power Ranger Basher.

And I'll tell you what I tell them, "You obviously haven't been watching the past couple seasons..."

[Supernovametalstar]

Does this mean that BoP is officially cancelled and we won't get to see the infamous Lady Shiva episode at all? That stinks. What they could do is leave BoP on Wednesday, and have Angel as a lead in. At least until all the remaining filmed BoP eps have aired. Why waste money filming something, only to send it to the vault for some 20 to 30 years?

[czyznyck99]

Originally posted by Supernovametalstar
Does this mean that BoP is officially cancelled and we won't get to see the infamous Lady Shiva episode at all? That stinks. What they could do is leave BoP on Wednesday, and have Angel as a lead in. At least until all the remaining filmed BoP eps have aired. Why waste money filming something, only to send it to the vault for some 20 to 30 years?

Not exactly. We will still see the Lady Shiva episode on Wednesday.

Later.

[James Harvey]

The 13 episodes ordered will all air straight through until the end of December, then Angel will take it's place first week into January. The final of the series will likely air the last week in December.

[Trent Lane]

You know, if they had actually had some "Gotham" cameos, as in Nightwing, Robin, etc. we may not be here right now. Why didn't they do that? Uh, I'm glad I don't religiously watch it cause I might almost be disappointed...

[Nightwing]

Originally posted by Mattashell
We are still trying to learn if water is wet and we have nearly determined the religion of The Pope.



We're so ashamed of our failure that rather than take responsibiliy for it and hiring better writers, we're punishing the viewers by pretending the show never happened at all.



We have to show it twice a week. Otherwise there might be room for BoP.

LOL!!! I'd like to thank Matt here, because not many can translate the WB language into the actual Enlglish that they mean.

Typical WB media move. A show is doing bad in it's first season, so cancell it.

Just pray Batman will forgive you, WB, for not only ignoring what could have been an awesome Batman/Bruce Wayne show, but for playing with and teasing Oracle/Birds Of Prey fans. He gets very...grumpy. You don't wanna see him...grumpy....

[ShadowWolf]

Wouldn't it be funny if the last few episodes got great numbers.

All in all, I'm sad to see BoP go. I was enjoying it more than that yawnfest called Smallville.

[zarius]

For YOUR Information JohnCrichton, I've seen every season of Angel barring the fourth, I liked the way Season III ended but I have heard nothing but bad things about the current season, maybye it's just because Connor is very annoying...