A Laughing Matter at the WB

The WB network has shown it can get teenagers to huddle in front of their TV wondering if Dawson will wind up with Jen or Joey, if Buffy can maintain a relationship with undead boyfriend Angel, or if those adorable kids on “7th Heaven” will keep living up to their minister father’s standards.

But can they get them to laugh?

That task falls mainly on the shoulders of Susanne Daniels, the recently installed president of programming for the WB, which continues to prove a nettlesome presence to the better-established networks as well as the only broadcast channel to increase its audience this year.

Daniels recently ascended to her current job in place of Garth Ancier, who is leaving the WB and will presumably join NBC, once freed of his contract.

The challenge facing 33-year-old Daniels is to keep the WB’s momentum going in drama while launching comedies that appeal to the audience watching those shows. Until now, the WB has relied on sitcoms that either play principally to African American audiences (“The Wayans Bros.,” “The Jamie Foxx Show”) or look so broad and cartoonish (“Unhappily Ever After”) that they don’t fit well with the hip image of dramas such as “Dawson’s Creek” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

The network will take what executives hope is a first step in that direction Jan. 17 with the premiere of “Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane.” Unflinchingly characterizing the show as its attempt to create a teenage cross between “Friends” and “Seinfeld,” the series focuses on four youths who navigate New York City via subway, and don’t necessarily find happiness and a moral at the end of each half-hour.

“We would like to now develop comedies that capture the attention of the demographic that so loves our dramas,” said Daniels, sitting on the sofa next to a couple of stuffed animals in her Burbank office. “That is important to us, and it makes sense. We have circulation in our dramas and we want to bring [those viewers] to some comedies. . . . We need to find what is the WB’s version of ‘Friends,’ without doing a copycat ensemble show.”

“Zoe” was created by Daniel and Sue Paige, a married writing team working with Michael Jacobs, producer of ABC’s existing teen hit, “Boy Meets World,” as well as such programs as “Dinosaurs.”

Jacobs stressed the “teenage ‘Seinfeld’ ” label is a trifle misleading, characterizing the show as “an observational comedy about the lives of teenagers” in which the parents are as flawed as the kids. While “Seinfeld’s” humor stemmed partly from the child-like qualities of such characters as Kramer and George, “Zoe” presents teenagers trying to act like adults, which, Jacobs noted, “is not always that entertaining.”

“The WB’s taking a shot here,” Jacobs said. “They’re trying to find their voice in comedy the way they have in [dramas]. . . . It was very important to them, so they spent a lot of time on it.”

Daniels acknowledged the show marks a departure from the WB’s other comedies but doesn’t necessarily see that as a problem. Her boss, WB chief executive Jamie Kellner, has espoused a view of TV becoming more like radio, catering to very specific tastes. From that perspective, a network can appeal to a certain audience one night and different viewers on another.

“What we’re doing is servicing a niche audience,” Daniels said. “In some ways, what better way to do that is there than the way we’ve scheduled Thursday night [with four African American comedies]? I don’t necessarily think that’s a negative thing. I think that can be a very positive thing.

“I’m not concerned about how I fit ‘Zoe’ in with the shows I have Thursday. I think we can compartmentalize teens, female shows, male-action shows and ethnic shows.”

If the WB is hoping to alter its ties to comedy fans, the network’s relationship with Hollywood’s creative community has already changed. The WB had to beg producers to bring projects to the network initially but now appears a far more viable option. Yet even with some well-known names knocking on its door, Daniels still wants to look beyond the industry’s lineup of usual suspects.

“The truth is that most writers are one-hit wonders,” she said. “There’s only a handful of David Kelleys in this world. Because of that, I’m extremely wary, actually, when I hear of someone who says they’re going to do their ‘next hit show’ for us, because how many ‘next hit shows’ are there?”

In similar fashion, Daniels said she has no plans to try “growing up” the network in the eyes of those who label WB strictly a playground of teenagers, which some saw as the intent behind the network’s introduction of the critically lauded drama “Felicity.”

“We do not want to shed that image. That image will always be very important to our success,” she said. “I think Fox hurt itself by trying to shed that image, of being the place where teens want to go, and now they want it back.”

Daniels also rejected any suggestion that “Felicity” has failed to live up to its almost unprecedented preseason hype, thus far generating modest ratings even by WB’s standards. The show, she said, continues to evolve.

“We are watching the development of ‘Felicity.’ Development is not about the pilot,” she said. “A pilot is a sales tool for the affiliates, and anyone who thinks otherwise is crazy. You can’t figure out what a show is in 22 or 44 minutes. You figure out what a show is in the first 22 episodes.”

Barring unforeseen mishaps, the WB plans to expand to a sixth night of programming in the fall. Series in the offing include the “Buffy” spinoff “Angel” and two animated shows under the aegis of former “The Simpsons” writers: “Baby Blues,” based on the comic strip, and “The Downtowners,” about a teenager who moves in with his older brother.

Daniels hears plenty about the latter genre at home. Her husband, Greg Daniels, is another “Simpsons” alumnus and currently an executive producer on Fox’s “King of the Hill.” They met when he was working as a writer on “Saturday Night Live” (his partner was Conan O’Brien) while Daniels served as an assistant to “SNL” producer Lorne Michaels--a job she landed shortly after graduating from Harvard.

“It was so exciting,” she said. “It was amazing. I was right out of college, and there was Steve Martin and Paul Simon every day.”

Daniels quickly moved through executive positions at ABC and Fox before Ancier recruited her to the WB. With two young children and a new five-year contract, she is hoping stability is in the cards for her as well as the network.

Still, Daniels maintained the WB has no plans of becoming complacent in light of its successes or falling into the rut of following a formula. Meeting recently with her development team, the executive said she reminded them that they must continue to seek the unconventional.

“If we think, ‘Wait, that kind of show never works,’ then we should buy it, because we’ve got to start forcing ourselves to tear down the traditional boundaries that I think are to some extent unconscious,” she said. “You have to work really hard to not give in to the naysayers, to say, ‘Well, we’re going to try it.’ You never know.”