Breaking away from the pack

Top executives from the WB, remarking on “the strangest season we can remember,” chose Tuesday to look beyond the network’s ratings struggles and instead announce the creation of a made-for-television movie division.

Headed by former TBS executive Tana Nugent Jamieson, the new WB unit will develop movies targeted toward its 12-to-34 demographic at a time when other networks are staying away from the genre, WB co-chairman Garth Ancier told writers at the television industry’s mid-season press tour in Hollywood.

“We’ve always done well when we’ve done things other people are not doing,” said Jordan Levin, co-chief executive. “There’s an opportunity now to do selective movies-of-the-week that will provide something you don’t see on broadcast television or any other kind of television at all.”

Recognizing that “breaking big hits is one of our trademarks and we haven’t done that,” executives said they would add more reality shows to the network’s lineup this spring and are developing new comedies and dramas for next year. “The Surreal Life,” the unscripted show that brings together notorious celebrities from yesteryear, returned on Sunday with a bang for its second season.

In keeping with the movie theme, WB also confirmed it has purchased broadcast TV rights to such box office hits as “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “Elf.” Both were from New Line Pictures, which, like the WB, is part of the Time Warner family. The three “Lord of the Rings” films will air over the next two years.

“Anything you can do to give more variety in the schedule is good whether it’s a reality show or a game show or a movie,” said Ancier, addressing the WB’s reluctance to add a lot of reality shows to its schedule.

“Reality shows are a helpful scheduling tool, particularly when networks are having such erosion in repeat performance. We’re really starting to look at the 52-week season. For Jordan and myself the challenge is how do we change the model of television we grew up with to reflect the 100-channel universe we live in?”

The viewers the WB is most concerned about losing, Levin said, are females ages 15 to 24. It is developing “American Girl,” a dramatic series based on the American Girl dolls that interpret history through the eyes of young women.

“In 2004, we’ll shake it up a bit with more reality, original made-for-TV movies and feature films that are targeted for teens, young adults and those who think like young adults,” Levin said.

The executives said they are still hoping the freshman drama “One Tree Hill” will become a hit. Levin said the network was forced to put it on this fall, before executives felt it was ready, because another show fell through.

“It put us in the position that we had to rush it onto air,” Levin said. “We didn’t have the promotional time or time to do the publicity and get attention in the magazines.”