The WB is making a few changes of its own, most notably by moving "Angel" from Sunday to Wednesday nights after the first of the year.
We can only hope the move will be successful because "Angel" remains one of the better shows on TV. Its parent show, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," is currently leading the pack as this season's Most Improved Show, but "Angel" has remained strong since the middle of its first season.
The move to Wednesday comes in part because of the failure of "Birds of Prey," which is in the running for this season's Most Disappointing Show. The WB was certainly hoping that another live-action superhero show could repeat the success of "Smallville," but "Birds" turned out to be a big bore.
(Yes, "Birds" did come to us from the executive producers of "Smallville," but the more important production credit is that the show-runner/creator, Laeta Kalogridis, not only had no television experience but the big credit on her resume was the dreadful movie "Tomb Raider." So maybe this wasn't that big a surprise.)
Anyway, "Angel" moves to Wednesdays at 8 p.m. as of Jan. 8. And the WB will premiere the new reality series "High School Reunion" on Sunday, Jan. 11, at 8 p.m.
"Reunion," from the producers of "The Bachelor," is sort of "The Real World: Hawaii" with people who know — or used to know — each other. Seventeen classmates who graduated from a Chicago-area high school will share a Maui estate, where they'll get reacquainted, form new friendships and settle old scores.
The WB is so high on this show that it will telecast it not once but twice a week — repeats will air Thursdays at 7 p.m., four days after the initial showing.
That will bump "Family Affair" and "Do Over" — two pretty good shows that have had a tough time finding an audience opposite "Friends" and "Survivor" — off the schedule for at least a while. The WB is promising that both will return sometime in the spring.
Speaking of "The Real World," the WB (where they do indeed have a sense of humor) will add "The Surreal World" to its Thursday-night schedule in January. The show, which will air at 8:30 p.m. after "The Jamie Kennedy Experience," will feature "B-list celebrities" sharing a house and having their lives taped.
Stay tuned for more details on that one . . .