UPN and The WB are transforming into The CW — and the made-in-Utah TV series "Everwood" will not survive the transition.
The CW announced its first-ever fall schedule on Thursday, and "Everwood" isn't on it. After four seasons on The WB, the new management of the new network axed the show, which has filmed at various locations from downtown Ogden to Salt Lake's Avenues since 2002.
The demise of "Everwood" was expected yet confounding. CW Entertainment president Dawn Ostroff dredged up an 11th season of "7th Heaven" and renewed the awful teen soap "One Tree Hill."
The announcement of the fall schedule is a big step for the new network, which will rise from the ashes of The WB and UPN in September. Those two entities — which never escaped the "fledgling network" tag attached to them when they launched within two days of each other in January 1995 — lost hundreds of millions of dollars for their corporate owners.
Their rivalry sometimes turned nasty, like when then-UPN president Lucie Salhany arrived at an affiliates meeting wearing a brooch of The WB's mascot, Michigan J. Frog, dripping blood from a stake through its heart. When The WB lured away several local UPN affiliates, UPN sued.
And when Fox-produced "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" switched from The WB to UPN, it looked like real blood might be spilled.
The WB had more than its share of duds and bombs, but it was also home to pop-culture phenomenons like "Buffy," "Felicity" and "Dawson's Creek."
UPN was chiefly notable for its two "Star Trek" series ("Voyager" and "Enterprise") and "Smackdown!" wrestling. It had the occasional gem ("Everybody Hates Chris," "Veronica Mars"), but the list of utter dreck is too long to print here. So let's just mention a few, like "Homeboys in Outer Space," "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer," "Shasta McNasty" and "Chains of Love."
UPN seemingly spent most of its 11 years of existence denying it was about to fold. So it's somewhat surprising that, at least in terms of who's programming The CW, UPN won out over The WB. (Ostroff has been programming UPN; she reports to CBS chieftain Les Moonves. The WB programmers are out.)
Turns out WB founder Jamie Kellner was wrong when he predicted in 1997 the two networks would never merge, but he was right when he said in 1999, "Is there room for six networks? . . . The answer is no."
Those were fighting words to then-UPN president Dean Valentine, who fired back, "We will not get off the stage until our hour is come, and I think that hour will be long, long away. There's room for hundreds of different networks, or thousands."
Um, no. There isn't enough room for six broadcast networks, but CBS and Time Warner, partners in The CW, are betting there might be room for five.
The CW's fall schedule is 50 percent UPN (6 shows, 6 1/2 hours), 38 percent WB (5 shows, 5 hours) and 12 percent new (2 shows, 1 1/2 hours). Friday and just about all of Sunday are all UPN; Thursday is all WB; Tuesday and Wednesday mix the two.
Some moves, like pairing "Gilmore Girls" and "Veronica Mars," were anticipated. Others, like moving the surviving UPN sitcoms to Sundays, were more surprising.
"By bringing together established hit series with innovative new shows, we were able to create a stellar schedule for our premiere season," Ostroff said. "Putting this lineup together was a programmer's dream with so many choices and so many passionate fans making their voices heard."
And a bit of a nightmare as well — she canceled the equivalent of an entire network prime-time schedule, leaving fans of all those shows — including "Everwood" — unhappy.
The CW's strategy includes a "laser focus" on 18-34 year olds, which explains why "One Tree Hill" got renewed and a higher-rated show like "Reba" got the ax. It doesn't explain "7th Heaven," but that show remained the highest-rated on The WB, and an agreement by stars to take a salary cut sealed the deal.
NEW SHOWS on The CW are:
The Game (Sundays, 7:30 p.m.) is a sitcom from the producers of "Girlfriends" about a woman who's about to marry an NFL player.
Runaway (Mondays, 8 p.m.) is a drama about a seemingly normal family that is on the run because dad has been unjustly accused of a terrible, violent crime. Donnie Wahlberg and Leslie Hope star; Darren Star ("Sex and the City," "Melrose Place") is the executive producer.
MIDSEASON SHOWS include the return of Beauty and the Geek, which will air on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. between two cycles of "America's Next Top Model"; and Hidden Palms (TBA), a teen soap opera from producer Kevin Williamson ("Dawson's Creek," "Scream").
CANCELED SHOWS include seven from UPN — "Cuts," "Eve," "Get This Party Started," "Half & Half," "Love, Inc.," "One On One" and "South Beach."
WB castoffs are "Bedford Diaries," "Blue Collar TV," "Charmed," "Living With Fran," "Modern Men," "Pepper Dennis," "Reba," "Related," "Survival of the Richest," "Twins," "What I Like About You" — and "Everwood."
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com