The 30th Anniversary of The WB

As television broadcast networks go, The WB did not last particularly long. Indeed, its eleven years and eight months of existence are minuscule when compared to the nearly 100 years NBC has existed. Despite this The WB produced a number of memorable shows, including  Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, 7th Heaven, Gilmore Girls, Everwood, and yet others in its short existence. The network remains fondly remembered by many to this day. It was 30 years ago today, on January 11 1995, that The WB was launched.

The origins of The WB go back to a programming block of dramas targeted at the key demographic of television viewers calledt he Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN for short), a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Chris-Craft Industries. PTEN was launched as a potential fifth television network, although that never came to pass. Among the shows aired as part of PTEN were Babylon 5, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, and Time Trax. The demise of PTEN would come about because of the creation of two new television networks. As early as October 1993 Chris-Craft Industries announced the formation of the United Paramount Network (UPN) as a joint venture with Paramount Television. It was in November 1993 that Time Warner announced its intention to launch its own network,. The WB, in conjunction with the Tribune Company.

The WB launched on January 11 1995 with a block of three sitcoms. The first show to air on the new network was The Wayan Bros. which starred comedians and  real life brothers Shawn and Marlon Wayans. It was followed by Unhappily Ever After, a sitcom about an extremely dysfunctional family, and Muscle, a sitcom centred on a New York City gym. The following Wednesday The Parent 'Hood, a sitcom starring Robert Townsend and Suzzanne Douglas, debuted in the time slot following The Wayan Bros. the following Wednesday.  In its first season, The WB only aired one night a week.

The following season The WB expanded to Sunday night, weekdays, and Saturday morning. Their children's programming block known as Kid's WB proved particularly successful. It aired on Saturday mornings and weekday afternoons for much of its existence. Through the years it aired such successful cartoons as Pinky & the Brain, Batman Beyond, Pokémon, and others. A weekday morning block was added in 1997. It would be discontinued in 2001.The weekday afternoon block would be discontinued in 2005.

Even as The WB expanded to more nights a week, in its early days its programming consisted primarily of sitcoms. It was with the 1995-1996 season with the night-time soap opera Savannah. In the 1996-1997 season The WB debuted  the family drama 7th Heaven and the supernatural horror series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy the Vampire Slayer provided The WB with some of its earliest success. It debuted with the highest Monday night ratings in the network's history up to that point.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer centred primarily on teenage characters and appealed to a largely teenage audience, so it was perhaps natural for The WB to debut more shows that appealed to teenagers. It was then that Dawon's Creek debuted in January 1998 and proved to be another success for the network. The success of Dawson's Creek was followed by other shows meant to appeal to a young audience, such as Felicity and Popular. The success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer would lead to further genre shows that featured youthful protagonists, including Charmed, Roswell and Smallville. Buffy the Vampire Slayer itself produced one spinoff, the cult series Angel.

It was in 2000 that The WB began to expand beyond a teenage audience to shows that would appeal to a broader demographic. Gilmore Girls proved to be a success after lacklustre ratings early in its run. In 2001 Reba debuted and proved to be the network's most successful sitcom. That same year Smallville provided The WB with another hit. The family drama Everwood debuted in 2002. While it would not prove as popular as Gilmore Girls, it would develop a cult following.

It was in 2003 that The WB began to go into decline. From 2003 to 2005 the network's only real hits would be the teen soap opera One Tree Hill and the supernatural horror series Supernatural. At the same time highly anticipated shows proved to be failures. Birds of Prey (based on the DC comic book fo the same name), Tarzan (based on the classic character), and Just Legal (a show produced by none other than Jerry Bruckheimer) all bombed in the ratings.

In the end The WB found itself unable to expand beyond an extremely young demographic (12 to 24 years old) to the key demographic desired by Madison Avenue, while at the same time having several shows prove to be failures. Much of the reason for the network's failure may also have been because there did not appear to be enough room for two fledgling networks, UPN having only launched days after The WB. It was then on January 24 2006 that , CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment announced the closures of UPN and The WB respectively At the same time they announced their plans to launch a new network, The CW, as a joint venture. Some of The WB's shows would make the transition to The CW, including 7th Heaven, Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, Reba, Smallville, and Supernatural.

While The WB closed on September 17, 2006; the programming block known as Kid's WB would actually outlive the network. It continued for a time as The CW's Saturday morning lineup. This would come to an end with an announcement on October 2 2007 that The CW would discontinue Kid's WB. On May 8 2008 it was replaced on Saturday morning by a new programming block called The CW4Kids.

It was in 2008 that The WB came back from the dead after a fashion. It was that year that Warner Bros. launched a website called TheWB.com where episodes of shows broadcast on The WB could be streamed. Eventually other Warner Bros. shows that had not aired on The WB would be added to the website, including The Flash (1990), Friends, and The O.C. The WB.com closed in December 2013, having been replaced by CW Seed.

While The WB would last only for a brief time, it would produce several memorable television shows. Buffy the Vampire Slayer,. Charmed, Angel, Gilmore Girls, Everwood, and Supernatural all debuted on The WB and all of them remain popular to this day. Having run 10 seasons, 7th Heaven would ultimately be the longest running family drama. Having run 15 seasons, Supernatural turned out to be the longest running supernatural horror show. To this day the impact of The WB is still being felt.

Godspeed Michael Schlesinger

Michael Schlesinger, film distributor, archivist, and an important figure in the classic film community, died yesterday, January 9 2025. The cause was thymic squamous cell carcinoma.

Michael Schlesinger was born on September 4 1950 in Dayton, Ohio. He began his career in Dayton before getting a job at a film-booking agency in Cincinnati. He moved to Los Angeles in 1981. He worked for years at Paramount, where he would be the head of Paramount Repertory. It was in this capacity he would have a major role in the release of It's All True: Based on an Unfinished Film by Orson Welles in 1993, a documentary on Orson Welles's uncompleted film It's All True, which was shot in 1941 and 1942.  According to Michael Schlesinger, after Paramount's executives saw the film they sent to security to his office to escort him off the lot.

After his time with Paramount, Michael Schlesinger went to work for Sony as a vice president in charge of their repertory. He served in that capacity for twelve years, after which he was an executive consultant for Sony.

Michael Schlesinger also wrote, produced, and directed the series of "Biffle and Shooster" shorts, which sought to capture the feel of the old comedy shorts of the Thirties using the fictional comedy team of Biffle and Shooster (the characters wee created and played by actors Nick Santa Maria and Will Ryan). He also produced director Larry Blamire's films Trail of the Screaming Forehead (2007), The Lost Skeleton Returns Again  (2009), and Dark and Stormy Night (2009). He directed and also wrote the feature film Rock and Doris (try to) Write a Movie (2024).

Michael Schlesinger was very much a part of the classic movie scene in Los Angeles. He assisted with the classic film festival Cinecon in Los Angeles. He was a fixture at the TCM Classic Film Festival, where he introduced movies. He also frequented many other classic film festivals.

I didn't know Michael Schlesinger, although he was a friend to many of my friends. According to those who knew him, he was very funny and known for his generosity. He was also known for his love of classic movies, and he would often take risks to preserve and distribute classic movies even when the studios for which he worked might undervalue those films. He certainly knew a great deal about classic movies, as anyone who has seen his one of his introductions for movies from the TCM Classic Film Festival or another film film festival can testify. My condolences go to Michael  Schlesinger's friends and family.

The Los Angeles County Fires

Here I want to say that my heart is with the people of Los Angeles County as much of the area has been devastated by wildfires. I hope that all of the fires can be contained soon and brought to an end. I am always concerned any time California (or any other place, for that matter), but these wildfires have distressed me more than most. For one thing, I have many friends in areas that have been endangered by the fires, although as of yet none of them have had to evacuate. For another thing, as a classic movie buff, I love Hollywood and its historic sites. Indeed, a fire that broke out in Runyon Canyon in the Hollywood Hills threatened such sites as the Magic Castle, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the El Captian Theatre, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the Hollywood Bowl, and other historic sites. An evacuation order was in effect for a time but has since been lifted.

As it is, so much has already been destroyed by the fires. The Pacific Palisades effectively no longer exists, most of the neighbourhood having been burned to the ground. Will Rogers's historic ranch house and many other structures at Will Rogers State Park were destroyed. Palisades Charter High School, where parts of such movies as Carrie (1976) and other movies were shot, sustained damage from the fires. The famous Bunny Museum in Altadena burned to the ground. While only a few of the museum's artefacts were saved, the bunnies and cats in the museum were all saved. The Topanga Ranch Hotel, the motel built by William Randolph Hearst in 1929, burned to the ground. Several businesses and other establishments have been destroyed, including the Reel Inn Malibu, Altadena Hardware, Foxs Restaurant in Altadena, the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Centre, and much more. Many, many people have lost their homes. At least five people have died, although officials have said the death toll is likely to be higher.

Right now my thoughts are with the people of Los Angeles County. I hope that the fires come to an end with no further substantial damage. If you would like to help those affected by the fires, this article from the Desert Sun has lists of various charities. Right now my heart is breaking and I hope that the people and places I love can make it through the fires okay.

The 70th Anniversary of The Bob Cummings Show (AKA Love That Bob)

Today only people of a certain age, fans of classic television, and television historians probably remember The Bob Cummings Show (called Love That Bob as a syndicated rerun). Despite this, The Bob Cummings Show remains significant beyond the fact that it starred Bob Cummings, a bona fide movie star who had appeared in such films as The Devil and Miss Jones (1941), Kings Row (1942), Saboteur (1942), and Dial M for Murder (1954). Quite simply, several individuals who worked on The Bob Cummings Show would go onto considerable success on television. It was on January 2 1955 that The Bob Cummings Show debuted on NBC, meaning that last Tuesday was its 70th anniversary.

The Bob Cummings Show centred on Hollywood photographer Bob Collins (Bob Cummings). Bob was a bachelor who dated various beautiful women, as well an Air Force reserve officer. It is perhaps no coincidence that "Bob Collins" was also the name of Bob Cummings' character., a decorated USAAF officer,  in the movie You Came Along (1945). Bib lived with is widowed sister Margaret MacDonald (Rosermary DeCamp), who disapproved of her brother's lifestyle. Margaret had a teenager son, Chuck (Dwayne Hickman), who idolized Bob and was always trying to attract the models Bob worked with. Bob's Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz (Ann B. Davis), who had an unrequited crush on Bob.The show also featured several recurring characters, including nodel Shirley Swanson (Joi Lansing),. Bob's old Air Force buddy Paul Fonda (Lyle Talbot), and Pamela Livingstone (Nancy Culp), a friend of Schultzy and a birdwatching expert who pines for Bob. There were several episodes in which Bob Cummings would perform double duty, playing Bob Collins and Bob's grandfather Josh Collins. Grandpa came from Joplin, Missouri, as did Bob Collins (and Bob Cummings, for that matter).

Bob Cummings not only had a movie career, but he had even starred in a sitcom before The Bob Cummings Show. On My Hero he played real estate agent Robert Beanblossom. The show did not prove to be a success, only lasting one season and 33 episodes. Despite the failure of My Hero, Bob Cummings remained a popular actor, so that it was inevitable he would get another show. It was then that writer Paul Henning came up with an idea for a show starring Mr. Cummings.

Paul Henning already had already worked as a writer on radio for years. Like Bob Cummings, Paul Henning was a native of Missouri (Mr. Cummings was born in Joplin, while Paul Henning was born in Independence). He had begun his career on radio in Kansas City, Missouri before moving onto such national radio shows as Fibber McGee and Molly and The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show/. He moved with Burns and Allen to television and also wrote for such TV shows as The Dennis Day Show and Where's Raymond?.

Having written for years for both the radio and television versions of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Paul Henning turned to George Burns for help with his idea for a show for Bob Cummings. Both George Burns and Bob Cummings were clients of the talent agency MCA. It was then that MCA got George Burns and Paul Henning together with Bob Cummings so that they could pitch the show to him. The Bob Cummings Show was produced by McCadden Producitons, which also produced The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and The Jack Benny Program. A new production company, Laurel Productions, was also formed to produce The Bob Cummings Show.

With regards to the cast, not only was Bob Cummings a movie star, but  so too was Rosemary DeCamp, who had appeared in films from Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) to On Moonlight Bay (1951). With regards to Schultzy, the role had been written for yet another veteran of film, Jane Withers. As it turned out, the show's producers were unwilling to meet Miss Withers's demands. It was Eddie Rubin, who would be one of the show's directors, who suggested Ann B. Davis for the role. Dwayne Hickman was the younger brother of child actor Darryl Hickman, who had appeared in The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers (1946). Dwayne Hickman had previously appeared with Bob Cummings in Heaven Only Knows (1947).  He also  appeared in such films as The Boy with Green Hair (1948) and Mighty Joe Young (1949). When Bob Cummings offered him the role, Dwayne Hickman was trying to decide whether he should take the part or if he should take a temporary job with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Bob Cummings himself was the reason that The Bob Cummings Show debuted in January rather than September, when most shows at the time made their debuts. The Bob Cummings Show was sold in August 1954, making it fully possible it could have debuted as early as September or October of that year. Despite this, Bob Cummings felt the failure of his previous sitcom, My Hero, was due to the fact that it did not have enough of a backlog of scripts when it debuted. Contrary to popular belief, The Bob Cummings Show was not the first midseason replacement, as several others debuted before it had (among them My Friend Irma and Dragnet). 

The Bob Cummings Show debuted on NBC on January 2 1955. For the 1954-1955 season, it aired on Sunday night, following The Loretta Young Show. For the 1955-1956 season it moved to CBS. It remained there throughout the 1956-1957 season before moving back to NBC where it remained until it ended its run in 1959.

Although it never ranked in the top thirty for the season in the Nielsen ratings, The Bob Cummings Show remained relatively popular throughout its run. According to Bob Cummings it was his decision to end the show. By 1959 The Bob Cummings Show had reached five full seasons, which at the time was considered the minimum for syndication. Bob Cummings wanted to sell the show into syndication before it became too dated. Bob Cummings also wanted a break.

Starting on October 12 1959 reruns of The Bob Cummings Show began airing on ABC under the title Love That Bob. It would also air under that title in syndication for quite some time. Much of the reason the title Love That Bob persisted is that beginning on October 5 1961 an entirely new show starring Bob Cummings debuted on CBS, also titled The Bob Cummings Show. Since it was constantly getting confused with Bob Cummings's older show, it was re-titled The New Bob Cummings Show on December 28 1961. The New Bob Cummings Show would not repeat the original show's success. It only lasted 22 episodes. As to the original, whether as The Bob Cummings Show or Love That Bob, it  persisted in syndication for decades. Even now it can be found on such streaming services as Tubi and Local Now.

Aside from remaining popular for decades and starring a well-known movie star, The Bob Cummings Show may be most remarkable for how many of those who worked on it went onto even bigger success. It would only be a few years after the end of The Bob Cummings Show that its creator, Paul Henning, would see his career peak with The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres. Rod Amateau, who directed many episodes of The Bob Cummings Show (only Bob Cummings himself directed more), went onto produce the show Dobie Gillis as well as direct most of its episodes. Of course, as fans of both The Bob Cummings Show and Dobie Gillis know, Rod Amateau was not the only veteran of The Bob Cummings Show  to go onto Dobie Gillis. Dwayne Hickman signed to star as Dobie in December 1958.

Several other individuals from The Bob Cummings Show would also go onto great successes in their career. Ann B. Davis. who had won Emmy Awards for playing Schultzy on The Bob Cummings Show, went onto play housekeeper Alice Nelson on The Brady Bunch. Nancy Kulp, who played birdwatcher Pamela on The Bob Cummings Show, would work with Paul Henning again and in a bigger role on a show. She was Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies. Both Joi Lansing and Lisa Gaye would become frequent guest stars on television in the Sixties.

Curiously, Bob Cummings would be one person who would not repeat his success on television. The New Bob Cummings Show lasted only one season. And while it has a cult following now, My Living Doll with Julie Newmar also lasted only one season. While he might not have seen any more success on TV, Bob Cummings aould see further success in such movies as Beach Party (1963), The Carpetbaggers (1964), and What a Way to Go! (1964).

The Bob Cummings Show presented a sharp contrast to the domestic comedies popular in the mid to late Fifties, shows such as Father Knows Best and The Donna Reed Show. Not only was Bob Collins a bachelor, but he was entirely resistant to the idea of getting married. Bob devoted most of his free time to pursuing beautiful women. And while sexual intercourse was never mentioned on the show (this was the Fifties, after all), it seems likely most adult viewers thought Bob Collins was having sex. Although tame by today's standards, The Bob Cummings Show was risque for its time.

The Bob Cummings Show also differed from the domestic comedies of the time in the nature of its comedy. The humour in many of the family sitcoms of the era tended to be gentle. In contrast, the humour ion The Bob Cummings Show could be very broad, as one would expect a comedy created by Paul Henning to be. In fact, The Bob Cummings Show resembled Paul Henning's later creation The Beverly Hillbillies to a degree. While many of the domestic comedies episodes would revolve around a crisis that was neatly resolved in a half hour, the emphasis on both The Bob Cummings Show and The Beverly Hillbillies was on comedy. What is more, like The Beverly Hillbillies would later, The Bob Cummings Show would sometimes feature story arcs that unfolded over multiple episodes.

The Bob Cummings Show was nominated for several Emmy Awards from 1956 to 1959 in categories from Best Comedy Series to Best Editing. It won two Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Ann B. Davis as Schultzy.

Many today would consider The Bob Cummings Show to be sexist, and on the show Bob certainly objectifies women. Of course, it must also be pointed out that many women objectified Bob as well, not to mention the fact that his womanizing almost never went well. While an argument can be made that the show is dated, it can also be pointed out that it was in some ways ahead of its time. The Bob Cummings Show paved the way for The Beverly Hillbillies, which would pave the way for future sitcoms that sometimes used story arcs and did not resolve things neatly in one half hour.  Of course, The Bob Cummings Show would also serve as a launching pad for further success for many of those of who worked on the show, from actors Ann B. Davis and Dwayne Hickman to director Rod Amateau to producer and creator Paul Henning. The Bob Cummings Show may not be known to many younger people, but it was a revolutionary show for its time.