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Buzz over new series has helped draw new advertisers and their wallets to The WB; show cited as bright spot in dull L
In the pilot for Felicity, the young protagonist abandon plans to attend Stanford and transfers to a New York universit) because she has developed a mad crush on a high school acquaintance who's going there. The decision, Felicity admits in a letter to a confidante, "might be a colossal mistake" Not from The WB's standpoint. With the hour drama Feliz its, the three-year-old network has the one show pegged cd by network brass, ad executives and critics as most likely to succeed. Just two weeks ago, advertising giant BBDO Media identified the show as the potential breakout hit among the 37 new shows premiering this fall.
On Felicity's strength alone, analyst Harold Vogel of SG Cowen & Co. projects that the network will cut its fiscal 1999 losses from about $90 million to about $65 million-even as programming costs jump 20%, to more than $200 million, to pay for adding Thursday night to its schedule. If Felicity hits as predicted. Vogel projects that the network will be on target to make a small profit in fiscal 2001.
Unlike the spur-of-the-moment decision-making of Felicity (the character), Felicity (the series) is part of a carefully crafted WB business plan targeting viewers 18-34. It is a plan that resembles nothing so much as Fox in its early days. President Jamie Kellner and programming chief Garth Ancierwho, not incidentally, helped to launch Fox-are betting that Felicity's mix of angst, humor and romance will appeal to adults recalling their own formative years, as well as to college-age kids. It should also attract high schoolers, who traditionally like to identify with the older, cooler set.
"If Felicity can help WB maintain its momentum, [The WB] will be well on their way to becoming the fifth network," says Audrey Steele, manager of strategic media resources at ad buyer Zenith Media. The WB's formula paid off in spades last season for surprise hit Dawson's Creek, a drama about high school life that surprisingly grabbed half of its audience from advertisers' coveted 18-49-year-olds. The WB's other hit, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a cult comedy among the high-school set, also performed...