Forget CW!
We suggest a catchier network name steeped in TV history
Jackie Gleason, The Honeymooners
We all know that CW is a terrible name for the new network that will combine programming from WB and UPN. There have even been reports that co-owners CBS and Time Warner could change it before next season.
That's why the Biz is here to help. Before they pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees to a branding consultant, they should try this: the DuMont Network.
As readers who've spent hours in the bathroom with The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows already know, DuMont was the original "fourth network" that was in business from 1948 to 1956. With no radio network from which to draw for talent or shows, DuMont was the first TV network to create its own stars (just like WB was doing in happier times). It was where Jackie Gleason did his first Honeymooners skit. It introduced America to the comic genius of Ernie Kovacs. Such a heritage would play great with the many nostalgia-loving TV critics out there.
Of course, the name doesn't mean much to CW's target audience of 18- to 34-year-old viewers. Perfect. The network promotion department will figure out how to make it cool. ("It's an all new Chris followed by Girlfriends — tonight on the D!")
DuMont actually shares some bloodlines with CW. Paramount, whose TV division is now owned by CBS, was a production partner with DuMont. Chicago TV station WGN (owned by Tribune Co., which will carry CW on most of its stations) was a major affiliate. DuMont was the first network to carry wrestling in prime time. CW will carry on that proud tradition.
According to Bruce DuMont, president of the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago and nephew of network founder Allen B. DuMont, CBS wanted to buy DuMont back in the '50s to get the company's TV manufacturing business so it could compete with NBC's parent, RCA. "They declined," says DuMont. "One of the bad business decisions they made."
But Bruce DuMont loves the idea of reviving the name. "It's retro," he says. "It would be an interesting full-circle story." The idea even occurred to him recently when he was looking at the old DuMont network logo that hangs on the wall of his office. "We were thinking, 'CW? What the hell is that?'"
DuMont isn't sure of who owns the rights to the name — but hey, that's what lawyers are for. (And since we spoke with him, he's registered the name with the trademark office.) He's onboard, and so are we. What do you think, Les Moonves?
