WB Unveils New Lineup

The WB's upcoming season will feature a "surprisingly functional" group of actors portraying college students, vampires and witches, jokes Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Buffy, Dawson's Creek, 7th Heaven and Charmed were all named as returning series at the network's annual presentation to advertisers yesterday in New York. The Frog network also renewed freshman hits Roswell, Angel and Popular.

"We're approaching another season without sweep stunts, newsmagazines, specials, reality series or even lifelines," joked WB chief Susanne Daniels.

The network's seventh season kicks off in July with two new series: boarding school drama Young Americans (featuring Dawson's Creek recurring star Rodney Scott) and the animated Baby Blues. Also new is the dramedy Gilmore Girls and Darren Star's Grosse Pointe, a comedy about what really goes on behind the scenes at a soap.

Hoping to beef up its comedy programming, WB has picked up ABC's Sabrina, the Teenage Witch starring Melissa Joan Hart. Hart accidentally said, "It's great to move to Fox, uh, the WB." Eddie Murphy's animated The PJs moves from Fox to WB ? no wonder Hart is confused. Nikki Cox (last seen on Norm) stars in Nikki, and some ex-Mad TV writers will present the sketch show Hype.

In an unusual move, Felicity returns to Wednesdays for 11 weeks through December. In January, Jack and Jill takes over for 13 weeks and then Felicity returns in April. This will give WB viewers 35 consecutive weeks of original programming and a lot of time for Keri Russell's hair to grow back.