The road to maturity is littered...
The road to maturity is littered with dead frogs. One in particular: Michigan J. Frog, formerly the corporate mascot of the WB network. "Dead and buried" is how WB's chairman
Garth Ancier put it late last week.
Seems the cartoon amphibian projected too much of the "young teen feel" that the network is trying to move away from, in hopes that the industry will see WB as something other than a destination for teens only (well, toss in a handful of older cult followers). Projecting a more mature front could bring in a broader demographic, and maybe (wishful thinking) less condescension from TV insiders, with the hopes of at least a few Emmy nominations in years to come.
To that effect, the new fall schedule includes among its stars a few veterans like Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith — thankfully, given their unhappy romantic history, in separate vehicles.
Johnson's show, the legal comedy-drama Just Legal, is pretty good, and his role is a terrific fit: He plays a burned-out boozehound lawyer inspired to rejoin the fight by 18-year-old whiz kid Jay Baruchel (the twitchy star of Fox's short-lived Undeclared). Griffith is also well cast as a dizzy, Botox-ed blonde mother of mismatched twins in the so-so sitcom Twins.
But there's an irony in WB's aspirations to grow up a bit this season, because the network's best new show we've seen so far (a romantic-comedy family drama about four sisters, Related, was unavailable for preview) is pure, high-octane cult TV from the classic WB mold.
Supernatural stars two seasoned WB hunks — Jared Padelecki of Gilmore Girls and Jensen Ackles of Smallville (and, earlier, Dawson's Creek) — as brothers who motor across the USA unearthing spooky urban and folklore legends. The pilot is hair-raising, and the prospects are good for a long, scary run. But will it give WB the respect it so clearly craves? Dream on.
