27 juli 2001

By Josef Adalian & Michael Schneider

HOLLYWOOD - The WB has greenlit seven episodes of No Ordinary Girl, an hourlong comedy-drama the network plans to use as part of its summer 2002 original programming strategy. The series, about a teen and her family, comes from The Wonder Years duo of scribe Bob Brush and director Michael Dinner. The show was originally developed as a half-hour, until the parties decided that it worked best as an hour. In addition, the WB will hold back four original episodes of veteran drama Felicity to air next summer, most likely in tandem with Girl. The episodes will take place after lead character Felicity (Keri Russell) graduates from college in an episode slated for May. WB president Jordan Levin said the Girl order was not "a burn-off strategy," an industry term for dumping unpromising shows during the summer months when no one's watching. "It's an aggressive strategy to address the programming need of our audience and do something that is fitting into summer," Levin said. "At the same time, we're really addressing the need on the part of our advertisers to have something original for them in the summer, when their relationship with us has the greatest need." To help with the economics of producing an original series for summer - a time when advertisers traditionally pay far less for spots - the network is talking to advertisers about coming onboard as chief sponsor of Girl. The WB used a similar strategy two years ago when Coca-Cola sponsored the summer run of sudser Young Americans. "It speaks to the fact that there are companies that want to have more original programming in the summer that targets the teen audience," Levin said. "We need to find unique arrangements to make the economic model of summer programming work. That said, we order programming because we're excited about it and generally enthusiastic about it." Girl revolves around 16-year-old Paige (Amber Tamblyn), her parents (Mark Harmon and Susan Gibney) and her siblings. "We're betting on the team that produced The Wonder Years for nearly its entire run," Levin said. "The core idea was, How do you do a female Wonder Years when you get into the internal character and do it present-day? Bob is drawing on his own experience raising a teen daughter." The show's pilot, which takes place at the end of summer, is set at the family's beach house. With the series now planned for summer, it's expected all of the episodes will take place at that time of year, meaning the pilot may not necessarily be the first episode aired, Levin said. Brush and Dinner worked together on both The Wonder Years and Early Edition. More recently, Brush was a writer and producer on Ed. Dinner directed last year's Richard Dreyfuss pic The Crew. As for Felicity, Levin said the drama's 22-episodes will be split into three separate story arcs. The show will bow in the fall and air original episodes through December. In January, the WB will bow the new Kevin Williamson-penned hour Glory Days in Felicity's 9 p.m. Wednesday slot. Felicity will return in the spring for another batch of originals, which will culminate in May with graduation. After a break, the show will return again sometime in summer for a four-episode arc focusing on post-grad life for the show's main characters.