Today is the last day that the WB will exist. Tomorrow it and UPN merge to form the CW. I'm mostly excited about this (despite being sad about Everwood and Reba being casualties of the merger), however I am sad about the WB ending. And, I wanted to remind you all that:

As a good-bye, the WB is airing the pilots of its significant shows today.

5pm - Felicity
6pm - Angel
7pm - Buffy the Vampire Slayer
9pm - Dawson's Creek

**check your local listings**

I will totally be watching! I missed out on seeing Felicity when it first aired so I'm excited to check it out. Even though I think it's weird that they're playing Angel before Buffy I'm excited to watch them one last time on the network that (mostly) nurtured these two brilliant shows (I'm trying not to focus on the too soon cancelling of Angel). And it'll be fun to end with the post-modern teen angsting of Dawson's Creek!

I thought it would be fun, as a good-bye, if I listed my favourite memorable moments from the shows I watched on the WB. ( Good Times on the WB )

Holy Crap!! That was pretty much my reaction last night. Oh, and I was shaking.

It was such an intense tv night, I was only able to watch Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls. I noticed an interesting – and unspoilery – similar theme in both episodes. Both shows’ season finales featured the motif of waking up from dreams/sleep.

( Oh yeah, spoilers gallore for Veronica Mars ‘Not Pictured’ 2:22 )

( Some very brief thought about Gilmore Girls ‘Partings’ 6:22 )

Since this post is heavy in spoilers, I thought I’d include a couple of fun things for those who don’t watch the shows or haven’t seen the episodes yet.

- Check out this hysterical vid (that I found out about from femmenerd and kittyzams): James Marsters - Pretty Fly For a White Guy. It confirmed for me that I’m more of a JM fangirl than I’d realized because I’ve seen basically every one of those clips.

- If any of you missed Stephen Colbert’s speech at the White House Correspondent’s Diner, you must see it NOW!

In between watching VM and GG, I called one of my BFFs (in a state of shock and excitement) and we had a ridiculously cracked out conversation in which we planned two different vacations to take together: 1.Travel in England & Scotland, and 2. Take a road trip through the U.S. The second idea got really insane as we started imagining all the people we’d bring with us (our plan started to sound like The Muppet Movie).

My friend also told me how she discovered these kids who’d started a fire in one of Toronto’s ravines, so she called the police. After waiting for a bit, she got worried about the fire because she knows how easily these kinds of fires can spread, so grabbed her red bucket and headed back to the ravine (there’s a stream in the ravine). She found the firefighters who were still searching for the fire, and directed them to it. Because they were in the ravine, the firefighters didn’t have their fire equipment so they asked to borrow her red bucket!!! That image totally cracks me up.

So the BIG news is that UPN and the WB are merging to become one network!!! The new network will be called CW, and it will launch in the fall of 2006. I'm unclear on what CW stands for since I don't recall reading that info in any of the articles, not even in the official press release.

By chance I caught a bit of the news conference announcing this and saw clips from all my favourite WB & UPN shows (as well as a few others) which suggests to me that these shows will still be around next year on the CW:

Veronica Mars (UPN), Gilmore Girls (WB), Everwood (WB), Smallville (WB), Supernatural (WB), One Tree Hill (WB), Reba (WB), Beauty & the Geek (WB), America's Next Top Model (UPN), Everybody Hates Chris (UPN) and Girlfriends (UPN).

Here's my guess for the shows that may also survive on the CW:

The proposed Aquaman show (WB), Related (WB), and Eve (UPN).

These shows are unlikely to survive (but may still have a chance):

All of Us (UPN), Half and Half (UPN), Love Inc. (UPN), and Cuts (UPN).

Awaiting the death notice:

Charmed (WB), What I Like About You (WB), Twins (WB), Living with Fran (WB) and One on One (UPN)

Already gone:

7th Heaven (WB)

The exciting news I've heard is that Gilmore Girls and VM are likely to be programmed on Tuesday nights at 8pm and 9pm respectively. I love that line-up idea so much!! It would be the perfect pairing for both shows. From the sounds of things - and how positively it's being talked about - VM is totally getting renewed next year!!!!

I'm a little sad because I loved my netlets, so it'll be bitter-sweet to see them go. Clearly the business heads of the 2 networks have decided to stop splitting ratings and competing for the same demographic, and combine forces to become a major player. The advantage of having 2 networks like the WB and UPN is that there was 2 network tv options for edgy and awesome shows that wouldn't survive on the other 4 networks, now there will only be one place to go. Will we see more shows go the way of Joan of Arcadia, Firefly, Freaks and Geeks, life as we know it and Undeclared? I hope not, I really like the current president of UPN, Dawn Ostroff, who will become the President of Entertainment on CW (okay, I don't know much about her but she's supportive of VM and Everybody Hates Chris so she likes quality tv), so I hope she will be able keep quality and diverse programmes without lettings ratings concerns get good shows cancelled.

I've decided not to worry about the fate of my shows (especially since their prospects look good right now). I'll keep an open mind about this news and see how this unfolds. As my grandmother used to say "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."