The WB

Credits

Descriptions by
Sov and SBF2004

Captures by
TheRealMarcel2000

Editions by
TheRealMarcel2000, DisneyInternationalFan, Anticritic12, Keylonrocks7356, LMgamer36 and SBF2004

Video captures courtesy of
Kristopher Garlington, Israel González and HelloFromTVLand

The WB Television Network
Founded:	November 2, 1993 (company) January 11, 1995 (network)
Founder:	Jamie Kellner
Defunct:	September 17, 2006
Fate:	Merged with UPN to form The CW
Successors:	The CW
Parent:	Warner Bros. (64%) Tribune Broadcasting (25%) Jamie Kellner (11%)

Background

The WB was Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting's attempt at a major network, spearheaded by former Fox network executive Jamie Kellner. Like UPN, it was formed from six independent stations owned by Tribune Broadcasting. In 2001, AOL Time Warner moved oversight of The WB to Turner Broadcasting System with Kellner joining the former. However, Kellner exited in 2003. The WB ceased operations in 2006 along with Viacom's network, UPN (later owned by CBS Corporation), and both networks merged to form The CW.

1st ID (January 11, 1995)

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Visuals: Outside Stage 30 in the Warner Bros. Ranch at night, Bugs Bunny (voiced by Greg Burson) and Daffy Duck (voiced by Joe Alaskey) are talking about who might pull the switch to start the new network. Daffy later answers Bugs that he might do it. The camera pans right to Chuck Jones sitting on his chair and drawing Michigan J. Frog (voiced by Jeff McCarthy) wearing a black top hat on an easel. After Chuck does his famous signature, Michigan smiles at him while he leaps out of the painting and turns on the switch to reveal a large Hollywood lights-style sign of The WB's logo which features the letters "WB" from WB's shield logo with "THE" in blue. Michigan later stands on Chuck's shoulder when he's holding a cane. He greets Michigan with "What's up, frog?" and Chuck turns forward and smiles at the audience while Michigan does his famous cakewalk dance.

Trivia:

• Until the 2003-04 season, The WB's original branding was actually set in the Warner Bros. Studios lot (or often in the Warner Bros. Ranch) during the night with neon signs for The WB's shows (which gradually added throughout the years), as well as a neon sign for the Kids' WB! block (when it launched during the fall of 1995).
• Michigan J. Frog (who was first appeared in the 1955 Merrie Melodies short One Froggy Evening) was the network's mascot from January 11, 1995 to July 22, 2005.
• Michigan would appear in almost every promo for The WB during that era either promoting about shows on the network, singing about sponsor tags that appeared during commercial breaks for The WB's shows among many others until the 1998-99 season.

Technique: A hybrid of 2D and live-action. Michigan J. Frog in this ID was animated by Chuck Jones and filmed at the Warner Bros. Ranch in Burbank, California.

Audio: An abbreviated version of The WB's fanfare (which features the first few lines of "Hello! Ma Baby", which became the network's theme song until the 2003-04 season), as well as the arrangement for The WB's version of said song (which was used on idents where Michigan would sing several verses during several promos promoting shows for the network among others) playing after that.

Availability: This was only seen on the network's launch on January 11, 1995, prior to the first episode of The Wayans Bros., one of the network's launch programs.

2nd ID (1995-1999)

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Visuals: In a night sky, there is The WB sign but with the lights turned off, Michigan J. Frog, rises up as he sings "The WB!", which causes the "WB" letters to light up to the top.

Technique: A hybrid of 2D and live-action.

Audio: At the beginning of the ID, we hear the sound of an orchestra warming up accompanied by the conductor clicks his baton four times and a ding; with the people chatting and crickets chirping. Michigan J. Frog singing "The WB!" in a long, baritone manner as the letters light up. After Michigan's song, we also hear the sound of the people cheering.

3rd ID (1998-2004)

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Visuals: In the Warner Bros. Studios lot at night, the camera zooms in to The WB sign, where the "WB" letters light up. There is also the people walking and working in a studio.

Technique: Live-action, which was filmed in Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, where New York Street is located.

Audio: An orchestral version of "Hello! Ma Baby" accompanied by a male announcer (Hal Douglas) says "This is The WB Television Network".

4th ID (1998-2001)

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Visuals: On a dark blue curtain background with transparent shadows of the scrolling "WB" letters, there is the gold version of The WB logo, which zooms in a bit, and then stops.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: An instrumental version of the "What's The Place I Want to Be? Dubba Dubba WB!" theme music (the network's campaign music from the 1998-99 season) accompanied by a male announcer says "You're watching The WB Television Network".

Availability: This was only used before shows on WB 100+ affiliates.

5th ID (2001-2004)

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Visuals: On a black background, there is The WB logo, which is tilted a bit and zooms out. The logo flips in to reveal the redesigned version of Michigan J. Frog's head, wearing the upper half of a morning suit with his gloved hand, who is smiling and winks to the viewers. The background quickly fades to a dark gray vignette as it does this.

Variants:

• A version exists where Michigan's eyes are closed.
• There are four animated variants of Michigan's head:
  • He takes his top hat off and bowing.
  • He stretches out a bow tie from his suit.
  • He waves his hand and greets the viewers.
  • He puts his hand on his chin.
• Sometimes, the slogan "watch the frog" is seen at the bottom.
• A Christmas variant exists, where Michigan has a red bow tie and a variety of snowflakes can be seen floating across the logo.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: A short fanfare with whoosh sounds.

Audio Variant: Sometimes, a male voiceover says "Thanks for coming! Watch the frog.".

6th ID (2004-2005)

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Visuals: On a white background, there is a variety of colored bars featuring various celebrities of The WB's shows walking about, and a tilted version of The WB logo appears in front of the people.

Variants:

• There's a variant featuring the outlined version of Michigan J. Frog's head from before on a black background, in which the bars slide twice and form The WB logo.
• Another variant features the slogan "The WB: the first decade" with The WB logo and "EST. 1995" at the bottom.

Technique: A mix of live-action and 2D computer animation.

Audio: A snippet of "Ride" by The Vines.

Audio Variant: Sometimes, a different rock tune is used.

7th ID (2005-2006)

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Visuals: On a white background, there are some Ralph Steadman-esque paint splats of yellow, green, blue and black featuring various celebrities of The WB's shows, and the then-new logo of The WB, consisting of the black splat and the white script text "ThE WB", appears as it forms.

Trivia: This was the last branding of The WB (before the launch of The CW) to not feature the mascot Michigan J. Frog, according to the announcement by The WB chairman Garth Ancier in the Beverly Hilton ballroom where the network's day at the TCA press tour was taking place on July 22, 2005.

Variant: Sometimes, the network's original logo (tilted version) is used instead.

Technique: A mix of live-action and CGI.

Audio: A snippet of "Keep on Rising" by Bent Fabric.

Audio Variant: Sometimes, a short techno tune is used.

References

The WB

The CW ►