6
Roswell Fans Are Saucy
When Roswell fans sent The WB thousands of bottles of Tabasco sauce — the preferred condiment of the drama's alien teenagers — to voice their support for the fledgling sci-fi series, they proved how fiercely loyal the network's teen viewers could be. A second Roswell rally resulted in the show being picked up by UPN in 2001, and other SOS (''save our show'') movements have had similar success. After frantic Veronica Mars fans flew a banner over L.A., The CW picked up the drama.

7
Jamie Foxx's Sitcom
Long before Foxx channeled Ray Charles or joined Miami Vice, he headlined his own series on The WB: The Jamie Foxx Show, which premiered in 1996 and ran for five seasons. After previous stints on Fox's In Living Color and Roc, the comedian charmed viewers as a struggling actor working in his aunt and uncle's hotel. The show was The WB's highest-rated comedy in the '96-97 season. Unfortunately, Foxx also gave us Booty Call in 1997 — but we think enough time has passed to forgive him.

8
Two Words: ''Dubba, Dubba''
The WB didn't start out as TV's premier location for gorgeous teen cheekbones — first it had to go through a gawky phase as the home of ''quirky'' comedies (Kirk Cameron as a ladies' man!) and ''urban'' sitcoms (The Parent 'Hood) . In keeping with that fun-lovin' image, The WB launched in '95 with a truly ill-conceived slogan: ''Dubba-dubba-dubba-WB.'' Worse yet, receptionists at the network's Burbank office had to answer the phone using the silly moniker. The indignity was short-lived: ''Dubba'' was retired in 1997.

9
Gilmore Girls Watch Pippi
In a show treasured for obscure literary and pop-culture references, the 2004 episode dubbed ''We Got Us a Pippi Virgin!'' was an especially esoteric achievement: Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory (Alexis Bledel) exposed their boyfriends to the camp pleasures of the badly dubbed 1969 Swedish Pippi Longstocking movie. ''Virgin'' also included a typically meta Gilmore aside, as Lorelai's highfalutin dad, Richard, confessed to watching TV and being appalled by ''the horrors to be discovered there!''

10
Michigan J. Frog Is Laid to Rest
In July 2005, the jaunty frog was sent to that big lily pad in the sky after 10 years, amid concerns he skewed too young. (The WB hoped to woo older fans with stars like Don Johnson.) Six months later, the network croaked.

11
Smallville Institutes a No-Fly Zone
When you tell a Superman story, you're supposed to look up in the sky and see him fly. But Smallville's savvy revision of the Man of Steel's adolescence kept the budding hero firmly grounded. ''No flights, no tights'' was its mantra; emotionally resonant drama was its mission. Not that the show skimped on spectacle: In the 2001 pilot's opening sequence, a radioactive meteor shower gave the series enough freak-of-the-week complications to keep Clark Kent (Tom Welling) busy for years. By sprucing up the soap with mythic grandeur, The WB scored a durable hit, and bequeaths to The CW a steely cornerstone.