The WB Matures

Another network with its eyes on on Thursdays, The WB is sacrificing proven hits Smallville and Everwood there to tussle with the big networks. It’s a risky move.

Upstart teen ensemble drama One Tree Hill moves from Tuesdays to Wednesdays at 8, leading in to new arrival Related. On Mondays at 8, long-running family drama 7th Heaven opens up for crime show Just Legal and, on Tuesdays at 8, Gilmore Girls leads in to new thriller Supernatural.

Across its schedule, The WB now aspires to a slightly older, particularly to the 25- to 34-year-old set. “We’ve battled the perception that we were [only] a teenage destination,” says David Janollari, The WB Entertainment president. New and returning shows, he says, offer characters for a variety of age groups.

Just Legal (drama, Mondays at 9): Don Johnson plays a washed-up lawyer with an 18-year-old whiz kid partner From Jerry Bruckheimer Television and Warner Bros.

Supernatural (drama, Tuesdays at 9): Brothers hunt odd evil in small towns. From Warner Bros. and Wonderland Sound and Vision

Related (drama, Wednesdays at 9): From Friends producer Marta Kauffman and Sex and the City writer Liz Tuccillo, a story of four very different adult sisters. From Warner Bros. and Class IV Productions

Twins (comedy, Fridays at 8:30): Melanie Griffith is the mother of polar-opposite twins (Sara Gilbert and newcomer Molly Stanton) who run the family lingerie biz. From KoMut Entertainment and Warner Bros.

Pepper Dennis (midseason): Rebecca Romijn plays a Chicago TV reporter with a needy sister and rival anchor as a possible love interest. From 20th Century Fox.

The Bedford Diaries (midseason): Six New York City college students live and learn. Executive producers include Oz creator Tom Fontana and movie mogul Barry Levinson. From HBO Independent Productions, Warner Bros. and The Levinson/Fontana Co.

Misconceptions (midseason): A teenage girl wants to meet her sperm-donor father, who is not exactly the Ivy League-educated surgeon her mother thought. From Imagine Television and Twentieth Century Fox.

Modern Men (midseason): Three childhood chums who have difficulty dealing with women seek help of a life coach. From Jerry Bruckheimer and Warner Bros.