TheWB.com Promises More Shows Online

A few weeks ago Warner Bros. launched the beta version of their online streaming video portal (think Hulu but with WB shows) with a smattering of episodes from Friends, Smallville, One Tree Hill, All of Us, Gilmore Girls, The O.C., Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The Wayans Bros. plus a couple of online original series. I’ve been a member of the beta site for several weeks and find it to be pretty user friendly if a bit light on content. Seems that’s about to change, though.

Warner Bros. has announced that the public launch of the site will be August 27 with additional episodes and shows, including:

• Everwood
• Veronica Mars
• Roswell
• Angel
• In Living Color (clips)
• MadTV
• Firefly
• The Loop

They’ll be adding new episodes every week, with older episodes expiring after an unknown amount of time. My Firefly DVD set already gets plenty of play, but I’d love to be able to watch Veronica Mars again (still haven’t splurged on those DVDs) and I always meant to watch Roswell. I’m a frequent user of Hulu.com with it’s rich content, and look forward to making TheWB.com another top site for watching shows I’ve missed.

TheWB.com isn’t only going to air old TV shows, though. WB is also launching several online-only series over the next few months, starting with Sorority Forever: a thriller set in a sorority that everyone on campus is dying to get into but there’s a secret hidden behind the red door. There will be 40 episodes over eight weeks with a new episode every weekday.

Five more online series (Rich Girl / Poor Girl, Exposed, Downer’s Grove, High Drama: Against All Oz, Joni & Suzanna) are set to premiere in 2009. Will these online series prove that the WB is on the cutting edge, tapping into the growing trend of audiences moving away from traditional network schedules? And how will success be measured for this medium? Do you plan to watch?