WB Frog croaks, sort of

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The Frog is dead. And not because he was too old, but because he was too young.

Not that any of us much noticed — which is sort of telling right there — but the WB is no longer using Michigan J. Frog as its corporate symbol.

"In my opinion, the Frog is dead and buried," said WB chairman Garth Ancier.

"Services will be held," said WB Entertainment president David Janollari.

"The Frog has been on life support for a long time, and then we got permission from a federal court to remove the feeding tube," Ancier said.

Which would seem sort of an ignoble end to a character that debuted in Warner Bros.' 1955 animated short "One Froggy Evening," was in a sequel ("Another Froggy Evening") the same year, then in 1990 showed up in a couple of episodes of "Tiny Toon Adventures." The Frog finally found steady work in 1995 when he became the mascot of the upstart WB network.

It isn't that poor Michigan did anything wrong. He had great appeal to the kid and teen viewers who flock to the WB. But that was the problem. The network derives its advertising dollars by selling audiences between the ages of 18 and 34, and it's not doing as well with the upper half of that demo.

"The strategy is to make sure that the perception with the audience is that we're a destination for that segment that's 25-34," said Janollari, pointing to the "perception" that the WB is "really a teenage service" because "there have been so many shows set in high school that have been successful."

"We certainly hear it a lot — 'My 14-year-old daughter loves your network. I don't watch it, but it's really for her,' " Ancier said. "And we're just tryng to break that perception because our median age is obviously not 14. And it isn't what we monetize."

And research spelled the death of the Frog.

"People in their late 20s, early 30s — which is very much a part of our demographic — do not perceive the network yet as for (them). . . . We always have done very well in that 12-24 range, and we've not done as well in the 25-34 range," Ancier said. "It's sort of a guilty pleasure, or people just don't acknowledge watching it. And we're trying to crack it."

"That (Frog) was a symbol that . . . perpetuated the young, teen feel of the network, and that is not the image we want to put out," Janollari said.

Ancier's resume includes a (rather brief) stint as president of NBC Entertainment. So would he have considered killing the peacock while he was there?

"Well, no, the peacock was a true American icon," Ancier said. "I don't think you would look at the Frog and say that's one of the most corporately recognized symbols, like McDonalds' arches, in corporate iconography, if that's the right word."

And, don't worry, kiddies, the Frog isn't really dead.

"I just got off the phone with Sander Schwartz at Warner Animation who said that Michigan J. Frog is actually alive and well," said Brad Turrell, the WB's executive vice president of communications. "He's living in Bolivia under the witness-protection plan."

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