Most of UPN's comedies succeeded by targeting an audience that, for decades ([[Series/GoodTimes with]] [[Series/SanfordAndSon a]] [[Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir few]] [[Series/TheCosbyShow exceptions]]), had been largely ignored by the major networks -- African-Americans. This led to it getting a reputation of being "the black people's channel" (complete with such backronyms as "the [[FunWithAcronyms Urban People's Network]]"), frequently winning the ratings in that demographic even though, overall, it lagged far behind the "Big Four" broadcast networks (Creator/{{CBS}}, Creator/{{NBC}}, Creator/{{ABC}} and Creator/{{Fox}}) for its entire existence. During the creation of Creator/TheCW, there was a lot of concern that the merger would see the WB side "whitewash" the UPN side in order to attract the former network's more lucrative white, upper-middle class audience -- fears that seemed to have been confirmed when shows like ''EverybodyHatesChris'' and ''Series/TheGame'' got canceled after just a few years of running on The CW.

3rd Feb '13 4:39:53 PM MattFisherNL

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Most of UPN's comedies succeeded by targeting an audience that, for decades (with [[Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir a few]] [[Series/TheCosbyShow exceptions]]), had been largely ignored by the major networks -- African-Americans. This led to it getting a reputation of being "the black people's channel" (complete with such backronyms as "the [[FunWithAcronyms Urban People's Network]]"), frequently winning the ratings in that demographic even though, overall, it lagged far behind the "Big Four" broadcast networks (Creator/{{CBS}}, Creator/{{NBC}}, Creator/{{ABC}} and {{Fox}}) for its entire existence. During the creation of TheCW, there was a lot of concern that the merger would see the WB side "whitewash" the UPN side in order to attract the former network's more lucrative white, upper-middle class audience -- fears that seemed to have been confirmed when shows like ''EverybodyHatesChris'' and ''Series/TheGame'' got canceled after just a few years of running on The CW.

The network had a children's block for its first four years called "UPN Kids", which was known for MarvelComics cartoons, a cartoon based on ''{{Jumanji}}'', and cheesy teencoms like ''SweetValleyHigh'' and ''BreakerHigh'' (teencom on a CoolBoat). It was not well-remembered or well-rated, and was purposefully played down in order to not cannibalize the {{ratings}} of Viacom stablemate {{Nickelodeon}}. By 1999, UPN gave up and let {{Disney}} have the time for "One Too", the last gasp of ''TheDisneyAfternoon'' and an extension of OneSaturdayMorning which lasted until 2003.

UPN also had the broadcast rights for Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s ''[[WWESmackDown SmackDown!]]'' program up until the end. Despite several efforts to [[ScrewedByTheNetwork screw the show]] (including a move to the FridayNightDeathSlot and bowing to pressure, as well as in turn applying pressure to the WWE itself, over the controversial ForeignWrestlingHeel Mohammad Hassan character after [[TooSoon the London terrorist bombings in 2005]]), it remained one of the network's strongest-rated shows until the literal end (the network faded to black at the end of a ''Smackdown'' episode without any ceremony), and even made the transition to TheCW (though it only lasted two years on the new network before moving to {{MyNetworkTV}}). UPN's final two weeks of programming weren't seen in markets where [=MyNetworkTV=] replaced UPN, as it launched nearly two weeks before TheCW. (''Smackdown'', however, was picked up for those weeks on Tribune-owned WB stations that were transitioning to The CW.)

to:

Most of UPN's comedies succeeded by targeting an audience that, for decades (with [[Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir a few]] [[Series/TheCosbyShow exceptions]]), had been largely ignored by the major networks -- African-Americans. This led to it getting a reputation of being "the black people's channel" (complete with such backronyms as "the [[FunWithAcronyms Urban People's Network]]"), frequently winning the ratings in that demographic even though, overall, it lagged far behind the "Big Four" broadcast networks (Creator/{{CBS}}, Creator/{{NBC}}, Creator/{{ABC}} and Creator/{{Fox}}) for its entire existence. During the creation of Creator/TheCW, there was a lot of concern that the merger would see the WB side "whitewash" the UPN side in order to attract the former network's more lucrative white, upper-middle class audience -- fears that seemed to have been confirmed when shows like ''EverybodyHatesChris'' and ''Series/TheGame'' got canceled after just a few years of running on The CW.

The network had a children's block for its first four years called "UPN Kids", which was known for MarvelComics cartoons, a cartoon based on ''WesternAnimation/{{Jumanji}}'', and cheesy teencoms like ''SweetValleyHigh'' and ''BreakerHigh'' (teencom on a CoolBoat). It was not well-remembered or well-rated, and was purposefully played down in order to not cannibalize the {{ratings}} of Viacom stablemate {{Nickelodeon}}. By 1999, UPN gave up and let Creator/{{Disney}} have the time for "One Too", the last gasp of ''TheDisneyAfternoon'' and an extension of OneSaturdayMorning which lasted until 2003.

UPN also had the broadcast rights for Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s ''[[WWESmackDown SmackDown!]]'' program up until the end. Despite several efforts to [[ScrewedByTheNetwork screw the show]] (including a move to the FridayNightDeathSlot and bowing to pressure, as well as in turn applying pressure to the WWE itself, over the controversial ForeignWrestlingHeel Mohammad Hassan character after [[TooSoon the London terrorist bombings in 2005]]), it remained one of the network's strongest-rated shows until the literal end (the network faded to black at the end of a ''Smackdown'' episode without any ceremony), and even made the transition to TheCW (though it only lasted two years on the new network before moving to Creator/{{MyNetworkTV}}). UPN's final two weeks of programming weren't seen in markets where [=MyNetworkTV=] replaced UPN, as it launched nearly two weeks before Creator/TheCW. (''Smackdown'', however, was picked up for those weeks on Tribune-owned WB stations that were transitioning to The CW.)

30th Dec '12 3:55:40 AM justanid

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[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/UPN_logo.gif]]

The '''United Paramount Network''' (1995-2006) was a network launched by boat company Chris-Craft (through subsidiary station ownership group United Television, hence the "United" in "United Paramount Network"), and {{Viacom}} (whose Creator/{{Paramount}} Pictures is part of the namesake). Viacom would buy CC's share in 2000, and CC/Viacom's UPN stations were sold to Fox the next year; they later became the nucleus of MyNetworkTV. During UPN's last nine months of operation it was owned by CBS Corporation (the new name for the original incarnation of Viacom). In September 2006, it merged with Creator/{{The WB}} to form Creator/{{The CW}}, which is owned half by Creator/{{CBS}} and half by Warner Bros.

UPN's most popular shows were its flagship shows, from Paramount's flagship franchise -- ''Franchise/StarTrek'', in the form of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' and ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' (in fact, ''Voyager'' was UPN's first show period). The rest of UPN's lineup was of varying quality, but was largely made up of mostly forgettable comedies, action dramas, and various sci-fi shows that, for whatever reason or another, struggled or completely failed to catch on. The main exceptions were ''Main/{{Roswell}}'' and ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', which the network (ironically, in hindsight) acquired from The WB. There were a good number of other interspersed successes, such as ''VeronicaMars'', ''{{Moesha}}'', ''TheParkers'' and ''EverybodyHatesChris'', the lattermost migrating over to The CW along with another hit, ''AmericasNextTopModel''.

The end of UPN was much more tumultuous for that network than the WB's end, as Fox was angered by being completely left out of the CW mix and CBS deciding that theirs and Tribune's UPN and WB stations would be the foundation of the network, with Fox stations in markets with Tribune and CBS-owned stations never considered at all. Within two days of the merger announcement every Fox-owned UPN station removed all UPN branding and never showed a UPN promotion again during their local time. Other affiliates were disappointed by UPN deciding to air nothing but repeats and ''Smackdown'' after the end of the TV season (while The WB at least aired some burned off shows to keep the lights on) and left the network by Memorial Day 2006 or later. By the time of UPN's last night on the air the network was just a two-hour straight nightly feed of repeats without any logos or branding.
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