Dawson's Creek

The teen years of a future U.S. president and his brother (no, not the Kennedys; the McCallisters). The two standout students are being raised by a headstrong single mother, who's grooming them for greatness.

Taking a "revisionist" approach to several DC Comics favorites, the weekly adventure series Birds of Prey could easily have been retitled "Charlie's Superheroines." Dina Meyer headed the cast as Barbara Gordon, who in her younger days fought crime in Gotham City as the caped-and-cowled Batgirl. Confined to a wheelchair since being attacked by the archvillain Joker, Barbara, now calling herself "Oracle," continued to battle evil as the mentor of her ward Helena Kyle (Ashley Scott), the out-of-wedlock daughter of stalwart hero Batman and slinky villainess Selena Kyle, aka Catwoman. Donning the crimefighting guise of "the Huntress," Helena likewise had a score to settle with the Joker, who was responsible for Catwoman's demise. Joining these two courageous ladies in their ongoing war on villainy was telepathic teenager Dinah Laurel Lance, aka "the Black Canary." Others in the cast included the perfidious Dr. Harleen Quinzel (Mia Sara), otherwise known as Harley Quinn (a character introduced on the various Batman animated cartoon series of the early '90s), and "official" lawman Detective Jesse Reese (Shemar Moore), whose dedication to his work was born of a disreputable childhood. Birds of Prey first aired on October 9, 2002.

Treat Williams starred in this warm-hearted family drama series as workaholic neurosurgeon Andrew Brown. Upon the death of his wife, Andrew realized that he had been sorely neglecting his children in favor of his work. As means of compensation, he moved his family out of Manhattan and into the mountain community of Everwood, CO, where he opened up a free clinic. Andrew's kids, 15-year-old Ephram (Gregory Smith) and nine-year-old Delia (Vivien Cardone), were at first resentful over being uprooted, while Everwood's resident doctor Harold Abbott (Tom Amandes) regarded Andrew as a threat to his own livelihood. Assembled by several former Dawson's Creek hands, Everwood made its WB Network debut on September 16, 2002.

The third live-action TV series based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' immortal "King of the Jungle" (there had also been a few cartoon series and innumerable theatrical features), the WB network's Tarzan offered a few new up-to-date spins on the classic canon. Orphaned in the jungle as an infant, John Clayton (played by male model Travis Fimmel) was raised by apes and came to maturity as the resourceful Tarzan. All this changed when John/Tarzan was captured by his uncle, billionaire industrialist Richard Clayton (Mitch Pileggi), and flown to New York City, there to take his rightful place as the heir apparent of the vast Greystoke business enterprises. As uncomfortable as Tarzan felt in his new civilized surroundings, it was nothing compared to the discomfiture expressed by Richard Clayton's sister, acid-tongued publisher Katherine Clayton (Lucy Lawless), who wished that Tarzan would return whence he came so that she could take over Greystoke. At last fed up by all the inter-family squabbling and backstabbing, Tarzan escaped to the concrete jungle known as Manhattan, where he befriended feisty female NYPD detective Jane Porter (Sarah Wayne Callies). Ultimately, Me-Tarzan teamed with You-Jane to track down elusive criminals, while Jane's detective boyfriend, Michael Foster (Johnny Messner), and her official partner, Sam Sullivan (Miguel Nunez Jr.), expressed dismay at the girl's newfound bravado -- and while Jane's younger sister, aspiring actress Nicki Porter (Leighton Meester), lolled around awaiting her next "damsel in distress" assignment. The new Tarzan swung into view on October 5, 2003.

The public and private lives of three Los Angeles paramedics were the focus of a fast-paced series from former firefighter Gregory Widen, who penned the theatrical film 'Backdraft' and drew on true stories for this show's plotlines.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon's first cult-favorite horror-comedy drama, used its supernatural trappings as the breeding ground for countless metaphors about adolescence, young adulthood, and female empowerment. But Angel, its spin-off and Whedon's second successful outing for the youth-oriented WB network, uses the mysterious demon realm to literalize the nebulous grey areas -- moral and ethical, professional and romantic -- that suddenly leap out at young adults once they've left the nest. A detective comedy-cum-supernatural soap opera with a conscience-stricken immortal as its ambiguous hero, Angel follows the adventures of the titular vampire and an ever-expanding group of sidekicks as they seek to "help the helpless" in the glamorous shadows of Los Angeles. If the cheap math for Buffy is Wonder Woman plus The Munsters times Beverly Hills 90210, then Angel is more like Dark Shadows meets Melrose Place with a dash of L.A. Law. David Boreanaz leads the cast as Angel, a handsome, brooding hunk who, like many Angelenos, doesn't look his age. Born nearly 250 years ago to a stern Irish father and christened Liam, he spent his youth as a dissolute and drunken lecher. Then he met Darla, an American beauty. She promised to show him the world, and she did -- after making him, like her, an immortal, soulless fiend. As Angelus, Liam terrorized Europe for a century before a gypsy curse restored his human spirit to his demon-animated body. With the knowledge of his vampiric sins burning a hole through his newfound soul, Angel spent most of the 20th century a useless wreck. Then, as chronicled on Buffy, he was recruited by the mysterious Powers That Be to serve as a champion in the fight between good and evil. Buffy fans are no doubt aware that Angel's gypsy curse has a loophole that strips him of his soul the instant he achieves a moment of true happiness -- say, for instance, a night of passion with a certain previously chaste vampire slayer. It was this conceit that allowed Angel to serve as both ally and nemesis to Buffy, and, by precluding any real future for their epic romance, set the stage for his decision to seek atonement in L.A. The quest for redemption, then, is Angel's carrot; the possibility of sliding back into atrocity is his stick. For the show's first four seasons, fellow Buffy veteran Charisma Carpenter served as Boreanaz's comedic and sometimes romantic foil. As the show slowly morphed from a tongue-in-cheek comedy-adventure to an action-packed metaphysical melodrama, Carpenter's Cordelia Chase developed from the spoiled brat of the Buffy years to the kooky girl Friday of Angel Investigations to a champion in her own right. Some longtime fans were therefore outraged when the popular star was written out of the regular cast at the end of the fourth season. Others, however, were relieved that Angel survived a close brush with cancellation to return for a fifth season with an addition to the cast: James Marsters, reprising his Buffy the Vampire Slayer role as Spike, Angel's romantic rival, longtime antagonist, and fellow vampire-with-a-soul. Other recurring and regular cast members have included the late Glenn Quinn as the half-human, half-demon Doyle; Buffy refugee Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndham-Price, a bumbling "rogue demon hunter" who eventually becomes truly roguish; J. August Richards as Charles Gunn, a street-smart vampire hunter with hidden depths; Amy Acker as Winifred "Fred" Burkle, a damsel-in-distress turned super-scientist; Andy Hallett as Lorne, a horned, green-skinned demon who can read your future, but only if you sing karaoke for him; future Law & Order babe Elisabeth Rohm as a Scully-esque police detective; Julie Benz as Darla, Angel's oft-resurrected vampire paramour; Vincent Kartheiser as Connor, Darla and Angel's rebellious (and human) teenaged son; and Christian Kane and Stephanie Romanov as a pair of lawyers at Wolfram & Hart, the evil law firm that Angel fights for four seasons and eventually takes over.