When you cover a beat for a dozen years -- any beat -- you develop a sixth sense: What's a truth and a lie. Who's genuine and who's a phony. Which TV networks are functional with a clear, logical brand and target audience and which are in utter disarray.

In its heyday, no TV network seemed more alive, more naturally homegrown and more on-target than The WB, which launched 13 years ago today.

In the new book "Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise and Fall of The WB and UPN" ($25.95, HarperCollins), former WB Entertainment president Susanne Daniels and Variety reporter/editor Cynthia Littleton chronicle the creation of The WB and UPN, The WB's distinctive brand identity and the downfall that resulted in both networks shuttering and the formation of The CW.

For those intrigued by the TV business and its history, "Season Finale" is a worthwhile read to learn how best intentions can go awry, egos get in the way, dysfunctional business partnerships will destroy an endeavor and how believing your own hype can be a dangerous thing.

Since it's Daniels' book, the focus is more squarely on The WB than UPN, noting UPN's "inane comedies" but skimming over or ignoring some of The WB's flops. And the book fails to tell the story behind the recasting of the captain on UPN's "Star Trek: Voyager" (Kate Mulgrew replaced Genevieve Bujold after a few days of filming), an intriguing footnote, perhaps, but it's an important bit of early UPN history.

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fans may also blanch to read Daniels and Littleton describe Charisma Carpenter's character as a "sexy campus vampire" (Cordelia wasn't a vamp). They also mistakenly call The WB's 2003 series "The O'Keefes" a drama (it was a single-camera comedy).

These goofs aside, there are trivia morsels TV fans will enjoy: Beau Bridges was WB executives' first pick to play Rev. Camden on "7th Heaven," but his going rate was more than the network was willing to pay. "Season Finale" finally confirms what was speculated years ago: Carnegie Mellon University alumna Lori Rom quit The WB's "Charmed" after filming the pilot because "she could not reconcile her spiritual beliefs with the witches-and-warlocks theme of the show."

What's most intriguing about the book is the obtuse business dealings behind the scenes at both networks. Think your company is dysfunctional? It may be nirvana compared to the internal structure of UPN, which was made up of two warring corporate factions.

Then there was The WB, led by maverick creator Jamie Kellner, who set out to right the financial wrongs he felt were done to him following his successful launch of the Fox network. But "Season Finale" says Kellner ditched The WB's "all for one, one for all" corporate culture in a get-richer-quick bid to launch his own station group of WB affiliates.

Although The WB won virtually every creative battle opposite UPN, in the end UPN won the war as its Entertainment president, Dawn Ostroff, went on to lead The CW. The WB's creative executives were largely out of the picture.

"Season Finale" suggests many reasons for the demise of The WB: Kellner's departure, the lack of owned and operated stations, a failure to develop many new hits after 2002, the failure of vertical integration between the network and its studio, Time-Warner's decision to merge with America Online and allowing "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to move from The WB to UPN for its last two seasons.

Daniels, now entertainment president at Lifetime, said in a phone interview this week the primary cause for the network's death was a lack of fervency within Time-Warner to build it into a long-lasting entity. She recalled her job in comedy development at Fox prior to the launch of The WB and the investments Fox impresario Rupert Murdoch made (buying stations, landing the rights to the NFL).

"He made some huge investments in programming, and he said, I'm going to spend money, and I'm going to do this, I'm going to build this network," Daniels said. "Nobody did that at Warner Bros., and it's why I left the network [in 2001]. I didn't see that happening. After [executives] Bob Daly and Terry Semel left Warner Bros., it just wasn't the same. Nobody was saying, 'We're going to make this network work.' If you don't have that, forget it. That's what killed it."

As a reporter covering The WB, I felt the spirit of the "all for one, one for all" ethos Kellner created. The WB was the little engine that could, and its creators cared about television, which showed in its many critically acclaimed series. The network's marketing added to this perception by creating a sense of family among the network's young, photogenic stars.

But long before The WB was pronounced dead in January 2006, it was clear the network had changed and lost its way. For me, the defining moment came during the summer 2004 television critics press tour when WB executives seemed not to know much about their established series or the names of their shows' characters.

Daniels said she wrote "Season Finale" with Littleton because she's a fan of television history and books about TV's past, rattling off a list of books that have a home in my bookcases, too. She also saw the book as a memorial to The WB, which she loved and secretly feared might go the way of DuMont, a network that fizzled in the mid-1950s after a decade of broadcasting.

"[When I took the job,] I didn't want The WB to be another DuMont, which is to me something that came and went," Daniels said. "And in fact it is. That's part of what motivated me to do this book. I needed more to come out of it than that."

The Post-Gazette's A-section ran a wire story on Jan. 1 about coupons offered for converter boxes that will allow analog TVs to receive digital TV signals. The same story noted that "viewers who have satellite or cable service will not need a box."

I scratched my head at that one because I'd been told by a Comcast tech that I will need a cable converter box for old, analog TVs with cable that currently do not have a box once February 2009 arrives and the transition to digital is complete. Several readers also said they'd been told the same thing by Comcast reps.

But Comcast spokeswoman Jody Doherty said that's not accurate. As long as you're connected to cable -- even without a cable converter box, even on an old, analog TV -- you will still get the same channels you receive today. Doherty said come February 2009, Comcast will convert the digital signal back to analog and send it out to customers' homes, allowing them to receive channels the same way they do today.

KDKA-TV consumer reporter Yvonne Zanos, who's been undergoing chemotherapy following surgery for ovarian cancer in November, will return to the job today. Expect her stories to start airing again in February. ... CBS's "Big Brother" returns next month and with it the live three-hour "Big Brother: After Dark," televised at midnight daily on Sho2 starting Feb. 12. ... The last two original episodes of "Chuck" completed before the writers' strike will air at 8 and 10 p.m. Jan. 24. ... A&E has renewed reality show "The Coreys" for a second season even though stars and former best friends Corey Haim and Corey Feldman were seen feuding at the end of season one and haven't had much contact since. They're the new Paris and Nicole! ... Due to the writers' strike, E! has scrapped its full coverage of the Golden Globes and will instead offer updates during programming Sunday night. TV Guide Network will still air a two-hour "Countdown to the Globes" special at 7 p.m. (minus red-carpet coverage) with a wrap-up special at 10 p.m.

This week's TV Q&A responds to questions about "30 Days," "Cash Cab" and the potential for merging local markets. Read it online at post-gazette.com/tv.

First Published: January 11, 2008, 10:00 a.m.