Roswell (TV series)

Roswell is an American science fiction television series that presents a timeline where the Roswell UFO exists, and aliens are hiding in plain sight as a trio of high school-aged teenagers. Developed, produced, and co-written by Jason Katims, the series aired on The WB from October 6, 1999 to May 21, 2001, and later on UPN from October 9, 2001 to May 14, 2002. Sixty-one episodes in total were broadcast over the show's three seasons. In the United Kingdom, the show aired as both Roswell High and Roswell.

The series is based on the Roswell High young adult book series, written by Melinda Metz and edited by Laura J. Burns, who later became staff writers for the television series.

A reimagining of the series, titled Roswell, New Mexico was ordered to series on May 11, 2018, and premiered on January 15, 2019, on the CW.

Roswell High was originally developed by 20th Century Fox Television and Regency Television for the Fox Network, but it eventually landed on The WB (retitled simply to Roswell) thanks to the latter network's offer to extend a full 22-episode upfront commitment. The pilot episode was filmed in 12 days with a budget of $2,000,000. "The Morning After," the second episode of the series, was the first episode with the full title sequence utilizing the theme song, "Here With Me" by Dido.

Roswell was filmed in various locations around California. City Hall, Charter Oak High School, and several other businesses and residences in Covina served as stand ins for fictional locations in Roswell, New Mexico, as well as Vasquez Rocks, a 905-acre (370 ha) park in Los Angeles County. Episode 1 of season 3 was filmed partially in Salina, Utah.

The series premiered on October 6, 1999, on The WB in the United States to generally favorable reviews, and quickly gained an outspoken fanbase.

In response to low ratings during the first season, the relationship-driven stand-alone episodes of the early first season were to be replaced with more science fiction themes and multi-episode plot arcs. Starting with the second season, after a fierce fan-driven campaign involving bottles of Tabasco sauce—a favorite condiment of the show's alien characters—were sent to the network's offices, veteran science fiction writer Ronald D. Moore was brought in as an executive producer and showrunner to further develop the science fiction elements of the show.

Not all fans responded favorably to the shift to more science fiction-driven storylines during the second season and the ratings continued to disappoint, causing the network to finally cancel the show on May 15, 2001, after the show's second-season finale. However, producing studio 20th Century Fox persuaded UPN to commit to a third season as a package deal when UPN outbid The WB for one of its popular flagship series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. During the 2001 – 2002 television season, Roswell, in its third season, aired directly after Buffy on Tuesday nights on UPN, though it was unable to hold on to the audience Buffy provided. This led to the show's final cancellation.