Thanks to Vanessa for this :)

Last updated: Tuesday, May 15, 2001

'ROSWELL' HOPES FOR
SAME FATE AS 'BUFFY'

By DON KAPLAN
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BAD news and good news for "Roswell," the cult-favorite show about teen aliens.
The two-year-old series has been axed by The WB - but it may mean the sci-fi drama will hook up wih "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" at UPN and air right after the super-popular vampire show.

"I know that UPN has been seriously interested in ‘Roswell' for several weeks," "Roswell" executive producer Kevin Brown told The Post.

"We very much appreciate that UPN is interested in the show. We think now that UPN has taken this step in enlarging their audience with ‘Buffy,' I don't think anyone can imagine a more killer night than putting ‘Buffy' and ‘Roswell' together. To me that is got homerun written all over it," he said.

This week will see the end of a months-long game of musical chairs that began last year when the WB and 20th Century Fox Television - the studio that produces "Roswell," "Buffy" and its spinoff, "Angel" - locked horns over the price-tag for keeping "Buffy" on the network.

Some have suggested that WB execs were looking to ax either "Roswell" or "Angel" to get even with 20th for taking "Buffy" to UPN - a charge WB officials have denied.

WB officials wanted to retain "Buffy" but have said "Roswell" never achieved the kind of ratings WB officials were hoping for.

But it's been "Roswell" fans, motivated by reports of its shaky status, who have embarked on several drives to keep it on the air.

One major effort included a campaign in which thousands of bottles of Tabasco sauce - a favorite alien treat - were mailed to WB officials and the press.

About a month ago, the fans added UPN and Fox to their Tabasco deluge.

"I believe they've sent something like 10,000 bottles to UPN at this point," Brown said.

Last week, "Roswell" execs also went to the networks and dropped off a online petition to save the show that was signed by about 30,000 fans.

"Aren't these the kind of fans that networks pray for?" he said.

Picking up "Roswell" would likely give UPN a powerful companion show to air with "Buffy" and automatically means ratings for the audience-starved UPN.

Sources have said that UPN was also hoping that "Angel" would also get the boot - and had already negotiated a lucrative deal with the studio to snag the show if WB officials pulled the plug.

"But we could not have been happier with these past two years at the WB," Brown said. "People tend to forget that the WB rescued us when Fox Broadcasting passed on ‘Roswell.' Were it not for them, we would not exist."

Studio officials were unavailable yesterday.

20th is a division of News Corp., which also owns The Post.