Roswell is the story of three stranded alien adolescents' struggle to fit in and create their own identities in a small town in New Mexico. Because they can only trust their closest friends with the secret of their extraterrestrial origins, they must hide their true nature from both researchers and the local law enforcement authorities.
In its press materials for the show, the WB network calls Roswell "suspenseful and touching," while media weekly Variety sums it up as a "poignant allegory ... a cosmic blend of high school angst and otherworldly intrigue" that is "anything but ordinary."
The show owes its hybrid pedigree to the divergent work of its two primary creators. Creator and executive producer Jason Katims made his mark as the writer of several key episodes of highly-acclaimed teen drama My So-Called Life, and has also distinguished himself as the guiding light behind the short-lived but equally lauded romantic series Relativity.
On the other hand, the background of executive producer David Nutter is more geared toward Roswell's science fiction and paranormal elements. Nutter directed more than a dozen early episodes of The X-Files during that series' groundbreaking first three years. Although he also directed episodes of such series as Millennium and Space: Above and Beyond, he is no stranger to the teen-SF genre, having directed the edgy high school horror film "Disturbing Behavior."
Jonathan Frakes, otherwise known to genre fans as "Commander Will Riker" from Star Trek: The Next Generation, also serves as executive producer on the show. In addition to working behind the scenes, Frakes appears as himself in a cameo role in Roswell's pilot episode.
The program airs Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET on the WB network.
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