Serena and Dan, the preppy classmates of the CW's buzzy Gossip Girl, look like they are meant for each other.

But the juicier industry debate is whether the same can be said of the two networks that were merged to create the CW.

It has been two years since CBS and Warner Bros. announced they were replacing their respective youth-oriented networks, UPN and the WB, with a joint venture to be called the CW. At the time, CBS chief Les Moonves predicted that the new network would "be greater than the sum of its parts."

But even a C student can see that the numbers aren't adding up—at least not yet. In its first three full quarters, the CW has averaged $241 million in ad revenue, according to TNS Media Intelligence, whereas in the six quarters before the merger, UPN and the WB together averaged $392 million. And as of mid-November, the CW was attracting about 860,000 viewers in its target 18-to-34-year-old demographic, says Nielsen Media Research—less than half the combined audiences of the WB and UPN.

Still, slightly more than 40 percent of those tuning in to the network (which is also home to America's Next Top Model and the wrestling extravaganza SmackDown) are between 12 and 34. For advertisers trying to reach young people, those numbers are pretty attractive. And though Moonves declines to comment on his 2006 prediction, Dawn Ostroff, the CW's president of entertainment, is happy to. "I think we're gonna get there," she says, sounding not unlike, well, a gossip girl.