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It may look like just another Dawson’s Creek clone — one of the stars even spent time on that teen phenom — but Roswell couldn’t feel more different. The TV equivalent of a thrilling page-turner, Roswell keeps you wondering what will happen next to an imperiled trio of high-school outsiders: Max (Jason Behr), Isabel (Katherine Heigl) and Michael (Brendan Fehr). They’re not just alienated, they’re aliens. Of the E.T. variety. They came to Roswell when their spacecraft crashed in the New Mexico desert in 1947 (apparently they were incubating, only to emerge as 6-year-olds in the 1980s). To avoid becoming alien autopsies, they have kept their background a secret from classmates.

Roswell was originally developed for Fox, but WB landed it by contracting for 22 episodes, a rare commitment for a TV network. To support the series, WB is even planning a Web site, says executive producer David Nutter (The X-Files). "It’s just vital. When we did The X-Files, we would spend nights after an episode reading what people had to say. Our goal is to make this a show with intelligence and life-and-death stakes for the characters." They have succeeded so far. As the kids seek elusive answers to their origins while a nosy sheriff (William Sadler) watches their every move, it’s hard not to get a little bit hooked.

Roswell is not filmed in New Mexico; it’s produced in Los Angeles. "It’s the Roswell of our imaginations," says executive producer Jason Katims (My So-Called Life), who developed the show from the teen-friendly Roswell High book series by Melinda Metz. The love story between Max (Behr, who appeared on six episodes of Dawson’s last season) and Liz (Shiri Appleby), a waitress he miraculously saves from dying in the October 6 premiere, is a new-millennium twist on Romeo and Juliet. "They not only come from different sides of the track," says Katims, "they’re different life-forms." Star Trek fans will love a cameo in the first show: Jonathan Frakes of The Next Generation, also an executive producer of Roswell, plays himself at a UFO festival. But as to details of upcoming episodes, cast and producers are tight-lipped: "It’s hard to talk about," says Behr. "If you give away too much, you’ll ruin the ride."— J.W.

MATT SAYS:

Perhaps the unlikeliest choice of our fall favorites, Roswell makes the cut because it adds a tasty new ingredient to the high-school genre: suspenseful intrigue. And it’s the most instantly accessible of the new fantasy-adventure series. Hard to pigeonhole but easy to watch, this engrossing fable is all about secrets, laying out clues and mysteries while presenting a dewy-eyed teen romance. It’s all very earnest, but not without humor. In the second episode, to avoid being overheard talking about aliens, the heroes adopt the code word "Czechoslovakians." Nice touch.

9 p.m. Wednesdays on The WB

The Hook: My So-Called Alien. . . Bizarre things start happening in the little New Mexico town where flying saucers -- oops, weather balloons -- were spotted in 1947. Cut to 1999, when a cute high school student saves the life of a teenage waitress. Surrounded by cliques of clever, angst-filled classmates, the two form a bond that threatens the survival of a secret universe involving superhuman powers, a yen for hot sauce and an alien gene pool.

The Cast: Shiri Appleby stars as Liz Parker, with Jason Behr (the quarterback on "Dawson's Creek") as Max Evans, her soul mate from another planet. Katherine Heigl, Brendan Fehr and Majandra Delfino co-star.

Backstory: Developed by Jason Katims ("Relativity," "My So-Called Life") with David Nutter ("X Files"), the sci-fi thriller was set for the FOX schedule this year, before being sold to The WB. The network has ordered 22 episodes, nearly double the typical deal for a new show.

Starring
Liz — Shiri Appleby
Max — Jason Behr
Isabelle — Katherine Heigl
Michael — Brendan Fehr

In the summer of 1947, residents of the tiny town of Roswell, New Mexico believed they witnessed the fiery crash of an alien spacecraft. The federal government maintains it never happened. Now, on the eve of the fifty-second anniversary, the town once again comes together to celebrate the historic event some call an ill-fated visit from the stars and others call a hoax. No one knows the real story. Until Liz Parker, a student at W. Roswell High, is hit by a stray bullet at work. As she lays wounded, fellow classmate Max Evans miraculously cures her with a touch. When she confronts him, Max reluctantly admits he and two others; his sister Isabelle and Michael were among the crash survivors. Since then, the three have lived quietly among Roswell's residents under a strict part of secrecy to elude government capture. But in saving the girl he has secretly loved since childhood, he has endangered not only his own life but those of his friends.

STARS: Jason Behr, Shiri Appleby, Katherine Heigl, Brendan Fehr, Majandra Delfino, Colin Hanks, Nick Wechsler, William

PREMISE: Star-crossed teen romance. Literally. When Max (Behr) mysertiously cures Liz (Appelby) of a gunshot wound, she learns his secret: He, his sister (Heigl) and best friend (Fehr) are orphaned aliens from the alleged 1947 space-ship crash in New Mexico. As their attraction grows, so does the danger, with the local sheriff (Sadler) determined to find the truth that's out there. It will be hard to keep things hush0hush. Liz has already clued in her dizzy vest friend )Delfino), and others are getting curious, including Liz's boyfriend (Wechsler), who is also the sheriff's son. Based on the Roswell High book series by Melinda Metz.

THEY SAY: "It's really a cross between The X-Files and Ms So-Called Life which, of course, we know a little about," says executive producer David Nutter (The X-Files). He teams with Life veteran Jason Katims, who says the show is about "taking any kind of love story that would happen between teens and sort of ratcheting up the obstacles between them, because they're different life-forms." Nutter believes "that for a long time, science-fiction shows really haven't been able to touch upon the heart and the emotions. And sci-fi fans really have their hearts on their sleeves...We're all suckers for a good love story. I think that's something that will go on long after the teen craze has come down to Earth."

WE SAY: Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this show transcends genre with clever writing, suspenseful plotting and unexpectedly evocative performances by its charismatic young leads. Like a really fun B movie, Roswell is this season's most instantly addictive guilty pleasure.