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HOLLYWOOD – It’s The CW’s dirty little secret: In its seventh season, “One Tree Hill” is watched by more people than the network’s “it” show, “Gossip Girl.” It always has been.
The success, hushed though it has been, has come despite major upheavals to the show, a sort of earnest older sister to younger, hipper series such as “90210” and “Gossip Girl.” Since launching in 2003, “One Tree Hill” has occupied five time slots, switched networks and survived a risky plot decision to jump its high school-age characters four years into the future.
This year, the show is dealing with yet another blow: In May, actors Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton, who played the show’s romantic leads, Lucas and Peyton, decided not to return for the new season after heated contract negotiations.
And yet “One Tree Hill” is still a draw. With little network promotion, the show is delivering an average of 2.4 million viewers this season, a bigger haul than The CW’s heavily marketed new series “Melrose Place.”
Network President of Entertainment Dawn Ostroff calls it her little engine that could.
“No matter where you put it,” she said, “viewers follow.”
So why do you never hear about it?
Few, if any, gushing news releases go out about “One Tree Hill,” which began its life on the old The WB as an 11th-hour replacement for a postponed crime drama. Its initial concept – stepbrothers embroiled in battle on and off the high school basketball court – didn’t stick, and ratings were low until story lines evolved into a sentimental, sudsy melodrama concerning the brothers’ larger group of friends living in fictional Tree Hill, N.C.
It’s decidedly less sexy than some of The CW’s other series. And, well, “One Tree Hill” has never been a critical darling.
Creator Mark Schwahn can laugh about it now that his series is nearing its 200th episode. He keeps a telephone book-size binder of reviews in his desk and remembers being unable to find a positive quote to put on the Season 1 DVD box set.
But somewhere along the way young people latched on to – and never let go of – “One Tree Hill’s” improbable blend of angsty, pop song-laden love triangles and saccharine endings, bookended by moments of total madness.
Mostly, however, Schwahn says, it’s heartfelt.
New cast member Shantel VanSanten called the show’s Middle America appeal its very staying power.
That heartland feel will remain this season, although nearly all of the characters have become bona fide celebrities – Brooke a multimillion-dollar fashion designer, Julian a film director, Haley a pop singer and Nathan an NBA star.
“The show this year is about the obstacles facing adults in their 20s and even late 20s,” said Sophia Bush, who plays Brooke. “No one can relate to being a rich fashion designer, but everyone at that age thinks, `Who am I becoming? Where is my life going? Who do I want to spend forever with?’ You get the escapist fun with the grounded drama.”
