LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - The WB is keeping its family-and-basketball drama "One Tree Hill" on the varsity for the rest of the season.
The network has picked up the back nine episodes of the freshman series, which stars Chad Michael Murray and James Lafferty as estranged brothers in a small town in North Carolina. It's the first of the Frog's six new series to be ensured a full season. The WB is the last of the six broadcast nets to make a call -- either up or down -- on a new show. Ratings have grown since the show's September premiere, but Jordan Levin, co-CEO of The WB, says the decision to pick up "One Tree Hill" had as much to do with quality as with the number of people watching. "The most important thing we consider when picking up a show is its creative momentum," Levin says in a statement. "'One Tree Hill' has grown creatively each week with broadening characters and emotionally resonant storylines. "It's also a show that is generating that elusive thing called 'buzz,' and we believe it has a chance to become one of the most significant series on our schedule for many years to come." "One Tree Hill" was originally slated for midseason but was moved up to fall after The WB decided to shelve the drama "Fearless" so it could be reworked. The show debuted to meager ratings in the post-"Gilmore Girls" slot on Tuesdays -- only 2.5 million people watched the premiere. It has since improved its lot somewhat and is averaging about 3.3 million viewers for the season thus far. More importantly for The WB, "One Tree Hill" is doing well among the teenagers and young adults the network targets. It's the No. 5 drama on network TV among female teenagers, trailing only "7th Heaven," "The O.C.," "Everwood" and "Gilmore Girls." All but "The O.C.," which airs on FOX, are WB shows. Tuesday's (Nov. 4) episode also set series highs among teenagers and people ages 12-34. ________________________________ Changes to your subscription (unsubs, nomail, digest) can be made by going to http://sandboxmail.net/mailman/listinfo/sndbox_sandboxmail.net
