If the CW ever wants to be taken seriously as a major network, they need to stop talkin’ the talk and start walkin’ the walk. And they can start by expanding their schedule so as not to be running reruns on Wednesday of a show we watched on Monday.
With that in mind, we’d like to suggest that instead of looking at the renewal of ONE TREE HILL and LIFE UNEXPECTED as an “either/or” prospect, they greenlight both shows for next season. Because while E! Online is reporting that only one of the youth-centric shows will be coming back next season, bringing both back would go a long way toward filling some of those awkward gaps the current slate so prominently features.
While OTH (as the kids call it) may be getting a bit long in the tooth and is having a season as uneven as some of the hems featured on PROJECT RUNWAY, it’s still a more marketable product than, say, the upcoming FLY GIRLS or the already-renewed AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL, neither of which is going to bring in big bucks when released on DVD. Plus, OTH has a respectable and, more important, demo-friendly audience ready to be wooed by an endless barrage of ads for the CW’s other, weaker offerings sure to be coming down the pike next fall.
As for LIFE UNEXPECTED — which we can all agree is a welcome change of pace from the network’s traditional parade of vapid blonde bimbos making really poor decisions — one might argue that the series has shown more than enough of a creative spark in its short run to warrant another 13 episodes in which to grow. You know, like the patience the network used to exhibit toward once unknown entities such as the GILMORE GIRLS and dare we say the likes of 7th HEAVEN, both of which were far from bonafide hits out of the gate. Plus, while two million weekly viewers isn’t exactly VAMPIRE DIARIES numbers — when you factor in that the CW’s idea of a marketing budget is getting some poor intern with rudimentary photoshop skills to design this — well, it’s fairly impressive.
They say you gotta spend money to make money. So it’s time for the CW to either beef up their schedule — and not simply with cheap-to-produce reality offerings — or concede defeat by admitting they’ll never be one of the big boys. 
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Photo Credits: JSquared Photography/The CW, Richard Phibbs / The CW