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

Watch out Parents Television Council (PTC), from the looks of it, GOSSIP GIRL’s Dan, Olivia and Vanessa were just the beginning. For starting this January, the CW has pledged to air all-original episodes of three, count ‘em three series on Monday nights. With GOSSIP GIRL, ONE TREE HILL and the highly-anticipated new drama LIFE UNEXPECTED rotating on and off the CW’s Monday night sked thru May 2010. Sex (GOSSIP GIRL), Scandal (ONE TREE HILL) and the-next-best-thing to an EVERWOOD re-boot (LIFE UNEXPECTED) all together on the same night… PTC, can you handle it? If so, details from the CW’s hot-off-the-press (release) are after the jump.

The network’s new drama series, LIFE UNEXPECTED, will premiere Monday, January 18 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET), following the return of original episodes of ONE TREE HILL that night in the 8:00-9:00 p.m. timeslot. 

On March 8, LIFE UNEXPECTED will move to the 8:00-9:00 p.m. timeslot, followed by the return of original episodes of the pop-culture sensation GOSSIP GIRL from 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET.   On April 19, after LIFE UNEXPECTED has completed its initial 13-episode run, the Monday-night schedule will finish the broadcast season with ONE TREE HILL at 8:00 p.m. and GOSSIP GIRL at 9:00 p.m.

He didn’t know what to expect going into this season.
Having lost two of their most valuable players in Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton at the end of last season, star James Lafferty didn’t know what to expect heading into ONE TREE HILL’s seventh season. More pressure? More work? All of the above? “Because we’re really an ensemble show, there hasn’t been a lot of added pressure, and really only a little more work,” explained Lafferty on a recent one-on-one with the TV Addict. “But we’ve worked really hard to make this season the best we possibly can and [the new cast additions of] Rob [Buckley] and Shantel [VanSanten] — who are so committed to creating the best possible characters they can — helped make things really easy on the rest of us.”

He’s firmly planted on Team ‘Naley.’
Although Lafferty wouldn’t spill on the veracity of the scandal that has rocked Tree Hill (Nathan may-or-may-not have cheated on Haley with a now three month pregnant Renee), Lafferty himself doesn’t believe the show would do anything to break up the show’s most beloved twosome, “The fans wouldn’t stand for it!” Adding, after we jokingly suggested that we’d love to see Nathan hook-up with Victoria, “Nathan’s been with everyone on the show, it’s not gonna happen!”

He does’t mind sharing the spotlight.
Particularly when the spotlight is being shone on his fictional TV son Jamie, ONE TREE HILL’s resident scene-stealer played by Jackson Brundage, “Jackson is a little genius and teaches me stuff,” said Lafferty. “Aside from being adorable, his presence has completely brightened up the set.”

Television stardom has its privileges.
Especially when one gets an all-expenses paid trip overseas to promote the show. Like say Lafferty’s recent jaunt across the pond to beautiful Paris. “Getting to go to Paris to promote ‘Les fréres Scott’ with [Creator] Mark Schwahn, getting to spend a few days along the French Riviera with my brother and some friends… well, we definitely would not have travelled like we did had it not been for ONE TREE HILL.”

He isn’t going anywhere.
Although Lafferty has no idea how long exactly ONE TREE HILL will last, the actor did reveal that he’s signed on until next season and “for as many seasons as the CW will have me.”

Photo Credit: © The WB/Timothy White

Leighton Meester is no Paris Hilton.
Sorry, but Meester’s latest track — “Somebody To Love” is an underproduced crap-fest that is far less catchy than Hilton’s I Want You or the Blondie-esque Stars Are Blind.
 
This should be SUPERNATURAL’s final season.
No, not because the quality has gone down or I’m bored with the show, but from a story-telling point of view it would make sense to save “the end of the world” for your last hurrah. BUFFY even joked in their musical episode about how commonplace the end of the world can become when our heroine sang “Apocalypse? We’ve all been there. The same old trips. Why should we care?” This is in no way to say that the Winchester boys should call it quits… just that armageddon is a tough act to follow.
 
NBC was right to boot GLEE from the parade.
Could it have brought younger viewers to a parade they’d never normally consider watching? You bet. But NBC is a business and let’s face it: If you’re Baskin-Robbins, you don’t invite Ben & Jerry to hand out samples in your lobby. Especially knowing that Ben & Jerry are selling something people actually want.
 

ONE TREE HILL is boring.
Where are the nasty nannies and psycho exes? Why has Dan been given about 10 minutes of airtime so far this season when he is without doubt the best villain in the show’s history? The characters we love — minus, of course, Peyton and Lucas — are there, but it feels like most of them are going through the motions waiting for a real plot to kick in.
 
Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck may be the smartest men in the country.
Is every word out of their mouths moronic? You betcha! But they’ve also managed to make millions upon millions of dollars by cranking up the public’s fear, spreading lies and generating the kind of publicity for themselves that NBC couldn’t get if they announced all of their shows would begin featuring nude actors.

If there was one downside to attending last night’s FOX Fall Eco-Casino Launch Party (see above photo of your very own TV Addict ‘gleeking’ out with a few familiar faces!) it was that I missed out on some fairly important premieres. Which is why yet again I’m turning it over to you — my far smarter and better looking readers — to put your critics hat on and post away with your thoughts on last night’s premieres of GOSSIP GIRL, ONE TREE HILL and THE JAY LENO SHOW.

Dear Nathan and Haley, do you know where your son Jamie is? Because if it were up to us, the adorable actor who plays him (Jackson Brundage) would be perched right between his fictional TV parents in this just released ONE TREE HILL promotional poster (and not just because you two have a deplorable track record when it comes to choosing nannies, re: Carrie)

Since joining the show, Brundage has played an integral part part in the series. Not only bringing some much needed levity to a town that is often guilty of taking itself waaaaaay to seriously (See: The season’s opening four minutes complete with obligatory music montage), but for also serving as the impetus for creator Mark Schwann to yet again jump ahead fourteen months in the future to accommodate the reality that the tiny tyke well, isn’t so tiny anymore (Said Schwann in a recent interview with EW.com, “Jackson is playing 5 ½. He’s going to be 9 soon. The kid’s going to have a moustache soon and he’ll be playing 6. The best way to deal with it is to let some time pass and not pick the show up in that moment.”) Add to that the fact that it’s Jamie’s 7th birthday that brings the entire gang back together when ONE TREE HILL returns on Monday September 14th and we’re thinking somebody needs to get this kid’s agent on line one! But, let’s not make too big a deal about it — after-all — we’d hate to see things go to Brundage’s head and have him end up like this nightmare.

Poster Source: SpoilerTV

Our Robert Buckley Shirtless Watch™ continues with these brand new photos from ONE TREE HILL’s upcoming second episode of the season titled “What Are You Willing To Lose?” An episode that has sports agent Clayton (Robert Buckley) doing his best to help NBA star Nathan deal with being separated from wife Haley, son Jamie and his hometown of Tree Hill by… you guessed it, running shirtless on the beach! More photos of this stunning plot development can be found after the jump because, hey, we’re all about giving y’all what you want. Even if we’re starting to get a sneaking suspicion that TREE HILL scribe Mark Schwahn may have in fact been replaced by a slash fiction author.

Photo Credits: FRED NORRIS/The CW ©2009

Is Robert Buckley — who has joined the cast of the CW’s ONE TREE HILL this season as Clayton, sports agent and friend of Nathan Scott — contractually obligated to remove his shirt in every single television role, or is it simply a happy coincidence? Discuss.

Let me say right off the bat that I’m a Brucas fan from way back, and find Leyton the most snore-inducing TV pair since DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES Mike and Susan. For those uninitiated in the language of fangirls (and boys), Brucas (Brooke & Lucas) and Leyton (Lucas and Peyton) are two of ONE TREE HILL’s founding couples. Come fall, the guy both girls loved will reportedly be exiting the canvas… with Peyton in tow.

And I say “good riddance.”

No, this isn’t just sour grapes from someone who always felt that Brucas had a fiery passion that the bland and boring Leyton (who seemed to suffer from a never-ending case of whine flu) could never achieve. Or maybe it is… but I’m gonna pretend to be taking a high road and instead say that I won’t be sorry to see them go because creatively speaking, it’s way past time to say “out with the old, in with the new.” I would rather watch the blossoming young love of Sam and Jack or anything Bitchtoria (aka Brooke’s nasty mama, Victoria) does than sit through another scene in which Chad Michael Murray’s Lucas tries to look earnest or, God forbid, soulful. And no matter how hard the show tries to rewrite history, I’ll never buy that Peyton (the laughably-stilted Hilarie Burton) ever felt toward Lucas what she did for Jake.

Frankly, Leyton has run their course. If we want a boring, married-with-children pair, we can spend time with Nathan and Hayley (who are made infinitely more bearable by their too-cute-for-words offspring, Jamie). Don’t get me wrong — I like the Scotts, who serve as a nice balancing point for some of the more dramatic antics that unfold in the burg of Tree Hill. But at this point, Leyton is serving the same function. Someone’s gotta go… and I don’t wanna see Jamie exit, so I guess his folks get to stick around.

Whether planned or not, storylines this season have served to pretty-much isolate Lucas and Peyton in their own little corner of the town, thanks in large part to her traumatic pregnancy and their seeming inability to talk about anything other than the most-postponed, least-anticipated wedding of all time.

The beauty of an ensemble drama like TREE HILL is that every few years, you can introduce new characters while pushing others gently toward the exit. I have no doubt that Lucas and Peyton will return for occasional visits, given the ties that bind them to those who will remain. And that’s fine… at least until Peyton meets some tragic fate, freeing Lucas up to return to his one true love, Brooke.

Hey, a fanboy can dream, right?