'One Tree Hill' has some strong roots

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." 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 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?

No respect

Few, if any, gushing news releases go out about "One Tree Hill," which began its life on the old WB as an 11th-hour replacement for a postponed crime drama. Its initial conceit — 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 the Upper East Side, the hotbed of sin on Melrose or even a town of hungry vampires. Add to that, the show films in Wilmington, N.C., so its young stars aren't followed by the paparazzi the way Blake Lively and Leighton Meester are; "Gossip Girl" has the edge among female fans, making it more valuable to advertisers; and, well, "One Tree Hill" has never been a critics' 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 its reviews and clippings in his desk and remembers being unable to find a positive quote to put on the Season 1 DVD box set.

"If you look at the box, it says something like, 'A guiltier pleasure than "Melrose Place,—‰'"‰" he said. "I was like, 'That's the best we can do?'"‰"

He can still quote Variety's review too, which began, "This tree needs to be replanted," and said one critic renamed it "Inbred Creek."

Schwahn added: "My parking spot for the first two years we were on the air said Olsen Twins."

Heartfelt feel

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, book ended by moments of total madness. Tree Hill is the kind of town where the hot guys are sweet, the mean girls make the best friends and your son can get kidnapped and chased down in a cornfield by a psycho nanny who's after your husband.

Mostly, however, Schwahn says, it's heartfelt.

"Call it painfully earnest, but for most of the country, earnest isn't painful," Schwahn said. "I won't apologize or make excuses for wearing our hearts on our sleeves."

He even gave Peyton and Lucas a proper goodbye, sending the just-married couple off into the sunset with their new baby girl in tow.

New cast member Shantel VanSanten, who plays photographer Quinn, called the show's Middle America appeal its very staying power.

"I'm from Minnesota, and both my grandma and my friends can watch the show and relate to the issues because most of it is about real life — just not real life in L.A. or New York."

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 successful 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."

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