"The Vampire Diaries," "Melrose Place" and "90210" Make The CW a Small Network with Big Buzz – Ed Martin - MediaBizBloggers

I39m not sure what to say these days about The CW Can we really call it a quotnetworkquot Following the quick cancellation after only two episodes of The Beautiful Life TBL it has been offering only eight firstrun hours of primetime content a week for most of the fall season And yet it has been getting some mighty big buzz of late so it must be doing something rightFor example I can39t think of a casting move this season that received as much attention as the addition of Heather Locklear to the recently revived Melrose Place The new MP has traded heavily in a presumed nostalgia for the original creating compelling stories for vets Thomas Calabro the evil Dr Michael Mancini Laura Leighton sparkling nutcase Sydney Andrews foolishly killed off in the MP premiere and confined to flashbacks Daphne Zuniga the enormously successful but still neurotic photographer Jo Reynolds and Josie Bissett great fun in her brief return as unexpectedly bitter and bitchy fashion designer Jane Andrews There was even a passing reference to a quotMr Hansonquot Could that signal an eventual appearance by Grant Show as Jake I39m guessing he might be the birth father of bad boy David Breck Shaun Sipos currently known as Michael39s angry son Regardless and with all due respect the arrival of Locklear as superbitch Amanda Woodward now an allpowerful publicity executive brought the show more nostalgic stardust than all of her former costars combinedBut will the small but significant ratings uptick MP enjoyed upon Locklear39s debut hold The problem here is that The CW targets viewers so young they likely have no investment or interest in any of these characters including the almighty Amanda Their point of entry must be located within the ensemble of new residents in the title apartment complex Unfortunately those new young characters haven39t proved nearly as interesting or appealing as the aging originals with the exception of Ella Simms breakout star Katie Cassidy the beautiful bisexual power publicist who has infiltrated the lives of most of her neighbors and is now unhappily pressed under Amanda39s wellmanicured thumb The recent announcement that Colin Egglesfield angry alcoholic chef Auggie Kirkpatrick and Ashlee SimpsonWentz manipulative nobody Violet Foster will be leaving the show is a good first step toward fixing all that39s wrong with it if it is indeed worth saving I think Michael Rady not at all convincing as babemagnet filmmaker Jonah Miller and Jessica Lucas as his boring fiancamp233e Riley Richmond should be the next to go unless executive producers Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer have hugely unpleasant plans for their characters The big problem here is that in their handling of the new MP Slavkin and Swimmer need to loosen up and trash it up I thought I detected some of this during the episode featuring Locklear39s return but it wasn39t enoughI wonder why youthobsessed The CW got behind this huge influx of MP veterans when similar stunt casting last year on the new 90210 including Shannen Doherty as Brenda Walsh and Tori Spelling as Donna Martin yielded such disappointing results The only franchise vet over there who has been effectively integrated into the new show is Jennie Garth as Kelly Taylor who has had much to do as guidance counselor to the new generation halfsister to tortured Silver Jessica Stroup and daughter to selfcentered mother Jackie Ann Gillespie who lost her battle with cancer on this week39s episode Jackie39s death scene aside 90210 in its second season remains as cold and empty at its center as the stillforming MP has been during its first few weeks The only hope I see for it is the impending arrival of recently tossed General Hospital costar Greg Vaughan a wellliked and talented actor who had been badly miscast as gentle soul Lucky Spencer on that soap Vaughan has a big following among soap fans and if 90210 plays to his strengths there may be hope for it in the new year If The CW39s pointless One Tree Hill can last seven seasons and counting surely 90210 can get it together for a couple moreThe biggest news at The CW this fall has been the success of The Vampire Diaries a torrid teenysomething serial with two bloodsucking brothers at its center which seems to have replaced the somewhat played out Gossip Girl as the network39s primary buzz generator I haven39t read the young adult novels by LJ Smith on which it is based which leaves me wondering as expressed in last week39s column how long the show39s narrative can hold together given that it39s set in a small town with a rising body count that would seem to be a beacon not only for the FBI but a cable news network or two as well I think the reason this show has caught on with The CW39s young audience is that showrunner Kevin Williamson has toploaded it with as much sex skin blood and violence as anarchic broadcast standards will allow That39s what the kids are responding to today making them no different than the kids of yesterday

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"The Vampire Diaries," "Melrose Place" and "90210" Make The CW a Small Network with Big Buzz – Ed Martin - MediaBizBloggers

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Ed Martin

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"The Vampire Diaries," "Melrose Place" and "90210" Make The CW a Small Network with Big Buzz – Ed Martin - MediaBizBloggers

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