The CW’s renovation of “Melrose Place” may have found its first manager.
“One Tree Hill” creator Mark Schwahn is negotiating with producer CBS Paramount TV to develop the network’s 21st-century take on the 1990s soap. Like The CW’s current “90210,” the new “Melrose Place” is likely to be considered a spinoff rather than a remake.
If the show makes it to air, however, Schwahn may not still be around. He is currently under contract with Warner Bros. TV, which produces “One Tree Hill.”
He starts a new deal with CBS Paramount TV in June, but if “One Tree Hill” is picked up for the 2009-10 season, he’s obligated to stay with the show as executive producer and showrunner.
The situation parallels that of “90210” in its early stages.
“Veronica Mars” creator Rob Thomas wrote the original pilot script, but other commitments (including ABC’s midseason show “Cupid”) prevented him from staying with the show after it was picked up.
Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah took over the running of the series, which has performed reasonably well this season. It’s averaging about 3.6 million viewers a week and has helped The CW improve its ratings in the network’s target demographic of adults (and more specifically, women) under 35.
Robert Carlyle passes through “Stargate”:
The next iteration of Sci Fi’s “Stargate” franchise has found its star in Robert Carlyle.
The “Full Monty” and “28 Weeks Later” star has taken the lead role in “Stargate Universe,” the third series in the franchise that was spun off from the 1994 movie. The show is slated to premiere with a two-hour movie on Sci Fi this summer.
“(Carlyle) brings a depth, intelligence and complexity to his roles, which will fit perfectly with the fresh, new reinvention of this franchise,” says Mark Stern, Sci Fi’s head of original programming.
“Stargate Universe” will take a somewhat darker tone than its predecessors, “SG-1” and “Atlantis.”
It centers on a group of soldiers and civilians who are forced through a Stargate and wind up on an ancient ship in the far reaches of space.
Carlyle will play a character named Dr. David Rush who is the crew’s best hope of discovering the ship’s mysteries and getting its passengers home, but who also has an agenda of his own.
The show will be Carlyle’s first TV series in the United States, although he has done a couple of TV movies in the past, including Fox’s “24: Redemption” and CBS’s “Hitler: The Rise of Evil.”
