'One Tree Hill' looks for a 7th Season

04/17/09 - Many people thought that "One Tree Hill" was going to jump the shark last year when it jumped four years for its fifth season.Season four highlighted the senior year of high school for the main characters and it ended with all the characters on the river court where the first episode of the series mainly took place.

The finale showcased songs of the '90s era like "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls, and hit at the idea of splitting ways with best friends when it comes time for college.

The show worked parallel with the high school graduating class of 2007.

Nostalgically, the Season four finale would have been the perfect series finale, but creator Mark Schwan wasn't ready for the show to end yet, and neither were cast members Chad Michael Murray, James Lafferty, Hilarie Burton, Sophia Bush or Bethany Joy Gaelotti. And so with that the show went on to a fifth season, placed in time, four years later.

And the jump worked. Ratings remained high, the forums on the Web site OTH Fans was filled with hundreds of thankful posts for a fifth season.

Of course, there were still negative Nancies, but for the most part it worked. New storylines opened up, fans got to see their favorite television actors and actresses portray roles closer to their own age--even though it was nice to dream that Murray was a high schooler at the same time as a lot of the fans, even if he wasn't--and Kate Voegele's singing career got jumpstarted. Overall, it was an awesome season leading to sixth season.

As the sixth season began, fans were pumped and began to assume that this would be the last season of "One Tree Hill."

All of the actors' contracts were for six seasons. This meant that unless the actors were offered new contracts, there was a slim chance for a seventh season.

Some people expressed disinterest in a seventh season, alleging storylines would get old, and that the show should go out before it got to be too repetitive.

But others on the forums were positive about having a seventh season, stating that there had been too many storylines in season 6 for it to be over this soon.

Like the fifth season, the sixth season has opened many new storylines: a new love story for Brooke Davis (Bush), the rekindling of Lucas (Murray) and Peyton's (Burton) relationship, and opportunity for Nathan (Lafferty) to hit the big times in basketball. It has featured a heart-breaking death, a psycho nanny and a brutal beating of Brooke.

It has featured guest stars like James Van Der Beek, Stephen Colletti, and Austin Nichols.

The show, which is now on a month-and-a-half long hiatus, has pulled in audiences and built up ratings.

High ratings mean one thing . a return.

The show which returns on March 16 with new episodes is not only returning for the end of season 6, but according to the Web site OTH Fans, the show will return for a 7th season - without Murray and Burton.

It seems that the show may just go too far if it goes on for a seventh season. With the announcement that Murray and Burton would not return, the forums appeared very angry at Burton.

Many had assumed Murray wouldn't sign back on because he has been rumored to be ready for bigger things, but Burton was a huge surprise.

Without Murray or Burton the show will be without two of their core five, storylines will deplete, and the biggest love story of the entire show will be gone.

However, it appears that it wasn't Burton's choice to leave the show. On her company's blog, Southern Gothic Productions, Burton filmed herself telling "One Tree Hill" fans that she wished "One Tree Hill" could go on forever, and that she loved being the Peyton Sawyer that everyone got to see cry every episode.

She seemed almost heart-broken to be leaving the show.

It was as if with Murray's storyline coming to an end, the producers could only get through it by getting rid of another character.

"Dawson's Creek," the Warner Brothers show that lasted six seasons as well, ended in style with an outstanding series finale, instead of driving itself to death.

"One Tree Hill" looks like it may go the other route.

Fans can only hope that Schwan has great storylines that can work without Murray or Burton, who seem to be the strings that keep the show tied together.

Otherwise, the "One Tree Hill" era may become the One Tree "DownHill" era.