92 E o (.) tl o ". m. >Āc tf o Q. ~ ... o > 3: Q) z es ay 5 'One Tree' out of 'Creek's' shadow By MICHAEL Gil TZ CHAD Michael Murray had that rare opportuĀ nity for an actor: his choice of parts.</p><p> After recurring roles on "Dawson's Creek," "GilĀ more Girls," and the roĀ mantic lead in what would turn out to be the smash hit film "Freaky Friday," Murray needed to choose between two new shows.</p><p> Did he want to star as the moody rebel in Fox's summer series "The O.C."? Or did he want to star as the moody rebel on "One Tree Hill" on his old stomping ground, the WB? Murray chose "One Tree Hill." Then, of course, "The O.C." exploded into a pop-cultural phenomenon. "The first few weeks of the show," laughs creator Mark Schwahn, "I would only imagine that Chad figured he made a misĀ take." Indeed, "One Tree Hill" -the story of two high school rivals who find out they have the same father -opened to disastrous reĀ views and poor ratings. (It airs Tuesdays at 9.) "The press was pretty brutal on us " says Schwahn. "A lot of people said, 'They're crying to reinvent "Dawson's Creek" , Even fans of the show wondered on websites how many episodes it would last before getting the ax.</p><p> Four? Five? "Everyone was really panicky when the first ratĀ ings came out," says the 22-year-old Murray. "EvĀ eryone was just freaking out.</p><p> Twas the only pers n that laughed.</p><p> I laughed abĀ solutely hystcricai1y.</p><p> I thought it was great! "Man, if we're going to suck, dude, I want to be at the bottom of the barrel so that we can climb up." lndeed, the ratings climbed steadily every week as viewers got to ee ba ketball-l ving Luke (Murray) fall for Peyton (Hilarie Burton), the girlĀ friend of his spoiled, wealthy rival Nathan (James Lafferty) .</p><p> Of course, things have changed since then; this is a soap, after all. "One Tree Hill" became a top-five hit for teenage girls (the WB's first and best audience), it hit a nitĀ ings peak in late NovemĀ ber before going on a twoĀ month hiatus and now the show is back Schwahn also happily details a number of key adjustments they made since its debut.</p><p> First to be cut down? The countless scenes of basketball, though Schwahn says this /.las . more to do with therigbrs of filming them than~ny- thing else. . .' They also sped up cerĀ tain revelations to clear up the murky backs tory arid then lightened up the prom queen-like Peyton. "1 was a little urprised that the angst Peyton was displaying in the first few episodes got a negative reĀ action" admits Schwahn. "But of course, she's atĀ tractive to look at and she's in the middle of it all, so to have a 'woe is me' atĀ titude really turned some people off." So now, with Murray hitĀ ting all the teen magazines and ratings on the upĀ swing, "One Tree Hill" looks set to settle in to being not a "Dawson's Creek" knock-off but .. , the new "Dawson's Creek"
