OTH SOS!

Every year, Kristin Veitch from E! has an on-line campaign to save one show from the network ax. She gives an excellent run-down of which shows are most likely safe, which ones are "on the bubble," and which are likely doomed. Then you get to vote. The campaign has, apparently, had an effect on network execs in the past.

So who to vote for this year? Three shows I love are theoretically on the list as in need of Kristin's life raft. They are, in order of affection: 1) Friday Night Lights, 2) Gilmore Girls, and 3) One Tree Hill. But I voted for One Tree Hill. Why? 1) Because I'm confident that FNL is safe -- the NBC network execs apparently see its virtues and will give it another season to build ratings. 2) Because I'm certain that the fate of GG rests exclusively on whether or not Alexis and Lauren will sign on for another season for an amount that the CW is willing to fork over -- and word on the street is that they won't. And 3) because OTH's show runner Mark Schwahn has announced that, if they get a 5th season, he'll jump the story ahead 5 years so that all the characters will have finished college. This is just plain smart: it allows actors who don't want to come back an easy way to bail out of their characters -- and I have a sneaking suspicion that Sophia Bush might not want to come back to work with her cheating ex-husband Chad Michael Murray. It will also line up the ages of the characters much more closely with the age of the actors who play them. So I voted for OTH.

Who's going to win? I'd guess Veronica Mars may well be able to muster the most votes this year (and oddly enough, show runner Rob Thomas has apparently borrowed Mark Schwahn's plan to jump Veronica ahead 5 years to be an FBI agent if she comes back). The winner will be announced April 13.