Dateline: Chicks Watching Network. Coming on the heels of news that the CW execs have had the foresight to renew Supernatural for Season 5 and extend Smallville to an unbelievable Season 9, as well as renewing other shows such as One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl, word has come up on two more shows getting cast. First up, since 90210 has made its return to TV, it was only a matter of time that Melrose Place would follow. This particular incarnation is keeping its teen heartthrob street cred in tact by recruiting Katie Cassidy, daughter of ’70s chest burner David Cassidy, to play Ella.
And in another case of glomming onto second-generation names, or in this case third-generation, Steven R. McQueen (his grandfather needs no introduction on this site) has been tapped to play Jeremy in Vampire Diaries, a pilot in development. Both Cassidy and McQueen are CW / WB veterans, with Cassidy having appeared in Supernatural and 7th Heaven, while McQueen has been in Everwood, as well as CSI: Miami on the old fogey network.
The potential audience for Vampire Diaries no doubt stems from the success of Twilight, but the books on which it’s based actually came out years before Stephenie Meyer’s Anne Rice 90210 angst-filled tomes. It centers around a girl who’s caught between two vampire brothers, one good and one evil who are fighting over her soul. It’ll be exec produced by Kevin Williamson.