Let’s get one thing straight: this isn’t Allison Munn’s first trip to the rodeo. Sure, she only started on One Tree Hill last season and (unfortunately) isn’t in every episode. But with a starring role on the dearly departed What I Like About You, continued involvement with Rock the Vote and a growing role on OTH, I think it’s safe to say “Miss Lauren” is doing pretty well for herself.

TeenDramaWhore: You starred in nearly 60 episodes of What I Like About You. What are some of the differences working on a half-hour comedy versus a one-hour drama?

Allison Munn: I love working in both the comedy and drama format, but they’re completely different beasts. I started out in musical theatre, where I was used to performing in front of an audience, holding for laughs, and getting instant gratification for a funny bit. That ’70s Show and What I Like About You were shot in front of a studio audience, so it was a comfortable transition. Shooting a sitcom is like doing a mini-play every week. You rehearse for the first 3 days, camera block and pre-shoot on the 4th day, and shoot the whole episode in front of the audience on the 5th. It’s super fast and incredibly fun. Dramas move at a much slower pace – you could spend half of a day on one scene. There isn’t as much rehearsal time as there is for a sitcom, but you get more takes. Oh, and actors generally look a lot better in a drama, because the lighting is better – so I love that. At the end of the day, though, it’s all about creating an entertaining and honest performance, regardless of the format.

TDW: When you joined One Tree Hill, did you know you were going to be Jamie’s teacher AND Skills’ love interest?

Munn: When I first joined One Tree Hill, I had no idea I’d eventually be paired up with Skills. I was thrilled when Mark Schwahn called me soon after my first episode and pitched this storyline. I was excited to work with Antwon Tanner because he’s so great on the show and he’s good friends with Wesley Jonathan (my character’s love interest from What I Like About You). Antwon is so easy to work with, super-relaxed and funny. We have a blast.

via Exclusive: Get To Know One Tree Hill’s Allison Munn « TeenDramaWhore.

When an established television series loses two popular (and central) original cast members, there’s bound to be some nervousness about moving forward with new blood. That said, any nervousness about the new season of the CW’s “One Tree Hill,” which returned a few weeks ago without departed stars Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton, was quickly quelled after the first two episodes delivered solid ratings and, subsequently, a full season order from the CW. Jim Halterman talked with “OTH” series creator and executive producer Mark Schwahn about how time jumping brought longevity, how’s it good to be bad and writing shirtless scenes for the sexy group of men on the show.

Jim Halterman: Congratulations on the full-season pickup. Did you expect it so early?

Mark Schwahn: Thank you. I guess it was a surprise to get it that early but it wasn’t a surprise. We always plan on getting a full season and I thought we would this year too even with all the changes. I just felt like creatively we were all in such a good place. Obviously, the audience has only seen two episodes but our studio and our network had seen five or six episodes and I thought there was a real sense of enthusiasm from the powers that be. That being said, I think it’s probably the earliest we’ve ever heard about a full season and, being in Wilmington, NC, it was really nice to be able to give that gift to the crew and cast. Everyone is really excited about it especially in this economy and in Wilmington where there’s not a ton of films and television production right now so for the crew to have that gift well in advance of the holidays is really smart business on behalf of the network and studio.

JH: The four-year jump was definitely not something done on most shows. Was there a level of trepidation about whether the fans would follow?

MS: Obviously, you do something that the studio and network has no architecture for there is fear because it’s unknowable and there aren’t a lot of things they run into on a day-to-day basis that they haven’t done before. I can turn to Peter Roth, who has such a great career running a studio, and ask him what he did on the first “90210″ or what did you do in this situation and almost 100 times out of 100 times he’ll tell me, “I’ll tell you, we did this or we did that.” But nobody had ever jumped a show like this so there was trepidation. I like to think arrogance can bite you in the ass and it usually does and I approached it with an open mind. I said my instincts are telling me this is the way to go but I can’t tell you if it will work. If my fan base is more interested in these high school or college stories or if they’ve matured to the point where if we lose some of our younger fans we’ll gain some older fans because the show is now relevant to them in a way that it never was. You look at a show like “Grey’s Anatomy” and you see the fan base for it and I thought if we get a trickle of fans from that show that now feel that this show is telling stories about people in their 20s as opposed to high school a few fans will help whoever we drop along the way.

JH: Taking nothing away from Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton, has it been a blessing in disguise creatively this season?

MS: I would say yes and I would also say taking nothing of the success that we had with Chad, Hilarie and the original cast because we’ll always be indebted to them and that version of the show but, sure, creatively the writers are like painters and you’re basically giving them a new canvas and now you can work with different colors and do some different things that you like to do. Having the space to introduce new characters and having the story time to invest in their characters arcs, you have to clear some room somewhere to do that and I know there are people who watch the show for Lucas and Peyton and I was accused of loving that couple as much or more as anybody to a fault but I would say when you’re at episode 140 like we are and you’re looking for some adrenaline in your storytelling, to be able to say, “Here are some new characters, who are they, where are they going and how are they going to inhabit this world and be involved with the core characters,” it does sort of invigorate you a way in your storytelling.

Read the rest: Rants & Reviews – Interview: Mark Schwahn Talks Entrances & Exoduses on “One Tree Hill” | TheFutonCritic.com.

Austin Nichols talks about the problems that this new couple will face on season 7 of One Tree Hill.

I spoke to Austin about the new season of One Tree Hill, and he revealed some spoilers about what Julian is up to and which character from his past will return, what (or who) will cause some trouble for Brooke and Julian’s relationship, and when we’ll get to see Julian hanging out with Jamie.

-Brooke and Julian found themselves in a very good and happy place on the season 7 premiere, but Nichols says it won’t stay that way for long. “I’d love to kiss a pretty girl on the beach all the time, but it’s definitely gonna get messy.”

-Who will be the person throwing “a wrench into the gears” of the Brulian romance? Fans will get a chance to find out this week, as Nichols teased Monday’s episode by saying the new girl, actress and Clothes Over Bros model Alex Dupre will get in Julian’s face and definitely cause some trouble for Brooke.

Read the rest: Interview: Austin Nichols Says Things are “Gonna Get Messy” for Brulian.

PASADENA, CALIF. | When the locally filmed drama series “One Tree Hill” returns Monday night, the seven-year-old show will once again jump ahead in time – this time just 14 months. It’s a move that series creator Mark Schwahn hopes will help fans mourning the loss of series regulars Chad Michael Murray as Lucas and Hilarie Burton as Peyton to accept new characters and storylines.

A time jump worked before: Season five began four years after the end of season four, as all the regular characters returned to the fictional town of Tree Hill after going their separate ways for college.

So is this season sort of a season five redux?

“It’s not as radical,” Schwahn says, “but in terms of new cast…. In season 5 we introduced a bunch of new characters. We’ve done that again. We were losing two really important cast members and we wanted to add some new faces, and I thought if some time had passed, that will really help me as opposed to everyone just showing up at the same time.”

Read the rest: Mark Schwahn preps “One Tree Hill” for another season of change | StarNewsOnline.com | Star News | Wilmington, NC.

Bethany spoke to us in this exclusive interview about why she still enjoys playing Haley James Scott, starting a band and directing an episode of “One Tree Hill”.

Read the rest here: TeenMusic.com – Interview: “One Tree Hill’s” Bethany Joy Galeotti.

At 9 p.m. Monday on The CW, we’ll get to see another product from the multi-talented Murray. This time, the blonde leading man stepped behind the camera for his directorial debut.

We talked to him Nov. 6 at EUE/Screen Gems studios, while he was still making preparations to shoot his screen writing debut, and asked if he’d give us some insight about his thoughts on directing.

It looks like you’ve given yourself two jobs to do. Why go through all the hard work?

“I figured this is the best way to learn, is by actually just jumping in and doing it and I have got a great opportunity here in season six to utilize these great people around me and make a great episode.”

Read the rest

In this third installment of the popular movie franchise, a team of Navy SEALs work to prevent an international disaster. The U.S. government sends a group of men to secretly observe a meeting between the feuding Columbian government and insurgent guerillas to ensure they reach a peaceful solution. When the meeting is ambushed and the groups’ leaders are murdered. The SEALs are framed for the attack, abandoned by their government and left to fend for themselves, all while trying to prove their innocence and stop Columbia’s war from crossing the border. Mr. Kennedy plays Chief Carter Holt, the leader of the Navy SEALs team and Manganiello plays Lt. Sean Macklin.

Behind Enemy Lines: Columbia is out on DVD and Blu-ray now.

Go here to see the interview