Staying In

Fans of Everwood can rejoice. Season two of the series recently came out on DVD after a five year wait, but it doesn’t look like we’ll have to wait quite as long for the rest of the series.

When asked if fans of the show will be getting the rest of episodes on DVD, creator Greg Berlanti said, “You will now.”

“They made us change all of the music,” he explained. “The music that was on that show in particular was very important to certain elements. I didn’t want to go back through every single episode and switch out every song to some cheaper song just so we could release it. Finally we hired someone to go in and do that because I wanted people to be able to see the episodes.”

Berlanti was on hand Tuesday for a LATV Fest panel, where the discussion leaned heavily toward broadcast television versus cable and the type of character-driven dramas that Berlanti has become known for with Everwood, Jack & Bobby, Brothers & Sisters, Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone.

“Writing character-driven shows on network TV has gotten a lot more difficult and challenging in the age of cable TV,” Berlanti said. Cable allows for longer scripted hours and more introspection, whereas character-driven shows on network TV, especially at 10 p.m., are usually the first casualties of the networks’ cancellation axes.

With the focus solely on characters’ personal lives, “you don’t have another engine to go to” like with medical or procedural shows, he explained.

Berlanti attempted to mix his knack for character-driven storytelling with the procedural in Eli Stone, a dramedy about a lawyer and possible prophet.

“In terms of doing the legal franchise with the character franchise, it was hard for me personally,” he said of the experience. “I found that I was just much more interested in the character stuff, but I hadn’t played around with it before.”

Berlanti’s experience on Eli Stone was not without its positives. He learned that special effects can be turned around much more quickly now and saw just how far CGI technology on TV has come. The show destroyed bridges and buildings, but perhaps most impressive is the entirely computer-generated Brooklyn Bridge constructed for an episode of Dirty Sexy Money. Berlanti said that people still come up to him and ask how he was able to afford filming on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money may not have survived the fallout of the WGA strike, but Berlanti’s other ABC show, Brothers & Sisters, is still going strong. Berlanti spilled a pseudo-spoiler when mentioning that there’s been discussions about about a character going through emotional turmoil, prescription medications and whether the character has bipolar disorder. Sounds like there’s something going on with Rebecca.

Berlanti also applauded ABC’s treatment of the relationship between partners Kevin and Scotty on the family drama.

“ABC has been amazing,” he said. “That’s something that’s changed in the last decade. Our policy very early on was when we would show a straight kiss, we would show a gay kiss and we sort of stuck to it. It was interesting to see how would the audience react to this on a network show. I think a lot of people are sort of over it.”

It’s a long way from The WB’s Dawson’s Creek, which Berlanti worked on when the character of Jack McPhee came out.

When Jack shared network television’s first romantic male/male kiss, “We were told the amount of time they could kiss and when they could get into the kiss and when we had to get out of the kiss,” Berlanti said. “We were only allowed one that year and then the next year we had to fight for another one.”

But ultimately, Berlanti doesn’t see that much difference between the now defunct WB and ABC.

“I always call ABC the grown-up WB now,” he said. “It tends to be more female-skewing, which the WB was. I can see everyone who watched ‘Dawson’s’ now grows up and watches ‘Grey’s.’ Everyone who watched ‘Smallville’ grows up and now watches ‘Lost.’ We were at the WB and they were like, ‘Okay, what is a 16-year-old girl going to like about this story?’ Now they’re like, ‘What’s a 36-year-old woman going to like about this story?’ I think Fox grabbed the guy version of it. ABC does really well with these character-driven shows.”

Berlanti has an exclusive deal with ABC Studios and isn’t against working with some of ABC’s cable channels. He’s redeveloping a script for Lifetime that was originally intended for ABC and would love to work with ABC Family.

“They’re doing some great stuff,” he said of the sister network.

Berlanti is also busy venturing into the world of feature film with The Green Lantern (before you ask, they’re still auditioning people), but feels prepared thanks to his years in TV.

“Television is the best learning ground in the world, especially now. You really are making a film every week,” he said.

Eli Stone airs it series final this Saturday, July 11, at 10 p.m. The final episodes of Dirty Sexy Money take over the timeslot July 18.