From Variety.com:

The CW will kick off its fall campaign on Sept. 8 with the sophomore year of “90210″ and the bow of “Melrose Place.”

Net has also decided to flop the time slots of its Monday dramas, which will send “Gossip Girl” to the 9 p.m. hour.

It’s the second year in a row that “90210″ is the centerpiece of the net’s fall launch campaign, and CW is hoping that anticipation will be high for the remodeled “Melrose.” CW is getting a jumpstart on its competish by launching the week of Sept. 8, but it won’t be quite as quick out of the gate as last year, when the net’s fall sked launched on Labor Day.

The rollout continues Sept. 9 with the two-hour preem of “America’s Next Top Model,” followed Sept. 10 by the preem of “Vampire Diaries” and return of “Supernatural.”

The Monday slate returns on Sept. 14, though the “Gossip Girl”-”One Tree Hill” slot swap will take effect July 6 with repeat segs.

The regular Wednesday slate of “Top Model” and newbie drama “A Beautiful Life” arrives on Sept. 16. CW also confirmed to its affiliate stations this month that it will give back one hour of its two-hour Monday-Friday daytime block as of the 2010-11 season. At present it programs the 3-5 p.m. block with yakker “The Tyra Banks Show,” one original and one repeat seg. As of 2010-11, it will return the 4-5 p.m. hour to affiliates.

Dawn Ostroff talks to TV Guide about Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton departure from One Tree Hill:

CW entertainment president Dawn Ostroff is putting the best possible spin on the loss of One Tree Hill original cast members Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton, saying the show now has an opportunity to bring on new characters.

“We tried to get them to stay; we would have been thrilled if they wanted to,” Ostroff told reporters at the CW’s upfront presentation. But since Murray and Burton are moving on, Tree Hill must now reinvent itself a bit — as it did in 2007, with a four-year flash-forward.

“A show going into its seventh year is very open to reinventing itself,” says Ostroff. “And one thing I have to give [series creator] Mark Schwahn a lot of credit for is that he has kept the show so fresh all these years.”

As reported last week, Tree Hill will seek to “replace” Lucas and Peyton by adding three new characters, including Haley’s older sister, Quinn. (Learn one of Quinn’s “secrets” in this week’s Mega Minute.)

“We look at shows like ER, shows that go on for many, many years, and a lot of those casts go through different people,” notes Ostroff. “So we are sad to see [Chad and Hilarie] go — and grateful for everything they did for the show — but excited about seeing who else is going to join the cast.”

I wonder how the Lucas and Peyton shippers are holding up over the departure…I’m sure not too bad, since Leyton did get their happy ending! I guess the real question is, how will One Tree Hill hold up without Lucas? That’s like Dawson’s Creek without Dawson Leery, Smallville without Clark Kent… it’s just down right weird!