Schwartz scraps 'Athens', confirms 'OC' spinoff

The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz has scrapped plans to launch a similar series.

The show, called Athens, would have followed a young English professor and a freshman and the intertwined lives and loves of their community.

Now Schwartz has dropped the idea altogether, possibly because it would have detracted from his work on The O.C. or even that the show was too similar a concept.

Instead he'll be working on a direct O.C. spinoff following the younger sister of Marissa, Kaitlin Cooper, at boarding school. Described as a TV version of Mean Girls, the new show is tipped to premiere January 2006.