Smash is to recruit Gossip Girl showrunner Josh Safran as a replacement for co-creator Theresa Rebeck, according to reports.
Safran has been with the CW show - based on a series of novels aimed at teenagers - as an executive producer and consulting producer since 2008.
Safran is in talks to replace Rebeck, who stepped down as day-to-day showrunner in March, reports Entertainment Weekly.
Rebeck is expected to remain a writer and executive producer on Smash's second season. She wrote the first three episodes of the series, and is an established Broadway playwright.
She has been involved with the series from the start, adapting the script initially for Showtime and then later at NBC.
Debra Messing's Smash character Julia is said to be based on Rebeck's own life and career.
The CW has not yet revealed whether Gossip Girl will be picked up for a new season.
