David Harden/Arizona Daily Wildcat Peter Murrieta, a former UA student and the creative mind behind "Greetings From Tucson," holds a back- scratcher presented to him by students from UA's Comedy Corner, which Murrieta joined in the '80s.

Thanks to a UA dropout, there's a soundstage in LA that is bringing the Sam Hughes neighborhood to America's livingrooms

Successful college dropouts: Bill Gates, Woody Allen, Peter Murrieta.

Peter Murrieta? That's right. He could soon be a household name if a new sitcom set to hit television sets coast-to-coast tomorrow evening is a hit.

You see, Murrieta, a writer, former UA student and eventual dropout, has woven together a not-so-typical television show, set in a not-so-typical locale.

The product, "Greetings from Tucson," which won optimistic reviews from TV Guide, showcases a cast of multi-ethnic, multi-talented actors filling the roles of a somewhat fictitious half-Irish, half-Hispanic Tucson family on the rise.

The show, under Murrieta's direction and roughly based on his own Tucson childhood, is best described as "ballsy" by the former English major.

"This is not your typical sitcom," explains Murrieta. "There's no real hug at the end like you find in a conventional series."

Of course, like most things in show business, the opportunity for this former UA student to introduce viewers to Tucson didn't just fall into his lap.

Instead, it came through an uneven distribution of UA alumni on a Warner Brothers' lot.

Last year, while in a meeting with WB executives, Murrieta had hoped for a job writing scripts for the teen sci-fi drama "Smallville." Halfway through the conversation, Murrieta, who ended his time at the UA mid-'80s, discovered that two of the executives were UA graduates.

Murrieta began talking about Tucson and his experiences growing up here. He had just spent the past year trying to get into movie-writing and took time during that year to write about his childhood.

His description of his father and the back-and-forth confrontations between father and son intrigued the WB. The callback later that day was not for a job on "Smallville," but rather for the opportunity to develop a new show of his own.

"Greetings from Tucson" was born.

But the road to getting his own television series was not a Sunday drive for Murrieta. Growing up in Tucson, he never envisioned rubbing elbows with some of Hollywood's finest. He struggled through school, and makes no effort to hide the fact that he spent more time skipping class than doing homework. Once at the UA, Murrieta joined the stand up group Comedy Corner.

"That's one of the main reasons I never graduated from college," he joked last Friday in front of hundreds at Sabino High School.

The event was a chance for Murrieta's former teachers to see what he's become, the cast to see who they'll be playing and students to get the first glimpse at the sitcom that will seek to portray their school and city.

Armed with back-scratchers for the entire cast, Mark Sussman, current director of Comedy Corner, jumped on the stage of Sabino's auditorium to meet Murrieta.

"It's nice to know that comedians (from Comedy Corner) who have made it big exist," he said.

But despite his post-UA accomplishments, which include working next to Saturday Night Live veterans during his time at Chicago's famous Second City, Murrieta says that the edge and humor of the show is rooted in its cast, who didn't just fall into his lap.

In the sitcom, father Juaquin (played by Julio Oscar Mechoso, best known for his sinister role in the movie "All the Pretty Horses"), is a seemingly stern, up-and-coming Latino mine manager, while mom Elizabeth (played by promising novice Rebecca Creskoff), is a tall, outspoken red-haired Irish homemaker.

"She's not just an apron-wearing, finger-pointing mom," Murrieta explains. "She's got some attitude."

But the star of the show, a popular guy last Friday at the Sabino High School appearance, doesn't yet have a driver license.

After spending only a few hours in town, fifteen-year-old Pablo Santos, who plays David, the central figure in "Greetings," covered his eyes from the blinding Arizona sun and reluctantly hopped in a Ford Explorer limousine and headed for Tucson International Airport.

In what were only a few hours in town, Santos was the most popular kid at Murrieta's former high school. Girls were dying to talk to him and teachers surrounded him with cameras.

And this was Santos' first time in the Old Pueblo ÷ the real one anyway.

For the past few months, Santos has spent his days in a Sam Hughes' neighborhood home, complete with a screened porch and gravel backyard.

The only difference is the stucco house is not really located in the historic residential district bordering the UA ÷ it's in the middle of Hollywood. Murrieta says he took great pains in making sure that the show's set looked like a Tucson home.

"I always envisioned a great big backyard," he said. "I was hung up on tiny things ÷ like gravel." Armed with pictures from Murrieta's family, who still lives in Tucson, set designers aimed to stay true to the Old Pueblo.

For one episode, producers have already re-created an Eegee's fast-food restaurant, a Tucson original.

They also plan to have the characters eat food from Lucky Wishbone and David will learn stick shift on none other than River Road.

"It was cool to see who I will be playing," Santos said, walking down the narrow halls behind Sabino's main stage after being mobbed by 15-year-old girls. "I've never been in a situation like that."

Santos' screen mom, played by Creskoff, who at 31 is only eight years older than one of her TV children, found the short visit to Tucson as an opportunity to get a peek at things she's been hearing about for months ÷ like Eegee's and 100-degree temperatures.

"Its really, really hot," she said.

And while the pilot features a UA T-shirt, references to the Indian casinos west of town and exterior shots of Foothills Mall, downtown Tucson and, of course, homes in Sam Hughes, location-shooting in town will take time.

"It will only happen if we're a hit," Murrieta said.

For now, executives at the WB seem to be betting on the Old Pueblo. They've placed it following "Reba," a hit for the network last season.