Soap lovers, look out: Harvard’s first and only student-made soap opera, “Ivory Tower,” has undergone a major face-lift in preparation for its third season, which is set to debut at www.ivorytowersoap.com this Saturday.

Last season’s cast is, for the most part, gone. “The premise is that every season, there will be a new cast of characters,” says the show’s Chair of Marketing and Public Relations, Stevie N. Degroff ’06. She says fans should only expect a few brief cameos from old faces.

Former cast members were allowed to re-audition for parts in the show, but the creative team wanted to take a new direction. Degroff also says there will be only five “core characters,” as opposed to the first season’s 13.

Saturday’s season premiere will be indicative of the risks the show is willing to take. According to the show’s Executive Director, Isaac H. Ravishankara ’07, the episode will feature Undergraduate Council President-Elect John S. Haddock ’07 and defeated rival John F. Voith ’07 “in a scene together,” an appearance by the entirety of a capella singing group the Harvard Callbacks, cameos from the Radcliffe Rugby Team, and a meticulously-filmed sequence where the camera shows eight consecutive scenes in one, long, unbroken shot.

“This season premiere is better than any episode we did last season,” says Degroff.

According to show writer Jilly E. Gagnon ’06, the creative staff will also be trying to break the show out of its old structures. “We did a lot of lampooning [of mainstream soap operas] last year,” she says, and claims that the show will now be more like the night-time dramas of the WB television network.

“We’re not just casting characters as ‘bitches’ anymore,” says Gagnon.

The staff has also undergone a major streamlining effort to expedite the show’s production, and has revamped the official website. Stores such as Planet Records and Tommy’s Pizza have already purchased ad space on the site.

The involvement of local merchants seems to reflect the fact that the show will remain focused on appealing to Harvard audiences. However, ever since the show ended a long hiatus and was re-launched in 2003, it has been part of a growing national phenomenon: college-made soap operas. An October edition of Newsweek’s “Periscope” section profiled “Ivory Tower” alongside similar shows at Boston University and the University of North Carolina. The show’s website has also received hits and downloads from people as far away as Texas and the Pacific Rim.

Degroff even claims that the production team was contacted by a producer from the Disney Soap Network, although nothing has come of the communications yet.

But Degroff says the staff’s goals are still primarily local. “I love that we’re getting people in Korea watching the show, but we want people in this school watching the show,” she says.

“We want every person on this campus watching the show,” she concludes. “Honestly.”

—Staff writer Abe J. Riesman can be reached at riesman@fas.harvard.edu.