"Nashville" is getting back to its musical roots for its upcoming fifth season, and with a new network and new showrunners, it's also shaping up to have a new approach to its dramatics, too.

That's the word from Marshall Herskovitz, who along with Ed Zwick will take the helm of the country music drama for season five. In a new behind the scenes video debuted by TVLine, Herskovitz explained that the change in leadership and the change in broadcaster (the show is moving to cable outlet CMT after ABC cancelled the series earlier this year) provided an opportunity to revamp "Nashville" a bit, keeping the focus on the music and moving away from some of the more soapy elements that had come to define the show in recent seasons.

"First thing we mandated was shorter scripts, so there's time for the music to play out," the showrunner explained, adding that much of the plot of the show will now draw on "the depth and the complexity of the relationships instead of just feeling you needed to have incident piling on incident." Perhaps that last part was a not-so-subtle dig at the crazy plane crash cliffhanger that ended season four, or Deacon's inability to just be happy and not punch people, or Maddy's odd quest for emancipation (and her creepy, controlling female mentor).

Whatever Herksovitz and Zwick have in store, we can't wait to see it. "Nashville" returns for season five with a two-hour premiere on CMT on January 5.

[via: TVLine]