One Tree Hill

I've been spending a lot of time lately catching up on old episodes of One Tree Hill because E4 have been repeating it from the start at 6am every weekday (don't worry I have sky+ so I'm not actually getting up at 6am to watch it!). I wasn't interested in it when it first came on the air because the commercials made it look like a show about basketball, but that's actually a very small part of it. It's just a general teen drama with added grown up drama from the parents, much like The OC and 90210. What's weird is that I was never interested in this type of show when I was a teenager (you couldn't have paid me enough to watch Dawson's Creek), but I seem to find them totally gripping ten years on. I guess it takes a while for the rose tint to develop on our high school years so we don't mind looking back instead of running away as far and fast as possible.

But anyway, I digress, the plot of One Tree Hill focuses on the complicated relationships between a small group of characters in a small town called Tree Hill in North Carolina. At the start of the first season we meet Nathan Scott, the star of the high school basketball team and a typical jock jerk. Dan Scott is his overbearing father trying to relive his glory days through Nathan when he's not showing off the money and power he has as owner of the local car dealership. Lucas Scott is Dan's son from a previous relationship who is just 2 months older than Nathan. He joins the team and threatens to steal Nathan's glory and girlfriend, but he's actually a really nice guy and the narrator of most of the episodes so you're hoping he'll come out on top. Peyton Sawyer is Nathan's girlfriend and a cheerleader whose mother died when she was younger which left her troubled and consumed with arty angst. Brooke Davies is Peyton's best friend and captain of the cheerleaders who also has her eye on Lucas. Haley James is Lucas' best friend and a tutor at the school who Nathan starts seeing to get at Lucas. Keith Scott is Dan's brother who's been a surrogate father to Lucas since he was born, he's also tantalisingly close to starting a relationship with Lucas' mother and Dan's ex-girlfriend Karen Roe, but it's unclear why they haven't gotten together over all those years. Karen is also a business partner with Deb Scott, Dan's wife who hates him but is too weak willed to leave.

There are many twists and turns in the plot after that point, new relationships form and others fall apart in spectacular fashion. The main constant seems to be that Dan is evil and always looking for ways to screw up everyone's lives. He's very convincing in this role, and I always dread what he's going to do next when he appears in a scene. I also get nervous any time all the other characters are happy because I just know that's screaming out for a disaster of some sort. I'm nearly at the end of season 3 now and so far we've had 2 car crashes, a fire, a boat lost at sea and a school shooting. There's also been 5 marriage proposals, one ditching at the alter and a pregnancy scare, there's annulment and divorce papers that never seem to quite get signed too.

I'm not really sure why I enjoy the show so much. Part of it is probably the fact that I can watch it every day or several episodes back to back which really helps me get into the storylines. It's also encouraging that the show is in its 8th season now, so I know there's plenty more good stuff to come. After this season they jump the storyline forward 4 years in the future too which will definitely help keep things fresh (and stop them having to come up with a lame way of keeping all the characters together in one town like they did in Buffy). But I think it's just generally well written with believable characters. I also love the soundrack and the fact they get real bands to perform on the show in the club and cafe that Karen and Deb own.

Rating: 9 out of 10 - a rollercoaster of emotions but well worth watching for the characters and general escapism, their problems always make mine pale in comparison!