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By Melissa (USA)
It hasn’t been an easy journey. One Tree Hill has been through six scheduling changes yet fans stuck with the show. They jumped years into the future (a concept that worked out fairly well) and lost major cast members (that hasn’t been so successful). The cast never received the same promotion and marketing that other network shows did. In fact, the most attention One Tree Hill ever got was when stars Chad Michael Murray and Sophia Bush married then annulled the marriage five months later. Not exactly the time you want the world to notice you. Filming in Wilmington, North Carolina hasn’t helped push them into the spotlight either. Despite all that has been stacked against the show, they’ve prevailed. Season 5 proved that a show can continue smoothly after its teen characters graduate high school. Season 7 showed that fans will fall in love with new cast members even while missing old ones. In short, One Tree Hill has always been worth the effort.
But let’s get back to the basics. Many of you reading this aren’t part of the diehard fans. You need to know what exactly the appeal of One Tree Hill is. Its real. That simple. Some of you may be thinking, wait a minute, isn’t this the show that had a school shooting, the murder of a brother, a crazy nanny, and sex scandal? Yeah it is. But let’s dissect these “soapy” moments of the show. School shootings, sadly, aren’t big news anymore. Every shooting is sad and horrible and I mean no disrespect to those who have suffered through one. But the day Columbine happened, the world of high school stopped. I was in high school then and believe me it was a rough day no matter where you lived. These days , it gets a brief headline and is then forgotten. Here’s something One Tree Hill understood though, that while the world may forget, the people in that town will deal with the shooting for many years to come. Unlike many shows that take a couple episodes to ‘recover’, One Tree Hill has had moments dealing with the aftermath arise throughout the series.
That murdering of a brother? Sorry, but that story is nearly as old as man himself. Sure its just as shocking and sad as a school shooting but again, its not a completely out of character event. If you didn’t see it (or close enough) coming, I doubt you were watching the right show. Crazy nanny? That I’ll give you. Nannies are out there sometimes but I have several friends who nanny and none of them are Carrie levels of crazy. Even in this, however, the show was different. Rather than go the Gossip Girl route where Carrie would have kidnapped Jamie, Blair would have gone off to confront a crazy woman, and Serena would have shot her while the boys wandered around lost and sad, One Tree Hill showed Nathan & Haley reacting as the parents of any missing child would. (But yes, I will still grant that the Carrie story pushed the limits of reality). The final argument would be the many sex scandals involving Nathan. That’s an easy fix too. Nathan is in the public eye. As a celebrity of sorts, lies and rumors come with the territory. But that’s not the true realness of One Tree Hill.
You see, most of an episode of One Tree Hill revolves around normal life. I’ve heard complaints that One Tree Hill is boring because nothing happens. I call it refreshing. Mark Schwan (the show’s creator) has shown characters and relationships in a natural way. Take Haley & Nathan. As a couple who fell in love and married in high school, they were bound to have problems. Some shows would have pretended all was sunshine and roses for a while. One Tree Hill pointed out that while love may be there, a married high school couple also has to deal with rent, bills, and homework. Then came the devasting breakup (something I personally still haven’t quite forgiven Haley for) that for many more shows would have marked the end of Naley. A working friendship would have been the most fans could ask for and no doubt at least one cast member would have been dropped soon. Instead, Nathan & Haley worked through their issues like adults. It wasn’t easy or quick but it was real. Even in later episodes, the show brought the couple into counseling and other struggles, reminding us that even after 6 years of marriage, 23 year olds don’t have life figured out. Or Peyton and Brooke. The two girls didn’t share boyfriends and giggle about it later. They fought bitterly, held grudges and made up after long periods of resentment. Yet like best friends, they were fiercely loyal as well. Lucas & Nathan didn’t bond instantly as brothers. Years went into developing their relationship. Nothing seems to happen on One Tree Hill because in real life, most of the time nothing happens. One event occurs, and you spend weeks, months, even years, dealing with it. That’s real life. That’s One Tree Hill.
If the show was only about reality, though, we wouldn’t love it so much. Its about the characters as well. Central to the show are 7 characters. Peyton Sawyer (Hilarie Burton), Brooke Davis (Sophia Bush), Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray), Nathan Scott (James Lafferty), Haley James Scott (Bethany Joy Galeotti), Skillz Taylor (Antwon Tanner) and Mouth McFadden (Lee Norris). Others may come and go but those 7 were and are essential to One Tree Hill. The show began as a show about two brothers, Lucas and Nathan. It became a show about friends and family and the bonds we form with both. You’ll see details in each picture about several cast members. The grouped picture shows those who are newer to the show or were listed as recurring characters yet are still vital to the show. New characters like Quinn and Clay emerged in the 7th season and gave us a new couple to root for. Julian gave Brooke a chance to fall in love and many fans couldn’t be happier for the two of them. Most important though are Skillz and Mouth. As Lucas’s best friends, they started life on the outside but grew to be a key part of One Tree Hill. Its richly symbolic of the journey fans took as well. We started the show wondering if there was room in our hearts for another show. Today, we don’t know how we ever lived away from Tree Hill.
In closing, instead of leaving you with my thoughts, I’ll say goodbye the best way I know how, a quote from One Tree Hill. This quote, perhaps better than any other sums up the magic of One Tree Hill, the knowledge that those we love are most important. “At this moment, there are 6, 470, 818, 671 people in the world. Some are running scared. Some are coming home. Some tell lies to make it through the day. Others are just not facing the truth. Some are evil men, at war with good. And some are good, struggling with evil. Six billion people in the world. 6 billion souls. And sometimes…all you need is one.”
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